[de]constructed LANDSCAPE
This is the first solo show of artist and photographer Oleg Savunov, who is currently completing his MFA at Stanford. The artist uses the genre of landscape to explore the limits of visual perception, conventional social frameworks and boundaries, and the social adaptation process. He manipulates his images either digitally, e.g. by erasing context, or physically, by setting a physical object in the landscape and photographing it.
Opening reception: Thursday, 10/27, 4-7pm
[If you are interested in purchasing a work, please contact the gallery for more information]
OLEG SAVUNOV
Autumn Forest 1, 2022
pigment print on archival paper
60 x 36 inches
edition of 2
OLEG SAVUNOV
Autumn Forest 2, 2022
pigment print on archival paper
60 x 36 inches
edition of 2
OLEG SAVUNOV
Autumn Forest 3, 2022
pigment print on archival paper
60 x 36 inches
edition of 2
"Autumn Forest" is a project about the universal human experience of the landscape, as well as the artist’s adaptation to a new home. The artist pastes photo wallpaper produced in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, which show typical Russian landscapes, onto a panel, searches the Bay Area for landscapes it could fit into, and then photographs it.
Departure, a four-channel video, shows the artist’s own body moving toward the horizon in four different places until it vanishes at the limits of sight. This disappearance symbolizes man's natural longing for nature and the unconscious desire to be united with it.
OLEG SAVUNOV
Self-enclosed 1, 2021
pigment print on translucent film, braces, bolts, fishing line
93 x 33 inches
unique
OLEG SAVUNOV
Self-enclosed 2, 2021
pigment print on translucent film, braces, bolts, fishing line
56 x 44 inches
unique
OLEG SAVUNOV
Self-enclosed 3, 2021
pigment print on translucent film, braces, bolts, fishing line
75 x 42 inches
unique
OLEG SAVUNOV
Self-enclosed 4, 2021
pigment print on translucent film, braces, bolts, fishing line
66 x 36 inches
unique
The idea of boundaries continues in the “Self-Enclosed” project. The artist digitally manipulates images of fences and barriers that only really function symbolically, as opposed to physically, in the landscape. The large-scale translucent images suspended in the air emphasize the absurdity and artificiality of the man-made structures that impose borders and ownership on the natural world.
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 1, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
24 x 17 inches
edition 1 of 3
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 2, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
24 x 17 inches
edition 1 of 3
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 3, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
24 x 17 inches
edition 1 of 3
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 4, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
24 x 17 inches
edition 1 of 3
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 5, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
8.5 x 6 inches
edition 1 of 3
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 6, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
8.5 x 6 inches
edition 1 of 5
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 7, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
8.5 x 6 inches
edition 1 of 5
numbered and signed
OLEG SAVUNOV
Blindspot 8, 2017
framed pigment print on archival paper
24 x 17 inches
edition 1 of 5
numbered and signed
The “Blindspot” project explores the limits of visual perception and questions the authenticity of the photographic image. The white rectangle in the photographs is a light-reflecting fabric, illuminated by the flash and therefore completely textureless. While the light reflected from the fabric refers to the returned gaze, the digitally erased construction that holds the fabric questions the status of the photograph as a print of reality.
