LOOK at me: a new look at S.Kubrick’s photos
As part of the festival of contemporary art Mykolaiv ART Week presented the exhibition “LOOK at me” in the art space *8 PRICHAL. Due to quarantine restrictions, the event was held without visitors.
The presented works are an actualization of photographs by the American director Stanley Kubrick of 1946-1950 through their interaction with digital instruments. Errors and accidents in signal processing generate a specific environment, through deformation that can bring new meanings into already established artistic structures and forms.
“What we see here is a totally new product. A kind of synergy of old America and the new reality conveyed by Ukrainian artists. Authors managed to turn documentaries into contemporary art with the help of graphic experiments,“ said Evgen Gomonjuk, co-organizer of the festival.
20 photos from the director’s photo archive are presented at the exhibition in the interpretation of contemporary Ukrainian artists – brothers Ivan and Vasyl Kostenko, also known as BRATY, who demonstrate a new look at aesthetic events.
In 1945, the future director was hired by LOOK Magazine – an American socio-political magazine, where special attention was paid to photography. Then 17-year-old Stanley Kubrick became the youngest photographer in the history of the magazine. He worked for the magazine for five years, until 1950. All these years Kubrick was commissioned to take reportage pictures of New York, photograph the daily life of the city and its inhabitants. During this time, he shot more than 15 thousand photos. They are all in the archives of the New York Museum and the Library of Congress. These are shots from nightclubs, social life, sports competitions and street photos. Redesign of digital photocopies from museum and library collections formed the basis of the exhibition “LOOK at me”.
Stanley Kubrick is an American director and producer frequently cited as one of the greatest filmmakers in cinematic history. He presented his first work in 1951 – the documentary “Day of the Fight” about boxer Rocky Graziano, and his first feature film “Fear and Desire” was released two years later. The war drama “Spartacus” brought popularity to the director, and Kubrick’s most popular films were “The Shining”, “Space Odyssey 2001”, “Clockwork Orange”, ” Full Metal Jacket” and “Eyes Wide Shut”.
The exhibition will last until May 16. The organizers hope that Mykolaiv will leave the red quarantine zone and that the restrictions on holding mass events will be eased accordingly. In this case, the works of the authors will be available for live viewing.
The festival of contemporary art Mykolaiv ART Week “CONNECT” 2021 realised by the MY ART Platform in partnership with the Mykolaiv Development Agency and the art space *8 PRICHAL with support of US Embassy in Ukraine.