Dancing Away celebrates Mikhail Baryshnikov as photographer; a medium that the artist explored for two decades before turning his lens to the dance world. As a photographer, Baryshnikov is in the unique position of insider and outsider’ simultaneously. Whilst he may step out of his role as dancer, his intuitive “dancer’s eye” allows him to view every performance from a unique perspective. Each photograph captures a magical moment that has inspired Baryshnikov. “I take thousands of images, and it takes me a long, long time to select. My eye catches it and my heart stops. This is exactly what I want”, explains Baryshnikov, demonstrating that his artistry involves being both photographer and connoisseur.
Baryshnikov’s images capture the movement and fluidity of dance, nothing is static or posed, rather they evoke the enchanting image of dancers in flight. “I wanted the audience to see, to be able to imagine, the movement before and after, not just the frozen moment.”
Truly a renaissance man, Baryshnikov creates the sense of movement through the use of a technique known as long exposure photography, which involves opening the camera shutter for a long duration, thus exposing the lens to more light. The result of this method is the blur that dominates Baryshnikov’s photography, causing the colours and human bodies to appear almost dragged across the print, which in turn gives the work an ethereal quality.
The audience may often interpret a performance into a series of scenes or acts, in order to better understand the work. Baryshnikov’s prints demonstrate the submersion of the dancer into his art, metaphorically symbolising a dancer’s ability to be lost in the performance, or even the music. Baryshnikov himself has described dance as “an activity of the human spirit”, believing “art, when your heart is burning but your mind is cool – that is the best combination”. His extraordinary photography celebrates this artistry, each of the prints focuses on spontaneity, beauty and a lack of inhibition within the dancers.
EXHIBITION
Dancing Away
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Through December 31st 2014
ContiniArtUK
105 New Bond Street
London W1S 1DN
United Kingdom
