Alexander Gronsky Photography Review

Landscape as a mold of the world by Alexander Gronsky

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Born in 1980 in Tallinn Estonia . Since 2006: lives in New York. Member of Photographer agency since 2004. Works for the press and for major companies and nonprofit organizations. Published in Esquire, “Afisha MIR”, Wallpaper UK , Newsweek USA , Art + Auction USA , Conde Nast Traveller USA , Le Monde 2, Geo, Economist, Business Week USA , Vanity Fair Germany , Stern, Spiegel, “Big City”, AD, Ojode Pez, Intelligent Life UK . Photographer Gallery exhibitor since 2007.

South Tushino. New York, 2009.

Courtesy of Gallery.Photographer

Personal exhibitions: 2011: “Mountains and Waters”. L’Escale Gallery, France 2011: The Frontier and Background. Included in the 4th International Photoart Festival in Bielsko-Biala, Poland 2011: “Border”. In the framework of the International Photography Festival in Bogota, Colombia 2011: “The Border”. Aperture Gallery, New York 2010: Foam Paul Huf Award 2010. Foam_Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam 2009: “The Border”. Photographer Gallery, New York 2008: Background. Photographer Gallery, New York Awards: 2011: Winner of Prix Photographique Ville de Levallois-Epson 2010: Winner of Paul Huf 2009: Winner of Aperture Portfolio Prize 2009: Inclusion in Critical Mass Top 50 2009: Grand Prix in Silver Camera awards in Events and Everyday Life category 2009: Chosen by Foam International Photography Magazine for a special issue of Talent 2009: First prize in the Linhof Young Photographer Award 2008: Winner of the American Kandinsky Prize for Contemporary Art 2004: Finalist of the prestigious Ian Parry Award for Documentary Photography by the British Observer magazine 2003: Participant in the World Press Photo Masterclasses by Yuri Fedoseyev. Joopa Swarta, Netherlands 2000-2002: Three first prizes in Press Photo of America. Alexander Gronsky’s works are in the collections of Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam , Statoil Stavanger Israel Museum Jerusalem , Gallery.Photographer New York , in private collections in America and abroad. A representative of the young generation of photographers, those who began working in the digital era of photography. All the more surprising because of his use of the classics and his desire to reinterpret the classic landscape. To breathe in new meaning and new reality. His two-part panoramas in Water and Mountains series link the viewer to the traditions of Chinese scrolls, and his new project Pastoral to the paintings of Flemish painters. Recognizable, his style is distinguished by cosmic detachment. He is known by audiences all over the world, be it China, Australia, Colombia, France, Italy or Poland. He received his first awards for documentary photography at the age of twenty. His “Frontier” series was an instant success and commercial success. They talk and write about him and study his work. Take, for instance, the opinion of Simon Njami, independent curator, art critic, essayist and lecturer at San Diego State University in California: “Gronsky is reviving the tradition of documentary photography. His work uses a narrative of “heartfelt detachment” that reveals to us the whole world through the classic technique of photography.

His exhibition “Pastoral” was held this fall in New York at the Photographer’s Gallery. Before it began, I was able to ask Alexander a few questions.

– Are you an Estonian photographer??

– No, although I was born in Tallinn and lived there until I was seventeen. That’s Google’s fault: a person types in my last name, sees that I was born in Estonia, and then automatically thinks I’m an Estonian photographer. Now you can write Estonia/America/Latvia next to my last name. For three years now I’ve been living in Riga.

– Who are your parents??

– My father is from Rostov-on-Don, my mother is a Kuban Cossack by birth, but they have nothing to do with photography or art.

– Did you study photography somewhere??

– No, nowhere. After high school I went to St. Petersburg and worked for ten years as a magazine photographer.

– Confirming the well-known situation: the easiest way to become a photographer is to pick up a camera and you’re in the profession?..

– Well, yes, I’m the only lucky one: I met the right people in the beginning who were attentive to me. At first I worked for the St. Petersburg magazine Red, which was dedicated to cultural life and opened long before Afisha.

– Who exactly helped me, taught me, can you tell me?

– For the new generation of photographers, which I am, the Internet is enough to inform themselves, to set goals and to have some reference points. I think if I could have studied in England or America, I would have saved myself four or five years, but I would have rather become a different kind of photographer. It’s hard to say. I learned a lot of things on my own, slowly..

– You progressed from documentary to artistic photography?

– You could say that, although still what I do is documentary photography. It’s quite a documentary approach. Aestheticization is inevitable. But the more I look at my work, the more I become convinced that this is a classical landscape that evolved from the 17th to the 21st century. There was a failure in the 19th century, when painting stopped being interested in the landscape as an exploration of reality, and photography was carried away by immediacy, documentality, and so on. Photography, in my opinion, is the most actual and convenient way to explore the world.

– You have a “humanized landscape”..

– Without a trace of human life, without a human being, a landscape is meaningless, because for me the essence of a landscape is a complex interaction of many elements. Landscape, and art in general, is not about figuring out what’s beautiful or ugly, right? Landscape for me, starting with Bruegel, is a testament to how complex the world is. It seems to me that since Bruegel’s time, the framework of the genre hasn’t changed. People often ask me why you shoot five-story buildings, it’s not pretty. To repeat, for me it is not important “beautiful or ugly”, for me it is important to understand and show how unique it all is arranged. I have a sense of respect for this incredibly complex reality. Everything does not appear by itself, based on cause and effect.

– But your works are filled with light and harmony..

– I have no desire to either aestheticize reality or demonize it. Take the five-story buildings: some people are annoyed by them, while others dream of having housing in them. They shouldn’t be measured in terms of “good – bad.”. They are in our lives, they are what they are.

– How do you frame your shot?? What is the most important thing about taking pictures??

– In my opinion, all the elements in a landscape must interact. That can give you a feeling of detachment from the gaze. It’s important to me that everything in the frame should be “equal” to each other, equal, and of equal value, so that there is no domination. You have to wait a long time for the right condition and light.

– You take photos with a digital camera?

– No, not as long as film, medium and large format. I might do my next project with a digital camera.

– You say that you haven’t studied anywhere, but your works don’t give off that feeling. Where does the “cultural layer” come from??

– It accumulates. My knowledge of art history comes from my work. When a question arises, you start to “dig”, to gather information, thank God everything is available.

– How do your parents feel about your profession?

– Normal, respectful. The main thing is to be independent and to create.

– Do you have children??

– Yes, my son Luca, he’s two years old.

– Do you feel that children should be taught photography from an early age??

– Not sure: it’s quite a complicated process. I don’t see any need for that.

– What do you think is the secret of your success??

– Success? I am in the beginning. It depends what you measure success by, though. If you want to do what you like and not work to order, there are two ways. One: work as a locksmith, banker, cab driver, whatever, and in my free time do the kind of photography I like. The second way: get involved in the art market. It is clear that such photographs are not interesting for magazines, not because they are bad, but because they are not “magazine style” by nature, if the magazine is not about art. It’s perfectly normal: there are magazines that live by their business model and solve their problems, and there are photographers who solve their problems, and it doesn’t have to overlap. So if your goal is to do exactly what you want from start to finish, the gallery market is the only possible way. At least for me. I don’t know how to do anything else. But it’s a complicated market, and it’s hard to talk about any kind of success here. Three years ago I switched from magazine work to working for a gallery, it’s still hard for me to judge my success. Not a commercial success in any case. Three years ago, as a magazine photographer, I was making twice as much as I am now as a “successful gallery photographer”.

– The Gallery helps with projects?

– Yes. We have long-term agreements, it’s not a story of any commercial success, but it allows me not to work as someone else – an advertising or magazine photographer, for example.

– And if you’re offered some kind of money project, would you refuse??

– Not if it doesn’t take too much time. I have no principled position not to work with magazines or ads. If the project doesn’t take up all my time and gives me an additional opportunity for a gallery project, then of course I will take that order. But I have refused on principle to work which requires my constant involvement and doesn’t allow me to do what I want. I can’t do both. Being a photographer is a wonderful profession in itself: you travel, you shoot, you meet people, you’re in the creative process. It’s silly to complain. Dovlatov said it very well: at first I wanted to be an average and strong writer, then I realized that this was not enough for me, but you don’t ask God for more. If I happen to live in this world, why not ask God for the best: to do what I want? Being my own criterion..

– And you are your own judge… You select the works yourself?

– We have done three exhibitions with galleries, we usually discuss expositions in advance and there was no case of us arguing or me wanting to change anything. A very high level of understanding and trust.

– This year you submitted your project for the Kandinsky Prize?

– Yes, this one – “Pastoral” – but it didn’t even make it through the preliminary round.

– It can’t be!..

– It’s a contest, it’s only natural… A contest is a big lottery. I’ve been on the jury of competitions a couple of times, and I’m well aware of how random the choice can be. The bigger the contest, the more random. There’s a huge amount of work that needs to be reviewed in the shortest amount of time.

Larissa Greenberg, whose gallery and the Photographer Agency of the same name represent Alexander Gronsky, says this about him and his interaction with the author

– Sasha and I found each other long ago. At the beginning of the agency’s creation. Sasha quickly became the most successful and sought-after photographer. Working with him for the agency, we began to realize that besides being a good magazine photographer, he also had the makings of a great artist. It was obvious. In 2008 we opened his first exhibition in our gallery. At the same time we decided on a pool of photographers we would like to work with, support and develop them. Sasha was one of them. And so it went. The third exhibition is the most interesting, the most conceptual. It’s cleaner, more serious than the first one. We only show 15 works so there’s a clean conceptual story. The gallery relieves Sasha of a great deal of routine work, we sell his work, we “manage” the process, fund him, and support him so that he can pursue his projects. It’s very difficult to combine being an artist and a magazine photographer: you lose concentration. We also take on the organization of exhibitions abroad. Sasha helps us in this, he’s the perfect partner. But the labeling, transportation, editing, announcements, supporting documentation, contracts – everything you need for any exhibition project is at the gallery. It’s a colossal job! The author that the gallery would like to work with must have not only talent but also the qualities of a partner: not to be in defiance, to help the gallery. Sasha does a lot of work: he sends his work to contests, he exhibits.

We try to get as much support from our artists as we can. I understand that there are a lot of interesting young authors I’d like to work with, but I’m beating myself up, because I must not forget about those with whom I already have agreements and obligations. First them, then the others. Besides, no matter how talented young people are, it takes a lot of effort to produce and publicize a new name, to get through to curators and critics. The formula for success is this: in order for the name to ring more or less in the minds of viewers and critics, there must be at least three exhibitions a year. Approximately three years should pass since the start of the promotion campaign. Besides, if you don’t like this author, if you don’t believe in him, nothing will work!

Before we open an exhibition, we think long and hard about the concept: we have to connect the project with our gallery, to link the second exhibition with the previous one, to explain the uniqueness of the project, to explain where the author “grows legs”, with whom he is creatively connected, what he brings new, to formulate the exhibition concept for the viewer and critics. We carefully work out texts and concepts and put them into context. When the criticism makes sense, we feel better. It’s hard in the beginning.

I also asked Vanya Mikhailov, a young photographer from Cheboksary, who recently returned from an artists’ residency in Düsseldorf. This is what he said:

– When I showed my pictures people said to me: well, it’s like Gronsky’s. I like his work. I’m close to the state he conveys. Sometimes it seems to me that I move in parallel with it, but on my own way. Gransky was the first to do it and he did it well. It is a developed European language, which has been around for several decades. Gronsky uses a visual language which he is fluent in, and captures America in a way no one has ever done before. And it’s understandable to Europeans. The strange thing happened: the Iron Curtain fell a long time ago, but no one knows what we’re doing. There are very few visual, photographic, documentary projects about America. Western photographers are rushing to America because it is a huge uncharted territory. A vast endless country with lots of black holes. You can and should work in it. I came back from Dusseldorf with the certainty that I will be doing my projects in America. Emotional component of life is off the scale here. This is a strong feature. It needs to be felt and shown. America – a unique place to explore.

Mitino. New York, 2009. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

Rostov the Great, 2006.

Courtesy of Gallery.Photographer

Vladivostok IV, 2006. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

South Butovo, 2007. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

Brateevo. New York, 2009. Courtesy of Gallery.Photographer

Vladivostok II, 2006. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

New Mytishchi. 2010. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

Otradnoye. 2009. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

Taininskoye. 2010. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer

Port Vanino ll. 2008. Courtesy of

Gallery.Photographer