Alexander Gronsky

Courtesy INSTITUTE / © Alexander Gronsky

Estonian Photographer | Born: 1980

Alexander Gronsky was born in 1980 in Tallinn, Estonia. He moved to Russia in 2006 and he became member of the Photographer.Ru agency in 2004. His works have been published in numerous international newspapers and magazines, such as The Sunday Times, Esquire, Le Monde 2, Vanity Fair, Spiegel, Bolshoy Gorod, Ojode Pez. He was awarded the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2009, the Foam Paul Huf Award in 2010 and the World Press Photo 3rd place for Daily Life stories in 2012. Alexander Gronsky is represented by Agency.Photographer.Ru and Gallery.Photographer.Ru.
Alexander Gronsky has joined INSTITUTE for Artist Management in 2012.

About Pastoral
In his photographic account Pastoral, Alexander Gronsky portrays the outskirts of Moscow: the places where humanity takes refuge to find solace far from the cities, colliding with urban expansion and frailty of nature. The space explored lives �in between�, suspended in the nothingness of the unknown and what stands �on the other side�. Gronsky is a landscape photographer with an incredibile ability to capture natural scenes with an allegorical meaning: expanses and hills, spectacular lights, broad horizons. His skilful use of perspective and his ability in composition, lead the observer�s eye deeply into the landscape, generating a sense of astonishment for every place portrayed in photo. In the images, human presence is constant, Gronsky looks for infrequent but precious moments of relief and diversion in woody areas and open beaches, in remote corners and common meeting places. Meanwhile, he always bears in mind the proximity of the big city: glimpses of skyscrapers and industrial parks can be seen in the distance between the trees or, sometimes, surprisingly close to the people �surrounded by nature�. (Source: www.contrastobooks.com)

Agencies:

INSTITUTE

Photographer.Ru

Gallery:

Polka Galerie

Website:

www.alexandergronsky.com

Selected Work:

Selected Books:

Pastoral

Author: Alexander Gronsky

Publisher: Contrasto

Year: 2014 - Pages: 112

In this photographic account, Alexander Gronsky portrays the outskirts of Moscow: the places where humanity takes refuge to find solace far from the cities, colliding with urban expansion and frailty of nature.

Contact Sheet 166

Author: Alexander Gronsky

Publisher: Lightwork

Year: 2012 - Pages: 46

Contact Sheet 166 features landscape photographs by Alexander Gronsky that were taken along the outlying areas of Moscow. Gronsky captures scenes in nature as elegant allegories that include rolling hills, spectacular lighting, and far reaching horizons. His skilled use of perspective and composition, reminiscent of centuries-old traditions in European landscape painting, draw the viewer's eye deep into the landscape and generate a sense of awe for each place. Gronsky's images follow city dwellers as they seek out urban hinterlands for precious moments of leisure. The people in his images seek sun. They yearn for tranquility. And they especially hope for an escape into nature, away from the stresses of day-to-day life, away from the city. Within the constancy of human presence, Gronsky photographs recreational moments deep in forested areas or open beaches, in secluded niches or general gathering places. Meanwhile, he never loses sight of the proximity of big city life. Glimpses of high rises and industrial parks can be seen at some distance through the trees or sometimes in surprisingly close proximity to the people in their leisurely pursuits. While Gronsky's photographic style is consistently pristine, the stretches of nature in his images are not. These are places where rural areas are being taken over by urban sprawl and industrialization, and where the state of the land varies between idyllic vibrance and careless neglect. Regardless of the state of each site, Gronsky's aesthetic commitment never waivers. He simply observes those seeking respite in nature and the impact the encroaching cities have had on the land. In the end, the series' title Pastoral may refer equally to the artist's own yearning to find something timeless and wholesome in every place as it does to the city dwellers' hope for the perfect spot in the sun.

More Great Photographers To Discover

Haley Jane Samuelson

Nationality: American

Haley Jane Samuelson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado until the age of thirteen when her family relocated to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was there she first fell in love with photography. She received in B.F.A. in photography and digital media from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. In 2008 she completed her M.F.A at Parsons the New School for Design. She is currently represented by Charlet Photographies in France and by Hous Projects (…)

All About Haley Jane Samuelson

Zhou HanShun

Nationality: Singaporean

Born: 1975

Born 1975, and raised in Singapore, Zhou HanShun is a Photographic Artist, Printmaker and Art Director.

After graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore and RMIT University, he went on to make a living as an art director, and continues to pursue his passion as a visual storyteller and photographer.

He uses photography as a way to explore, investigate and document the culture and people in the cities he lived in.

HanShun has exhibited at the (…)

All About Zhou HanShun

Beckett Hornik

Nationality: American

Born: 2002

Beckett was born and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began photographing in sixth grade when he decided to pick up a film SLR camera as an alternative way to capture moments throughout his early teen years. His interest in photography grew during his middle school period. He explored the photos of many masters of photography and found inspiration in the California and Bay Area art scene. He also became interested in fashion and art magazines at this time. Beckett�s (…)

All About Beckett Hornik

Rip Hopkins

Nationality: English

Born: 1972

Born in England in 1972, Rip Hopkins studied industrial design at ENSCI (Ecole Nationale Sup�rieure de Cr�ation Industrielle) in Paris. Working with M�decins Sans Fronti�res (Doctors Without Borders) he has made photoreportages and documentaries in numerous countries including South Sudan, Bosnia, Liberia, Uganda, Ingushetia, and East Timor.

He joined Agence VU in 1996 and the following year received the Mosa�que Scholarship, the Kodak Young Photo-Reporter (…)

All About Rip Hopkins

Ian Teh

Nationality: British

Born: 1971

Ian Teh has published three monographs, Undercurrents (2008), Traces (2011) and Confluence (2014). His work is part of the permanent collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the Hood Museum in the USA. Selected solo shows include the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York in 2004, Flowers in London in 2011 and the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam in 2012.

Teh has received several honours, in 2018 he was (…)

All About Ian Teh

Andr� Kert�sz

Nationality: Hungarian

Born: 1894 - Died: 1985

Andr� Kert�sz, born Kert�sz Andor, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and the photo essay. In the early years of his career, his then-unorthodox camera angles and style prevented his work from gaining wider recognition. Kert�sz never felt that he had gained the worldwide recognition he deserved. Today he is considered one of the seminal figures of photojournalism. Expected by his family to work as a (…)

All About Andr� Kert�sz

Katerina Belkina

Nationality: Russian

Born: 1974

Katerina Belkina was born in Samara, a city in the South-East of the European part of Russia. She grew up in an artistic atmosphere; her mother is a visual artist and, in herplace of birth, she got an education in the art of painting at the Art Academy. She continued her education in 2000 at an Academy for Photography also in Samara and exhibitions of her mysterious self-portraits ensued in Moscow and Paris. Katerina Belkina was nominated for the prestigious Kandinsky (…)

All About Katerina Belkina

Madhur Dhingra

Nationality: Indian

I was born an only child to my parents, in Delhi, into a family torn apart by the aftermath of the India-Pakistan partition. Hailing from a affluent background in Pakistan my family was now struggling for survival in the walled city of Delhi totally penniless. Imbedded with deep insecurities and freshly bearing the scars of partition my family was now setting up trade in the walled city dealing in fabric. It is relevant for me to mention this background for these very (…)

All About Madhur Dhingra

Liu Bolin

Nationality: Chinese

Born: 1973

Liu Bolin is an artist born in China�s Shandong province in 1973, and he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Shandong College of Arts in 1995 and his Master of Fine Arts from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 2001. His work has been exhibited in museums around the world. Also known as "The Invisible Man", Liu Bolin's most popular works are from his "Hiding in the City" series; photographic works that began as performance art in 2005. Liu belongs to (…)

All About Liu Bolin

Iolo Adams

Nationality: Australian/British

Born: 2000

I Grew up in Bournemouth until I was 8 years old, when I moved to Blenheim, New Zealand and went through college and sparked my interest in photography, I've recently moved back to England in search of work in photography and more exposure and connections in the industry.
iolo.adams@hotmail.com

All About Iolo Adams