April 12, 2009

Welcome Bogdan Zwir









You'll find Bogdan Zwir at his official site, his live-journal, photosight.ru, deviantART.











"Picture"











"Despair""Отчаяние"




Spectacular... What else could I say ?... Poetic ? Of course. But I'm desperately searching for other words that could be at the same high level than his artworks. And I must confess that I'm a little... speechless.

Maybe it would be easier to express in French how much Bogdan Zwir touches me but it would be tough to understand for a large majority of you. So... Let's try... By the beginning.

Bogdan Zwir is a creative and surrealist "experimental art photographer" from St. Petersburg, Russia.











"Question""Вопрос"












"Delicate scratch""Деликатная царапина"




Is Bogdan Zwir a painter or a photographer ?

Is there a way to categorize his work, a simple word like magic or absurd or philosophic or weird, to define his prodigious inventivity, his esoteric symbolism, his unique sentivity ?

Is his work explainable ?...

Contemporary or coming from a far medieval european past ?















"People and Authority"




I'll say I don't really know. And I won't dare to give an answer. And I don't care !... You'll find what you want. But more you'll watch, far beyond the first and the second view, and more you'll be surprised by the deep importance of each details. In Bogdan Zwir's work, there is always something hidden under the appearances, like in a book, a good one.

Cherries on the cake, Bogdan Zwir is a kind person. He sent me all the pictures you can admire with very kind words. I believed he should be very difficult to approach, regarding his worldwide fame, but it was the contrary...

So I'm glad to welcome here and I thank him for his support.









"Two wings"









"Infinity""Бесконечность"










Fantasy kaleidoscope
Excerpt from an article published in Digital photographer, Ukraine.
Written by Marina Danina and translated by Maria Candler.




"Raven 03"




" Confess that something that you do not fully understand attracts you the most. This something can irritate and call for denial. It is just another proof of narrowness of confined human mind.


On the other side, it can amaze you. This unexplainable and fertile field of emotional nuances can give you the feeling of admiration and endless possibilities of self improvement.


Either way, any question that does not have an answer, will not let your mind rest. If there was a competition between those that are looking for answers to hopeless questions, Bogdan Zwir would be a winner.










"Seller freezing sweet cherries""Продавец замерзающих черешен"












"Woman hunter"




A little boy from cold and forgotten by sun north of Russia.
A college kid that troubled teachers with questions that went beyond the subject.
A young man, that was not looking for a "better" place in the world, but settled in surreal Saint Petersburg. In the city, that gives most honest and exciting hints and leads.

It encrypts them with a whisper of swamps and calligraphy of the rain, dirty low skies and waves of Neva river in a cold wind. It is important to have a mind enquiring enough to notice these hints. To have a creativity that is not locked up in the narrow canons of what is right and wrong. To be selfish just enough not to doubt own potential and, finally, not be afraid of loneliness, that moves an artist...









"First day in Europe"
"Первый день в Европе"




Going by sketches of his creativity, life experience or dreams, Bogdan Zwir dresses up the future masterpiece in layered exquisite gown, in which everything works for the Idea - proportions of the forms, play of light and shadows, unity of color and texture.


His works can call for admiration or disgust, make to think or hit someone on the head with their boldness, dominate or induce a desire to never see them again.




Someone could love or hate Bogdan Zwir's pictures, but it is impossible to stay indifferent.









"Virgin"




Just as impossible not to notice a tall standing man, when the world around is shaking.

A man that will not bow to old customs and will remain independent in his views.

A man that will not back up in front of difficult questions and will not try to avoid to answer them.

A man that possess a unique individuality and does not give in under a pressure of hard critique.

The fans and the enemies, all alike, will be watching Bogdan Zwir. All of them are drawn by something that is impossible to fully comprehend. By something that calls for a protest of conceited human mind, that is unable to give a rational explanation to everything."









"Crow""Ворона"









"Girl shown interest to macro""Макрушница"







Bogdan Zwir ©






1 comment:

unbearable lightness said...

Zwir captures the essence of surrealist painting (surprise, the revolutionary) in his photography. This is high art. While we are caught in the beauty of the image, Zwir surprises us with a twist on our expectation.

I love it!

From what I know of Russian photography, the art was so heavily restricted and regulated by the former Soviet Union that it is now valued more highly by its artists than tends to be the case in places where artists have always been blessed with liberty. If you know someone who spent five years in prison for shooting a nude photo, shooting a nude photo becomes an act of revolution.