All exhibitions
Igor Palmin. PAST PERFECT
Photographs from the Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin private collection
June 22 - September 11, 2011
The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation is pleased to present the personal exhibition of Igor Palmin - a classic of Russian photography.
Palmin is a unique master, well-known for his "photographic universalism" (the term by Anatoly Strigalov). He is the creator of one of the most large-scale photo chronicles of Moscow art life from 1970 through 1980, as well as a series of the so-called "portraits" of its participants. He has also become famous for photography of architecture.
The name of the exhibition has being given after one of his photo series, and reflects the main themes and motivations in the author's artistic works.
As Igor Palmin says himself:
"My photographs are about Time. I want Time to become the object of observations, the space which contains all of us with our concerns, our deeds, our bustle, and our appearances which sometimes reveal our inward nature, with the houses in which we lived and daily street routes. I would like to remember it through our meetings, intertwining of friendships, making acquaintance and parting. To represent this Time I choose strong, forceful name "Past Perfect" instead of weakly whispering "Proshedshee Sovershennoe".
The main part of the exhibition will show photographs, which reflect the atmosphere of 1970 - 1980s artistic life. That includes views of Soviet Moscow as well as "reportage" photos of such iconic events as exhibitions in Izmaylovskiy Park, pavilions "Bee Keeping" and "House of Culture" at VDNKH (All-Russia Exhibition Centre), the City Committee of Graphics, and unique photos of the artist's meetings in Lianozovo, as well as at collectors Georgiy Costaki, Alexandr Glezer and Leonid Talochkin homes.
The portraits of artists, poets, musicians and composers of generations replacing each other is another facet of Igor Palmin's creative work stored in the collection of the Ekaterina Culture Foundation. Although the author himself suggests that he is not a portraitist, and his photos are rather "close-up pictures", "pictures as mementos about the completed time", many of these works have already become classic images of persons imprinted on them.
The wonderful world of the artists' studios, caught by Igor Palmin's camera is a unique chance to know more about the work and the life of Vladimir Nemukhin, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Veisberg, Eduard Steinberg and many other artists.
Igor Palmin is not just photographer - observer, as he defines himself now, but also a direct participant in all of these events, he was an acquaintance or a friend of many nonconformists and collectors of unofficial art, and in his pictures today we can feel that permanently live tissue of a bygone era.
The photographs by Igor Palmin from the Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin collection, has not yet been publicly demonstrated – only a small part of them was shown at the "Field of Action" exhibition.
It is the first personal exhibition of the master, presenting his creative activity in 1970s - 1980s an a large scale. According to the founders - Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin, the urge for such a project has long been felt.
