contemporary russian art photography || russian photography and its contexts

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Russian Photography and Its Contexts Author(s): Joseph Bakshtein Source: Art Journal, Vol. 53, No. 2, Contemporary Russian Art Photography (Summer, 1994), pp. 43-44 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777483 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 17:29 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.79.20 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 17:29:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Contemporary Russian Art Photography || Russian Photography and Its Contexts

Russian Photography and Its ContextsAuthor(s): Joseph BakshteinSource: Art Journal, Vol. 53, No. 2, Contemporary Russian Art Photography (Summer, 1994),pp. 43-44Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777483 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 17:29

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.20 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 17:29:16 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Contemporary Russian Art Photography || Russian Photography and Its Contexts

Russian Photography and Its Contexts

Joseph Bakshtein

he new role of photography on the Russian art scene can only be understood if contrasted with the one it

played during the Soviet period. The main task of the

photographer then was to present the surrounding reality in a manner that appeared to be "true to life." What did this mean? In fact, the Soviet mentality was doubled in a very important way owing to the way in which socialism had been instituted in Russia; it had simply been proclaimed by Lenin's decree. A kind of incorporeal transformation was effected: empirical existence remained as it was, while con- sciousness underwent a sudden change. Thus, reality was seen in the light of Communist metaphysics. It was in that same light that photographs were supposed to be taken. As a

result, it was not real life that was photographically repro- duced but ideological images, which independent critics call illustrations of official ideology.

The Soviet mind, because of this doubling, was capa- ble of an aesthetic mode of perception. Not only could it discern the actual facts of life, which were horrifying, but it could also discern the metaphysical world, which was beauti- ful by definition. Such a duality lay at the foundation of immanent Soviet aesthetics, and therefore any act of photo- graphic fixation on a fact became a conceptual gesture, while

any kind of photographic product turned into conceptual photography. The contemporary photographer in Russia can- not ignore the prehistory that makes all Russian photogra- phers conceptual artists par excellence. In order to develop, a

photographer must gain a clear awareness of this. Two exam-

ples can be given that illustrate the consequences of such awareness: the artworks produced by Alexei Shulgin and

Sergei Leontiev.

Shulgin abandons traditional photography for the sake of photographic objects; he believes this strategy to be the

only way to preserve the integrity specific to photographic creation and at the same time to deliver photography from its

mimetic function (figs. 1 and 2). Shulgin realizes that this has to be implemented in a much more radical fashion than would be possible for any Western artist, who deals with a "regular," smooth kind of reality. Russian reality remains as

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F I G. 1 Alexei Shulgin, from the series Others' Photographs, 1987, black-and- white photograph, 19%a x 23%s/ inches (50 x 60 cm) Collection of the artist.

FIG. 2 Alexei Shulgin, from the series TV Sets, 1990, color photograph and wooden frame, 59 x 78/4 inches (150 x 200 cml Collection of the artist.

ART JOURNAL

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Page 3: Contemporary Russian Art Photography || Russian Photography and Its Contexts

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FIG. 3 Sergei Leontiev, Study in Hard Photography III, 1991, black-and-white photograph. Collection of the artist.

"irregular" as it used to be; it is rough and it penetrates through the lens in an unrefined form.

Leontiev attempts to overcome the paradoxical com- bination of conceptualism and traditionalism inherent in Russian photography by giving superhuman features to his subjects (fig. 3). His characters create a parody of the heroes of Soviet mythology when they act not in heroic but in everyday situations. The overexpressiveness written on their faces is the only thing that betrays their unearthly descent.

One way or another, present-day Russian artistic pho- tography challenges artistry itself. It tries to protect itself

against the excessive storminess of political events that de- mand too much of photographic attention. On the other hand, it seeks shelter from an excessively conservative and tradi- tional everyday life that lends an air of superficial artistry to a photograph-the kind of artistry that a photographer wants to avoid.

JOSEPH BAKSHTEIN is a conceptual artist, arts organizer, and writer. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow.

SUMMER 1994

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