Alexander Gronsky

born in 1980 in Tallin (Estonia)

Born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1980, Alexander Gronsky currently lives and works in Moscow, Russia. His photographic practice focuses on landscapes. Abandoned and quiet, they offer a reflection on the impact of the environment on local populations.> Read more

For his series Less Than One (2006-2009), the photographer travelled to Russia’s most isolated regions, where the population density does not surpass one inhabitant per square kilometer. He continues on the same path with The Edge (2008-2009), a documentary essay documenting Moscow enveloped in snow. These wide and hostile expanses are the theater of stories without drama, those of isolated and silent lives. The solemn atmosphere of Gronsky’s universe leaves room only for solitude and meditation.

After receiving the Foam Paul Huf prize in 2010 for The Edge, Alexander Gronsky expanded his horizons, travelling to the edges of China’s megacities: Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzen, where the restless atmosphere creates a disorder nearing chaos. Mountains & Waters (2011) is a series of large-format diptychs in which the photographer applied a Chinese conception of landscape: an intellectual approach rather than a descriptive one.

Pastoral (2008-2012), Gronsky’s magnum opus of Russian landscapes was awarded the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2009. He also received the 3rd prize of the 2012 World Press Photo competition in the « Everyday Life » category. For this series, the photographer returned to Moscow’s suburbs to explore it’s urban fringes and abandoned terrains. 

Schema (2014-2016) is the artist’s latest project, which is made up of a series of diptychs realized in collaboration with his partner, the photographer Ksenia Babushkina. Its first chapter was published in the spring of 2016 and the second was published in the winter of 2017. 

Yuznoye Tushino, Moscow, Russia, 2009

Exhibitions at Polka Galerie

Exhibitions at Polka Galerie

Something Is Going On Here Something Is Going On Here Something Is Going On Here Something Is Going On Here Something Is Going On Here

Alexander Gronsky

Something Is Going On Here
November 11, 2022 - January 11, 2023
Mountains & Waters Mountains & Waters Mountains & Waters Mountains & Waters Mountains & Waters

Alexander Gronsky

Mountains & Waters
January 25 - March 3, 2012
Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral

Alexander Gronsky

Pastoral
January 25 - March 15, 2014
Act & ReenAct Act & ReenAct Act & ReenAct Act & ReenAct Act & ReenAct

Alexander Gronsky

Act & ReenAct
September 13 - October 30, 2014
EST // OUEST : ICÔNES EST // OUEST : ICÔNES EST // OUEST : ICÔNES EST // OUEST : ICÔNES EST // OUEST : ICÔNES

Alexander Gronsky

EST // OUEST : ICÔNES
November 19, 2010 - February 19, 2011

Selected Publications

[24-02-2022] [24-02-2022] [24-02-2022] [24-02-2022] [24-02-2022]

Alexander Gronsky

[24-02-2022]
LES ÉDITIONS EMPREINTES & DIGITALES, 2022
Répétition Répétition Répétition Répétition Répétition

Alexander Gronsky

Répétition
Polka, 2019
MOUNTAINS AND WATERS MOUNTAINS AND WATERS MOUNTAINS AND WATERS MOUNTAINS AND WATERS MOUNTAINS AND WATERS

Alexander Gronsky

MOUNTAINS AND WATERS
THE VELVET CELL, 2018
Norilsk Norilsk Norilsk Norilsk Norilsk

Alexander Gronsky

Norilsk
The Velvet Cell, 2015
Less Than One Less Than One Less Than One Less Than One Less Than One

Alexander Gronsky

Less Than One
Tycoon Books, 2014
Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral

Alexander Gronsky

Pastoral
Contrasto, 2013

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

Something is going on here

Gallery Polka, Paris, 2022

Time and Place

Pennlab Gallery, Moscow, Russia, 2021

Répétition

KVOST, Berlin, 2020

Shanghai ! La Tentation de l’Occident

Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France, 2012

Mountains & Waters

Festival Photo Levallois, Levallois, France, 2011

The Edge

Fotografica Bogota, Bogota, Colombia, 2011

Foam Paul Huf Award

Foam_Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2010