Dark and surreal photos of Misha Gordin

Misha Gordin, who grew up in Soviet Latvia in the 1950s, studied aviation engineering, but never worked on it. Instead, he found an original way of self-expression, like the heroes who inspired him: Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Tarkovsky and Parajanov. 

At the age of 26, he came up with the idea to photograph "concepts", and to this day his work can be called the most piquant conceptual photographs. The photo series "Crowd" does not require words, but speaks of the undoubted influence of the totalitarian stronghold on the formation of the artist's personality. The author mixes elements of officialdom with a subtle sense of pure poetry.

The photographer's paintings are characterized by extreme simplicity and minimalism with carefully thought-out compositions, mystical meanings and sharp contrasts. For Misha Gordin, conceptual photography is a way of artistic expression that is on the same level as painting, sculpture, poetry or music. The whole point is in the "concept".

He explains it like this: 

For Misha Gordin, the process of creating a photo is like "writing poetry." And indeed, his luxurious photo collection exposes the photographer in the light of the poet of paintings, who uses old, traditional techniques of fine art to convey exquisite dark alternative worlds and mysterious allegories. Through conceptual photography, Gordin raises such important issues in art and life as birth, death and the nature of existence.