Metaphor and the project
Abstract
The portfolio of the russian artist- photographer and a teacher- psychologist at the Moscow University for Humanities, Viacheslav Kabanov, titled Metaphor and the project is accompanied by text from the very famous russian curator and artist Oleg Arnautov, who described Viacheslav ́s artwork as: “a set of thought forms. The spaces he creates are connected more with his thoughts, conclusions; they are the result of his observations, and not the process of studying the object. And that is why theatre is organically present
in his creative laboratory. People and things play in this theatre. He creates metaphors one by one, and then formally combines them into a series or a project. With all the emotionality of the final print we can observe the extraordinary organization and rational sequence of the author. Everything is verified, all stages of work are subordinated to his concept, his idea. And this feature is visible even in the works where an object or light can’t be controlled; they can be just “properly shot”. Viacheslav Kabanov works subordinating all visual possibilities to his idea. And here his directing is, of course, project-based. The author for me in this sense is a modern artist, contemporary artist.” Working on specific projects, focusing on a specific topic, looking for new opportunities that photography can offer, never stop at a once understood and accessible solution, search, luck, failure and analysis are most interesting and important for Viacheslav Kabanov as an artist. He uses different techniques and technologies: analogue, digital and their combination. The main theme for him is the human, the inner experiences, fears and conflicts. His inner world, its collision with the outside world generates conflicts and dramas, which become the basis for his projects. He believes that it is impossible to solve any problems at the level of humanity without dealing with inner demons. Photography for him is like psychotherapy. Tarkovsky and Bergman are the two directors who are closest to him in visual level as an inspiration, mainly the psychologism of their characters and the depth of penetration into a person. Photography and psychology are closely linked, of course due to the fact, that he saw the collapse of an empire, the fall of values, the collapse of human destinies, pain, suffering and the birth of a new empire. This all is reflected in his artwork.
Key words
Contemporary Russian photography, Viacheslav Kabanov, Slava Kabanov, portrait, nude, black-and-white photography, film photography, hand- print photography, conceptual photography, photographic series, Oleg Arnautov
KABANOV, V.: Metaphor and the project. In European Journal of Media, Art & Photography, 2019, Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 34-77. ISSN 1339-4940.