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“The camera need not be a cold mechanical device. Like the pen, it is as good as
the man who uses it. It can be the extension of mind and heart…” John Steinbeck
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‘Self Portrait, Madrid’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2007
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‘Trolley Bus, Moscow’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2002
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‘Untitled’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2007
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‘Moncloa, Madrid’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2008
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‘Speaking Lady, Moscow’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
1988
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‘Untitled’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2007
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‘Untitled’
Boris Savelev
Photograph
2007
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It’s often said that the camera never lies, it does not always tell us the most meaningful of truths and the task of the fine art photographer is to endow the raw image with further layers of meaning. And the degree of success achieved is, in my view, entirely commensurate with the integrity and honesty with which that task is carried out. Savelev’s work amply exudes these admirable qualities. His photographs observe their subjects mutely yet intelligently rather than exposing them to glare or seeming to intrude on them unnecessarily. His photographs are painterly in composition and in effect.
While Savelev’s photographs have a cool and confident feeling about them, they are never brash or strident. The overt subject matter of his work varies greatly but throughout there is a consistent preoccupation with painterly techniques of composition. The use of colour in is reminiscent of colour field paintings and lyrical abstraction.There are also nods to Russia’s constructivist past in much of his work, and even hints of Neo-Plasticism. The many photographs of scenes in Chernowitz, where Savelev was born, and Moscow, where he lives, avoid the overt politics and sentimentality that frequently accompany works which attempt to be documentary in nature. In Savelev’s work, the purity and beauty of the image, the arrangement of colour, form and light are always paramount in a way that often seems alien to fine art photography today. – [Extract : John Kavanagh’s Review – Colour Construction.]
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Boris Savelev : Betty Guereta Gallery
Boris Savelev : Russia, Spain, Ukraine
Boris Savelev : Michael Hoppen Gallery
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Azurebumble 