The Polka Gallery is currently exhibiting the latest series from Alexander Gronsky, ReenAct, which features nine snowy and highly pictorial triptychs of reenactments of Soviet battles from WWII to the invasion of Afghanistan. In this series, the landscape, as in Gronsky’s previous work, occupies an important place. The low skies, the misty, muted atmosphere and the neutral colors of the environment contrast with the dark colors of the uniforms, weapons and onlookers. Costumed amateurs reenact the battles, which the staging makes seem almost trivial.
In a triptych reproducing the siege of Leningrad, two scenes of pure reenactment lead to a third showing a crowd of tourists watching the show in a Disneyland-like atmosphere. The dimension is spectacular, in the proper sense of the term, and is even more present in Chetynadcataya: a graveyard whose bright colors stand out against the white snow precedes a tourist in a parka, his back turned to a group of soldiers, and is followed by a third panel showing a curious grouping with a few figures in uniform, during what we guess must be the end of the reenactment. It could be a movie set.
During the siege of Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), the first of the three panels, taken by itself, is reminiscent of the winter landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, as in certain pieces from The Edge, another series by the photographer.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
