Everyday Objects / Cultural Treasures by Vadim Gushchin is a new title from Schilt Publishing. ‘An ode to the Russian Suprematist tradition, Gushchin’s photography reveals the fundamental duality of culture: the abstract nature of objects in it and the specificity of colour,’ the publisher says. “Gushchin offers us an image of the object that moves away from the banal mythology of the commodity. His photographs show us that fine line beyond which the ideal object mutates into a household item.” The 96-page volume is available for £45/$60/€50.

Schilt Press Release

Vadim Gushchin – Everyday Objects/Cultural Treasures

We live in the Universe of Malevich. But very rarely notice it. But Vadim Gushchin photographs everyday objects in such a way that it immediately becomes clear that they have originated from the “Black Square”.

The main idea of design is the sparing use of form. El Lissitzky first formulated this idea of the “suprematist object”. He was a pupil of Kazimir Malevich. While Malevich used the expressive means of painting sparingly, Lissitzky transformed his world for the needs of production. Since then, Malevich has been concealed in the depths of the industrial object.

In his rejection of illusionism, Gushchin follows in the path of Kazimir Malevich, along the path of pure forms.

There is a paradoxical effect in the photographing of objects. It would seem that it documents reality. That is, presents things as they are. In fact, for this it takes things beyond their usual context. That is, places every single object in a meta position. And the better the shooting is done, the more accurately the object is reproduced; the wider the format, the better the lens, then the more likely it is that the thing will be estranged from its usual existence. Having been photographed, things rise above the reality of their context. And Gushchin’s works intensify this feeling, due to the peculiarities of his perspective.

Gushchin offers us an image of the object that moves away from the banal mythology of the commodity. His photographs show us that fine line beyond which the ideal object mutates into a household item. He reveals the complex relationship between form and function, photographing everyday objects as cultural treasures.

About Vadim Gushchin
Vadim Gushchin, born 1963, is a freelancer artist who lives and works in Moscow, Russia. Since 1995, he has 30 solo exhibits in galleries and museums in Russia and abroad, including the solo exhibit of Wood and Bread at the 2006 Biennial of FotoFest Houston, USA. His works have been presented in conceptual group projects, among them “A la Recherche du Père” (1993, Paris), “Neue Fotografie aus Russland” (1995, tour in 5 cities of Germany), “Idea photographic after Modernism” (2002, Santa Fe, USA), Triennial of Photography in Odense, Denmark 2006, “Contemporary Russian Photography” (2012 Biennial FotoFest Houston, USA). His works are featured in several museum collections in America and Europe, the MoMA and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art in Moscow, and in many private collections all over the world.

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