All author's works
The traditional idea of photography presupposes a direct connection with reality: an image of an object directly belonging to reality and specific moment in time, is fixed on a light-sensitive surface. An important myth of the twentieth century, the objectivity and “transparency” of photographic optics, was finally destroyed by the introduction of digital technology, but image realism still remains the basic principle. Maxim Ivanov plays with this clichéd idea: in his series “Grails” he demonstrates how photography can be used to create magical illusions and realistic mirages. The objects he captures were created on a traditional potter’s wheel and documented with a camera. But these jugs, bottles and cups have never been seen in person; they exist only in photographs. The reason is that instead of clay, he used light from a bent phosphor stick, instead of water he used time, or rather long exposure, and the light-fixing properties of photographic film as a hardening fire. The result is a collection of bodiless forms existing solely in the perception of the viewer, called illusions.
Intentions Serias
“Straight Intentions” is actually a performance, but its full-fledged aesthetic perception is only possible through photo documentation. The author projects the beam of a construction laser on forest vegetation, contrasting the statics of the tool against the free and wild growing grass. Ivanov himself calls his performance “artistic intervention”. This is how he describes his concept: “Twilight falls. Maxim enters the forest. All around him there is a blaze of life, which can hardly be described in a coherent way. It is a space of wild, willful and diverse nature. Armed with a precise construction tool, the artist rips through innumerable barriers blocking his way with his laser light. The work is in fact a performance art piece. But the photographic documentation of this intervention proves more revealing than its direct observation. The long exposure reveals the contrast between the irrepressible dynamics of the living forest and the statics of the laser dividing it into straight, rational and counter-natural quadrants formed by strictly horizontal and vertical lines. A simple clear form creates a virtual horizon, and the world in the perception of the viewer is divided into small pieces.”
