One hundred art pieces created from the mid-1980s to the present day
Alexander Filippov’s artistic ideas and views were developed in the mid-1980s during the period of cardinal social and cultural changes in the USSR. At that time many Soviet photographers were actively involved in artistic and creative endeavors, searched for their own way in photography, which could allow them to express their thoughts and feelings about life and events in the contemporary world.
The photographs by Alexander Filippov give us an opportunity to trace the evolution of the artist whose oeuvre embodies many characteristic features of a very interesting and original generation of Saint Petersburg-based photographers, which made a name for itself in the mid-1980s. That generation was absorbed in social and documentary photography during the Perestroika, and then devoted itself to photographic experiments in the late 1980s–early 1990s, a creative search which could be compared with daring and important experiments of the Soviet photographers in the 1920s. In the mid-1990s the artists of Filippov’s generation witnessed a period of stagnation in photography and then faced a dramatic transition to the digital photography in the early 2000s.
The exhibition of photographs by the Saint Petersburg-based artist Alexander Filippov spans three decades of the photographer’s work and includes over one hundred art pieces created from the mid-1980s to the present day.
Alik Sidorov
1980s
Еще
Alexander Filippov began studying photography in his school days. In 1977 he went on his first geological surveying expedition, which made traveling his lifelong hobby. During that journey he produced numerous colour transparencies taking landscape pictures, which has become his favourite subject. Gradually Filippov’s interest in photography has developed into a strong desire to receive a professional photographic education. After he completed his training Filippov worked at a portrait studio in the town of Pushkin and continued photographing. At that time he started experimenting with various photographic processes and methods and exploring new ways to interpret space and state. Later that experience proved to be useful while creating many of his works, including the ones presented at the exhibition.
1988 was an important year in the career of Alexander Filippov. He took part in several important exhibitions in Leningrad and became one of the most interesting and attention-grabbing local photographers. By that time one could clearly define the artist’s individual manner, which was characterized by the lyricism of his works and austere, almost abstract compositions.
Alexander Filippov’s favourite subjects are Saint Petersburg city landscape and northern pristine wilderness. To both of these themes the artist has paid much attention throughout his career as a photographer. In his works the landscape theme is the dominant, accompanied by the mythological matter. In one instance these subjects are connected with the city mythology developed by the classics of Russian literature; Filippov has contemplated on the matters in his photo series Evident Petersburg and Intersection of Constants. As to the natural landscape theme, the artist’s idea is to show the subconscious aspiration of a city dweller for finding his roots and for the unity with nature (the series Onega, The Devonian Period, The Amulets).
This coveted unity is not a result of the expelling of a man from a city’s space, but lies in the feeling of harmony and wholeness that penetrates all Alexander Filippov’s works.
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