Oleksander Kadnikov

Oleksandr Kadnikov’s method is original in a way that it is an installation frozen in photography. Instead of capturing an already-made plot from the surroundings, the author constructs it himself, sculpts if from objects and symbols familiar to all the successors of the Post-Soviet context. The artwork “Jellyfish” was presented at the exhibitions of Arsenal 2012 in Kyiv, ARTVILNIUS’14 in Vilnius, Crimea-Lviv: Enjoy! in 2016 in Paris.

Relations between Oleksandr Kadnikov’s silent characters are poignant enough to arouse strong associations in the spectator, and, consequently, not without irony, to come to right conclusions. All this baggage of post-totalitarian heritage is called to provide an opportunity to rethink the problem of mutual past once again and to remember “The Rake” that is not worth stepping on.

The author himself describes his associations quite poetically, “Ice preserves past well. They broke the wing, but let go. Emptiness of a matchbox doesn’t scare anymore. Post-imperial syndrome is concealed in individual’s psychosomatics. According to the ticket bought, I must be somewhere close. Love yours so, that the others are scared. Trust ellipsis, not full stop. Repeat silence, like a spell.”

Oleksandr Kadnikov

Born in Crimea, in 1967. Graduated from college in 1985, photo department. His first photo exhibition «Far, Far, Far» (Simferopol, 1988) was closed by the order of the Crimea Regional Committee of the Communist Party as «Anti-Soviet». 2006 – 2008 worked as photo editor of the “Expert Ukraine” magazine, Kyiv. 2003 – 2006 headed the photographic department in the “Profil” magazine, Kyiv. Organiser and participant of more than 90 photo and video projects in Ukraine and abroad (Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Slovakia), one of the leading photographers in the “Nash” magazine, the author of photographs for more than 100 books. Author of ideas and active participant in artistic groups and coalitions “KaBul”, “Brothers Grimm”, “in the name of Giordano Bruno”, “Kvas” and “Skif”. The photographer’s legacy includes 128 magazine covers for “Nash”, “Expert Ukraine”, “Profil”, “Time Out”, “Comments”, “10 Days”, “M-club”, “Crimean Riviera”, “Kyiv City”, “All Week”, “SHO”, “BOSS”. Lives and works in Simferopol.