40 x 49.5 cm
Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball by Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov features a concrete monument of women volleyball players before the railway station in the village of Vodyanoye, Kharkiv region. It’s a typical Soviet sculptural composition, thousands of which were casted in the USSR during this period. Many can still be found all over post-Soviet territories, leading to regular debates on the destiny of this visual heritage in Ukraine. Looking at the shabby state of the figures, it’s difficult to believe the Kochetovs’ image was taken just a year after the collapse of the USSR. The photograph is metaphorical for Ukrainian-Russian conflict, as the inscriptions “Kyiv” and “M” (hinting at Moscow) are highlighted on the jerseys of the volleyball players. In light of ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, this scene can be perceived as an anti-monument to the system that exhausted all its inner relations. The sculptural composition becomes a testimony of the past, and the overpainting reveals the traces of time.
Viktor Kochetov became engaged in photography in 1968 and was also a professional photographer in film and photo laboratories. A significant part of his body of work was created together with his son Sergiy Kochetov. The Kochetovs’ art practice is based on cooperation and the mutual exchange of ideas. Their collaborative work shifts focus to scenes of bold, non-staged reality of the late-Soviet to post-Soviet periods. The artists are well-known for their extensive usage of hand-coloring black and white prints, which is rooted in the tradition of “luriki”—enlarged, retouched, and often tinted photographic portraits. Both Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov belong to the Kharkiv School of Photography. Since the mid-70s, the artists associated with this movement have treated photography in an unconventional way, developing personal aesthetics by defying the cultural taboos associated with representation. Their experiments created an iconography that went against the codes of social realism used to glorify the repressive Soviet state.
Valuable Paintings Found in Unusual Places | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
Soft Materials is a curious, touching but also disturbing sequence of confrontations between two people: a man and a woman, and machines...
Landslides is a cinematographic essay/poem by Caroline Déodat in which fictional images are the result of research into the memories of a Mauritian dance born during colonial slavery, the Sega...
In a society saturated by images, Eric Baudelaire is interested in political events that have not found their representation...