Five years ago Alexander Gronsky freed himself of the classical codes imposed by landscape photography that can be found in his previous series “Less than one” (2006-2008), “The Edge” (2008-2010), “Pastoral” (2008-2012) and “Norilsk” (2013). 

In 2005 the photographer began working on the series “Schema”, which was exhibited at Polka Galerie in 2017. In it, he had already begun experimenting with all the technical assets photography could offer: flash, exposure, varied angles and colors, in order to manipulate and disorient the viewer’s sense of perception. This new approach embodied the antithesis of the photographic medium’s original objective: to reproduce reality. He captured seemingly identical façades with minute differences, a repeating flow of advertisements, each one resembling the last… Gronsky was thus applying the principle of repetition as a “trompe-l’oeil” in order to highlight the disfigured face of Soviet urbanism. 

In his new works, now exhibited at Polka Galerie, this principle of repetition becomes a systematic process. “Our societies are made up entirely of repetitions,” says Gronsky, “and of anticipated desires. […] Everyone wants the same things. I do not mean to judge this as a good or bad thing. It is simply a fact. 

“Repetition” re-applies the same techniques used in “Schema”. Alexander Gronsky captures near-identical buildings in different locations and juxtaposes them adjacent to one another. In some pieces, however the differences lie not in architectural structures but in the characters that inhabit these photographed worlds. How do they behave? “I am trying to question the issue of rebellion,” Gronsky says. “Some people walk in the same direction, while others try to swim against the current.” 

In another act of repetition the photographer returns to the same locations many years later. “Documenting changes seems important to me.” He even goes so far as to break down movement, representing what the human eye cannot see (à la Muybridge) in endless repetition… Napoleon once said, “Repetition is the greatest figure of speech.” With his new series Alexander Gronsky thus becomes the most eloquent of photographers. 

The issues I explore in my work are not concerned primarily with the post-soviet reality, but rather with universality.”