Kharkiv School of Photography: Soviet Censorship to New Aesthetics:
Part 3 - Contemporary Photographers Exhibition 1
© Igor Chursin Self-portrait
Igor Chursin
Igor Chursin (b. 1962, now living in Kiev) joined the Kharkiv art photography scene in 1989. (See exhibtion 2 for Chursin's 1985 - 2000 work.)
His work of 2000 - 2015 is marked with a somewhat radical choice of photographic tools: Chursin claims that he exceptionally uses either large-format cameras or his smartphone without compromising in-between.
His 2005 - 2013 Les congés payés (Low-Fi Perception) smartphone project shows pixelated low detail images. “In the unstopping flow of time there are moments like a sliced off piece of cheese or a detached train car. These moments are not pictures of “here and now”, but rather “everywhere and always”. “Low-Fi perception” is a method of tracing down constant patterns of positive consciousness states, of balancing on the sunny side of the reality”, the artist explaines. The project is comprised of two series, More (The Sea) and While Everything Is Fine.
The Bizarre project (2006) was taken in a sex shop, where his models tried on different kinds of attire. Three panels 18 images each make the total of 54 - enough for a deck of erotic playing cards, once a popular illegal Soviet souvenire.
Igor Chursin likes provocation. His 2011 Workcamera with People shows the artist befriending strangers in their working environment in front of his camera. The 2009 A Ukrainian Spy in New York is a series of humorous selfies taken in the crowd waiting for the presidential cortege to pass by. The session ended with the artist being reported to a cop by vigilant citizens and his camera checked by the police.
In 2013 Pastures of Podol Chursin resorts to his favorite staged photography. His models recreate scenes of temptation using props that denote various kinds of drugs found in the drug-taking argot (like ‘coconut’ for cocaine). The images are set in a park located in the Podol district in Kiev.
Portfolios
View Portfolio: Bizarre 2006
View Portfolio: More
View Portfolio: While Everything is Fine
View Portfolio: Pastures of Podol 2013
View Portfolio: Ukrainian Spy in NY 2009
View Portfolio: Workcamera with People 2011
We welcome your comments. VASA Exhibitions are the result of various curators, artist, and photographers.