Alla Esipovich
dal 14/1/2010 al 12/3/2010
Segnalato da
14/1/2010
Alla Esipovich
Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex new dependence, Amsterdam
No comment. A series of portraits made of people from various backgrounds, from circus artists to professors, from engineers to sailors. They all expressed their wish to be photographed and chose the way it should be done. Usually in their own familiar surroundings in Saint Petersburg, for that is where all the people portrayed live.
A photographer working for a fashionable brand or a glossy magazine knows what is expected from him: to show a product or a person in as favourable light as possible, and to turn the viewer/reader into a buyer. Russian born Alla Esipovich knows all about it. While taking photographs of "the beauty and the beautiful" in her own way, she became more and more aware of the "waste products of glamour", of people left outside the "images of illusion".
The result of this development: No Comment. A series of portraits Alla Esipovich (St. Peters burg, 1963) made of people from various backgrounds, from circus artists to professors, from engineers to sailors. They all expressed their wish to be photographed and chose the way it should be done. Usually in their own familiar surroundings in Saint Petersburg, for that is where all the people portrayed live. Esipovich carefully avoids voyeurism; rather, the viewer is confronted with the transitoriness of being - "the other side of glamour" - almost all the people portrayed are aging, most of them are old. A considerable number of them is photo graphed naked or while undressing. Proud and without any inhibition. Names, patronyms, surnames and professions are clearly stated.
Just like her portraits in "unbecoming" black and white, Alla's photographs of Aleksej Inge levich, sometimes with his wife and daughter, are quite impressive. Ingelevich is a Germanic scholar; he was born with a growing disorder. In a verbal statement Alla Esipovich explains that these photographs have come about in close cooperation with Aleksej Ingelevich, which is why she considers this series a joint project.
But the photographer is not only interested in the transitory and the extraordinary: her series "The Happiest Day of My Life" shows women in their favourite outfit, their daily ambience, and often with the person their beloved. We are looking at people at their very intimate moment, still the atmosphere is never sticky or cynical, because the photographers records the world as a documentarian. A world many people, including art lovers, do not necessarily get to see. It is an unadorned world without any advantageous illumination. The world - let us be honest about it - as it usually presents itself to us.
What is remarkable about her work: the world of Alla Esipovich is indeed typical Russian: harsh, hard and often "styled" with accessories of Soviet origin and which don't really fit in the Western taste. But the photographer also has her classical side: many works remind us of masterpieces of painting and photography because of their composition and philosophy.
Image: Anatolij Belkin and girl-friend, colour photograph © Alla Esipovich
Opening of the show in the new dependence Lijnbaansgracht 318 in Amsterdam on Friday, January 15th from 5 to 7 pm
The artist will be present.
Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex Amsterdam
Lijnbaansgracht 318hs . 1017 WZ Amsterdam The Netherlands
Opening hours: Thurs - Sat 12 - 6 pm