Дмитрий Оболенский

Photograph Dmitry Obolensky

The work at first appears to be a colossal exaggeration of the subjects, ones which might be found in a circus selected by Fellini, or perhaps, as violently grotesque as the cinematic paradigms of Todorovsky. We observe still images imbued with a dramatic tension, undertones of a surreal comedy, extreme gestures and extreme individuals clothed in apparel which could be stated as belonging to both Dell Arte and sado-masochism.

The evident staging denies a crass interpretation of boorish pornography, the spectacular use of light which near eclipses the subjects- adorned in equally spectacular dress and holding a facsimile of poses born of a beaudoir of quasi-German expressionism, desists an association with a re-interpretation of devices common to those whom wish to play between the explicit sexuality of pornography under an apologetic guise of fashion or aesthetic “nude”. It is a difficult and tenuous separation from an adultery of style, yet the artists’first experiments with the medium of photography as an “art”, only a half year underway, depict an aplomb in evading facile dramatic components in favour for a more poignant imagery. It appears to be a direct exploration of the extremes of perversion, a mockery of style and vanity.