Evgeniy Pavlov

Total Photography (1990 - 1994)

Curator: Valentyn Odnoviun

Evgeniy Pavlov (b. 1949, Kharkiv) is a Ukrainian artist who mainly works with photography. In 1971, Pavlov was among the co-founders of the Kharkiv photographic group “Vremia,” which became one of the main driving forces for the development of conceptual photography in the Soviet Union. Pavlov experimented with different techniques and photographic styles throughout his artistic activity, using wide-angle and panoramic lenses, overlays, popular among Kharkiv photographers, montages, and other types of manipulations with the photographic image. The exhibition presents a selection of photographs from the series “Total Photography” created between 1990 and 1994. In this series, Pavlov confronted himself against the limitations of photographic discourse. He considered a photograph a starting point of the artist’s expression rather than just an outcome of the mechanical process. Taking negatives as a basis for constructing alternative realities, Pavlov manipulating them created overlays and montages and interrupted the image’s surface with scratches, dust, colouring, and emulsion deformation, seeking new ways of expression and extension of borders of photography. The artist considers photography a wide range of different possibilities to free himself and enable freedom of interpretation for the viewer. “Total Photography” was partially shown at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, the USA in 1991; “Lichtblick” art gallery in Cologne, Germany in 1993; and Month of Photography in Bratislava, Slovakia, together with works of Boris Mikhailov, in 1994. For the first time, the entire series was shown in 1994.

Evgeniy Pavlov

Evgeniy Pavlov (b. 1949) is a Ukrainian photographer, based in Kharkiv. Actively involved in photography since the late 1960s using different techniques such as hand coloring and collage. One of the co-founders of the unofficial photography group Vremya created in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1971. The group was creating provocations and conceptualizations in its works which did not conform to the official propaganda and was dissent for its time. In the 1990s, Evgeniy Pavlov started to work on a project titled Total Photography, in which he uses all the techniques of image manipulation known to him. Evgeniy Pavlov is one of only a few from his generation who are still working further on their projects. In 1994, Total Photography was exhibited in the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University, CAC and University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, USA. Latest exhibition of the project was shown at Paris Photo 2018, France.

Exhibition Availability

The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic – European Art Centre, 1 Odeska Street, exhibition open until 18.10.21, Tue-Wed 8:30-16:00, Thu-Sun 11:30-17:00