Sergei Solonsky

About The Artist:

Sergei Solonsky (b. 1957) appeared on the Kharkiv art scene in late 1980's, but it was in 1991, when his phantasmagorical The Bestiary photomontages (1991 – 1998) made him famous within the local art photography community. Sergei used overlays, printing deformation and toning along with the usual manual collage techniques. “Corporeal fragmentations in his pictures from the turn of the 1980′s-1990′s started the aesthetic revolution in Ukrainian photography” says Tatiana Pavlova in her 2001 The Realm of Flora essay (Imago-2001, -No 12. – P. 46-54).

During the the same time period Solonsky produced the Naked Selfies series of 150 cm prints (1991 – 1995), with the camera on selftimer and the shutter speed set for a long exposure. He used himself as a model, posing with bodily movements for the camera. Naked artist posing in front of his own camera as a way of telling a personal story is an approach also used in Kharkiv School by Boris Mikhailov in his famous project I am not I (1992).

Phallic Heraldry (1996) is a series of black and white toned collages consisting of repetitive penis image fragments composed into what looks like national emblems, the Soviet one (sickle and hammer) included.

Solonsky is best known as a master of photomontage, but his Moonshiners (1995)and Let's Have a Drink (1995) reveal the documentary side of his artistic personality.

View Portfolio: Lets Have A Drink

View Portfolio: Phallic Heraldry

View Portfolio: Bestiary

View Portfolio: Moonshiners

View Portfolio: Naked Selfies

We welcome your comments. VASA Exhibitions are the result of various curators, artist, and photographers.

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