Untitled

1997

Artwork information

Author: Sergiy Solonsky
Project: Art-book “Boudoir”
Name: Untitled
Year: 1997
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 20x15 cm
Provenance: The artist's private archive
Catalog number: SOLS-155(1997)
Inscription: Inscriptions are absent
Key words: genitalia, nude photography, woman

About the artist

Untitled

Sergiy Solonsky (born 1957, Osipenko village, Berdyansk district, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine) — one of the important personalities of Kharkiv photographic community. In 1975 began studying Chemistry at М. Grokiy Kharkiv State University (V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University now), but dropped out after a third year. While being a student, he attended a cinema club and gradually got interested in photography. Became an active participant of exhibitions since the late 1980s, drawing the public attention with his collages (Bestiary series). Solonskiy’s compositions develop the principle of “module collage”, which is based on creating an image by repeating one element (Phallic Heraldry series). His pieces are defined by the inclination towards the surreal vision of body: corporeal metamorphosis are represented not only with the help of montage, but other techniques, such as long exposure as well (Oscillations, 1993-1994). Despite his love for straight photography, it rarely appears in Solonsky’s oeuvre of the 1990s, mainly in some separate shots and two documentary series (Let’s have a drink and Moonshiners). Sergiy was a member of The Fast Reaction Group in the mid-1990s together with Boris Mikhailov, Sergiy Bratkov and Vita Mikhailov. Since 2000, works at V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University.

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Photo credit — Fast Reaction Group, 1995.

Solo exhibitions

1992 — “Body Art”, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

1994 — “Неофотоэкспрессионизм” (Neophotoexpressionism), together with Boris Mikhailov and Sergiy Bratkov, Kharkiv Fine Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine

1994 —“Фотонеоэкспрессионизм” (Photoneoexpressionism), together with Boris Mikhailov and Sergiy Bratkov, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

1995 — “Если бы я был немцем” (If I Were a German), as part of Fast Reaction Group, Marat Guelman gallery, Moscow, Russia

1995 — “Oscillations”, Brotfabrik gallery, Berlin, Germany

1995 — “If I Were a German”, as part of Fast Reaction Group, Brotfabrik gallery and Andreas Weiss, Berlin, Germany

1995 — “Выборы” (Elections), Duo-exhibition with Sergiy Bratkov, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

1996 — “Все мои жены были девственицами” (All my Wives were Virgins), Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

1996 — “Рафаэль” (Raphael), as part of Fast Reaction Group, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

2003 — Atelier Karas gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine

2004 — “Пятый элемент” (The Fifth Element), “The Met. Express — Kharkiv — Kyiv — A Non- stop Trip”, Soviart Centre for Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine (coordinator — Tetiana Tumasian)

2004 — “Let’s have a drink!”, Marat Guelman gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine

2019 — “Коливання” (Oscillations), COME-IN art gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine (curator — Sergiy Lebedynskyy)

Group exhibitions

1986 — Palace of Culture of Builders, Kharkiv, USSR

1987 — “Venus”, Krakow Photographic Society, Krakow, Poland

1987 — “Ф-87” (F-87), Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR

1993 — “Kharkiv Photography”, Museum of Industrial Culture, Nürnberg, Germany

1995 — “Синдром Кандинского” (Kandinsky syndrome), Odesa Museum of Local History, Odesa, Ukraine (curators — Oleksandr Roitburd, Mikhailo Rashkovetskiy)

1995 — “Аналіз крові” (Blood Analysis), Blank-Art gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Oleksandr Solovyov)

1995 — “Multiple Exposures: Ukrainian Photography Today”, Rutgers Art Center, Zimmerly Museum, New Jersey, USA

1997 — “Фотосинтез” (Photosynthesis), Central House of Artist, Kyiv, Ukraine

1997 — V International “Impresa-97” Biennial , Centre for aesthetic education and workshop-gallery Sigma, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

1998 — “Публичный интерес” (Public interest), Central House of Artist, Kyiv, Ukraine

1999 — “Сarte blanche a Boris Mikhailov”, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

1999 — “Вкус чужого” (The Taste of the Other), Tokio Restaurant, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Nadia Prigodych)

1999-2000 — “Future is Now Ukrainian Art in the Nineties”, Museum of Contemporary Art (n.d.), Škuc gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia (February 10 — March 17 2000), City Gallery Collegium artisticum, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzogovina (December 5 — December 20 2000) (curator — Branka Stipančić, Tihomir Milovac)

2000 — “Artist Books / Photos with Text”, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

2000 — “Новые направления” (New Directions), Central House of Artist, Kyiv, Ukraine

2002 — “Любовь похожая на song” (The life that is similar to song), Cultural Heroes International Festival, Ra gallery, Plast-Art gallery, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Ukraine

2003 — “Первая коллекция” (First Collection), Central House of Artist, Kyiv, Ukraine

2004 — “Прощай, оружие” (Farewell to Arms), Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Oleksandr Solovyov)

2004 — “Fotograficy z Charkowa”, City gallery Arsenal, Poznan, Poland (curator — Tetiana Tumasian)

2007 — “Таинственное” (Mysterious), Kharkiv municipal art gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine

2008 — “Інсайт. Українська чорно-біла фотографія. XXI століття” (Insight. Black and White Photography. XXI century), Kharkiv municipal art gallery, Kharkiv, Dim Mykoly gallery, Kyiv, Dzyga gallery, Lviv, Ukraine

2008 — “Лабораторія української фотографії” (Laboratory of Ukrainian Photography), KievFotoCom festival, Lavra city gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Tetiana Tumasian)

2010 — “Ukrainian photography 1989-2009”, Bratislava Month of Photography, Clarissine Church, Bratislava, Slovakia (curators — Irina Rusina, Natalia Tarasova)

2012 — “Художники за честные выборы” (Artist for Fair Elections), together with Sergiy Bratkov, Paperworks gallery, Vinzavod Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia

2012 — “Міф ‘Українське бароко’ ” (Myth ‘Ukrainian Baroque’), National Art Museum (curators — Halina Sklyarenko, Oksana Barshynova)

2013 — “Акт неповиновения. Тело как протест в харьковской фотографии 1970-2010 гг.” (Act of Disobedience. Body as a Protest in Kharkiv Photography of 1970s-2010s) , Lumiere brothers Center for Photography, Moscow, Russia (curator – Katerina Zuyeva)

2014 — “Окуповані мистецтвом” (Occupied by Art), YermilovCentre, Kharkiv, Urkaine (curator — Volodimyr Hulych)

2016 — “Дослідницька платформа: Провина” (Research Platform: Guilt), PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Tatiana Kochubinska)

2017 — “Харків. 18+” (Kharkiv. 18+), Odesa//Batumi Photo Days 2017 festival, Odesa Museum of Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine (curator — Sergiy Lebedynskyy)

2018 — “Політика тіла. Харківська фотографія із колекції родини Гриньових” (Body Politics), Maslo gallery, Khmelnytskyi (curator — Halina Hleba)

2018 — “École photographique de Kharkiv”, Kherson Museum of Modern Art, Kherson, Ukraine (curator — Victoria Bavykina)

2019 — “Харківська школа фотографії з колекції сім’ї Гриньових” (Kharkiv school of photography from Grynovs’ family collection”, Mironova Foundation gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Victoria Bavykina)

2019 — “Перетинаючи межу” (Crossing lines), PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Björn Geldhof, Martin Kiefer, Alicia Knock)

2019 — “Storytelling from Kharkiv: Singular Voices”, Galerie nomade Alexandra De Viveiros, Paris, France (curator — Nadiia Kovalchuk)

Publications:

Ilushyna, Tatyana. “Jokes by Jack”. Парта, no.2 (1998): 53.

Kuzma, Marta. “Will the real Shevchenko please stand up? Culture and its predicaments in Ukraine”. In Conference in Wroclaw, Poland, June 2009. https://apexart.org/conference/kuzma.php.

Pavlova, Tatiana. “The Realm of Flora”. Imago, no.12 (2001): 46-54.

“Sergei Solonsky”. VASA Journal on Images and Culture. http://vasa-project.com/gallery/ukraine-2/solonsky/index-solonsky.php.

Solovyov, Alexander. “PHOTOSHOCK without PHOTOSHOP (Photography in Kievs exhibitions in 1998, Ukraine)”. Imago, no. 6 (1998): 48-52.

Барски, Фил [Barsky, Fil]. “Ещё не Сотбис, но уже не ‘Сотис’ ” [Not Sotheby’s yet, but already not ‘Sotis’]. Фотография, no.7-8 (1992): 22-23.

Квасній, Олена [Kvasny, Olena]. “У Гельмана частують самогоном” [They treat you with moonshine at Guelman’s]. Вечірній Київ, 2004. http://kiev.guelman.ru/exhibitions/samogon/.

Краснящих, Андрей та Владимир Фёдоров [Krasnyashchyih Andriy and Vladimir Fedorov]. “Солонский: ‘Я поменял серебро на кремний’ ” [Solonsky: I’ve changed silver for silicon]. НАШ, no. 61 (2006). https://archive.org/stream/20031011/61_2_web%20%289%29#page/n17/mode/2up.

“КультУра: Сергій Солонський” [CultUra: Sergiy Solonsky]. 2017. http://kultura.kharkov.ua/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=10.

Ложкина, Алиса [Lozhkina, Alisa]. “О выставке Сергея Солонского “Давай выпьем!’ ” [On Sergey Solonsky’s show ‘Let’s have a drink’]. http://kiev.guelman.ru/rus/exhibitions/lozhkina-solonskiy/.

Лямшин, Игорь [Liamshym, Igor]. “С влагой по жизни” [With wetness through life]. Понедельник, 2004. http://kiev.guelman.ru/rus/exhibitions/vlaga/

Манко, Игорь [Manko, Igor]. “Сергей Солонский: ‘Мой дед продал корову, чтобы купить цейсовский объектив’ ” [Sergey Solonsky ‘My grandpa sold a cow to buy a Zeiss lens]. Korydor: журнал про сучасну культуру, 2016. http://www.korydor.in.ua/ua/voices/sergej-solonskij-moj-ded-prodal-korovu-chtoby-kupit-obektiv.html.

Міф “Українське Бароко” [Myth ‘Ukrainian Baroque’]. Ed. by Galina Sklyarenko and Oksana Barshynova. Kyiv: Майстер книг, 2012.

Павлова, Татьяна [Pavlova Tatiana]. “Арт-акции харьковской ‘Группы быстрого реагирования’ в украинском искусстве 1990-х годов” [Art actions of Fast Reaction Group in the Ukrainian art of the 1990s]. Четверті Платонівські читання. Kyiv: Національна академія образотворчого мистецтва і архітектури, 2017, 66-67.

Петренко, Дмитрий [Petrenko, Dmytriy]. Трансверсальная антропология медиа: дис. на соискание ученой степени доктора философских наук [Transversal anthropology of media: doctoral thesis in philosophy]. Kharkiv: Харьковский национальный университет им. В.Н. Каразина, 2017.

Савченко, Оксана [Savchenko, Oksada]. “Нестерпна легкість пиття” [The Unbearable Lightness of Drinking]. Киевские Ведомости, 2004. http://kiev.guelman.ru/exhibitions/legkost/.

“Сергей Солонский. Проект ‘Пятый элемент’: фото” [Sergey Solonsky. Fifth element project: photo]. Столичный экспресс. Kharkiv: Харьковская муниципальная галерея, 2004: 6.

Таинственное: Каталог выставки. А. Борисов, А. Погребной, В. Смахтин, С. Солонский [Mysterious: Exhibition catalogue. A. Borisov. A. Pohrebnoy, V. Smahtyn, S. Solonsky]. Kharkiv: Колорит, 2007.

Федоров, Владимир, Краснящих, Андрей [Krasnyashchyih Andriy and Vladimir Fedorov].. “Сергей Солонский: ‘Ты просто прислушиваешься, рассматриваешь, пытаешься объяснить и вдруг понимаешь — Господи, Боже мой’” [Sergey Solonsky: You are just listening, looking, trying to explain and suddenly realize – Oh my God]. Что. Где. Когда, no. 7(2018): 14-15. http://inform.kharkov.ua/vyistavki/sergey-solonskiy-tyi-prosto-prislushivaeshsya-rassmatrivaesh-pyitaeshsya-obyasnit-i-vdrug-ponimaesh-gospodi-bozhe-moy.html.

Харківська фотографія [Kharkiv photography]. Kharkiv-Poznan: Міська галерея ім. С. Васильківського, муніципальна галерея “Arsenal”, 2004.