Arts Desk » Alexander Vasiljev

Reviewed: Alexander Vasiljev at Watergate Gallery

Louis Jacobson — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:20:02 +0000

It’s hard to decide what’s more unusual in “Mistify,” a series of photographs by Alexander Vasiljev—the location, or the technique. Vasiljev took the photographs in a remote region of Peru known as the Wax Palm Forest, where fog shrouds 200-foot-tall palm trees. Once he takes his photographs, Vasiljev prints them on archival paper, mounts them on wooden boxes, and coats them with an encaustic medium whose ancient recipe includes beeswax. The resulting images become indistinct, looking less like a photograph than a painting. At times, Vasiljev’s works are overly dramatic or excessively out of focus; in some pieces, the surface brushstrokes are distractingly visible. But at their best, the fuzzy stylings suit the Peruvian panoramas perfectly, presenting California-style tableaux pierced by shafts of sunlight or indistinct mountains and valleys worthy of a Sung painting.

The exhibition is on view 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to Nov. 30 at Watergate Gallery and Frame Design, 2552 Virginia Ave. NW.

FotoWeek DC Kicks Off Tomorrow

Louis Jacobson — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:22:05 +0000

It’s time again for FotoWeek DC, the week-long festival of photography that began in 2008. It kicks off with a launch party tomorrow night and runs through Nov. 12.

We’ve already reviewed a number of the exhibits. One of the others that's already open to the public is “Ocean Soul, Photographs by Brian Skerry” at the National Geographic Society, which offers a dizzying look at undersea life, from purple-hued jellyfish swimming through light-streaked waters to a stomach-churning, monumental image of "bycatch" tossed back into the sea by a commercial fishing trawler.

Other exhibits around town include “Big Cats, Vanishing Icons” at National Geographic, “Tom Wolff's U Street Portrait Project” at Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, “Wild Horses of Sable Island” at the Embassy of Canada, “Mark and Maker” at Studio Gallery, “Mystify: Photography by Alexander Vasiljev” at Watergate Gallery.

Meanwhile, FotoWeek Central—the old Border’s location at 18th & L NW—has a long list of exhibitions and events, including the “World Press Photo Exhibition,” “Beyond Witness — New Approaches to Crisis Photography,” “The Nights of 9/11: Photographs by Hale Gurland,” “Facing Change: Documenting America,” and “Through The Lens of DC Youth.” Other events will be at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Busboys and Poets (Photo Slam 2011), and, at Photoworks at Glen Echo Park, “A Celebration of Alternative Processes.” Full details on all programs at fotoweekdc.org.

Naked Fools and Wild Fur at Watergate

Louis Jacobson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:28:40 +0000

Naked Fools/Wild Fur makes an excellent claim for the most eccentric photography exhibit of 2009. The show, featuring images by Washingtonian Alexander Vasiljev, is a collection of three series, each odder than the last. Comparatively tame is a group of eight portraits of wild animals (sloth, meerkat, tiger) captured in extreme close-up and against a blank, Avedonian background. A step beyond is “Naked Fools,” a series of portraits of largely naked individuals in staged settings, some of which suggest Borat’s producer, Azamat Bagatov, in the movie’s naked wrestling scene. But the oddest series harnesses Vasiljev’s experience both as a chronicler of the rainforest and his day job as principal makeup artist for the Washington National Opera: finely mannered portraits of men made up with body paint to resemble a lemur, an okapi, an ocelot and several other animals. Striking as they are, I’d stick with the real wild species, whose eyes flare with life only suggested by the humans in face paint.

The exhibition is on diplay to Nov. 30 at Watergate Gallery and Frame Design.