| Irakly Shanidze | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Irakly Shanidze |
| Born | October 18, 1968 Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR Soviet Union |
| Field | Photography Russian Federation USA ' |
| Training | Moscow State University |
| Works | www.shanidze.com |
Irakly Shanidze; (born October 18, 1968) is an advertising, fashion, portrait photographer.
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Irakly Shanidze was born in what is now the ex-soviet Republic of Georgia in 1968 and this one fact is key to any basic understanding of his work: as a person of intelligent and artistic sensibilities growing up in the USSR his creative energies naturally became channelled into the subversive and the ambiguous. Almost arrested by the authorities on one occasion for making images involving nudity, his later interest in this particular subject has clearly been amplified by the period during which he was not able to pursue it.
From a childhood love affair with photography grew an adolescent fascination with the fine art nude and what has been termed ‘psychedelic glamour’. Such were the exigencies Soviet life at that time that discretion got the better part of glamour and he forsook the risks of the nude in favour of the more prosaic opportunities afforded by a job as a photojournalist for a local military newspaper whilst on military service, later studying for a Masters in Biochemistry at Moscow State University.
Moving to the USA as a graduate student in 1993 Shanidze at first had little time for photography but eventually he returned to his practice.
Much of his personal work is most tidily described as ‘street’ though it is in fact rather different from classical street photography in that he places greater emphasis on the imagined and the surreal. Whether it is a series of images in which strangers on the subway gradually emerge as spies[1], or individual images in which found scenes take on allegorical overtones as a result of the manner in which their elements are juxtaposed, nothing in Shanidze’s work is ever what it immediately seems.
His teaching work, though sometimes building on his street style, is mainly dedicated to complex tableau vivants set up in the studio and typically using his students as part of the mis en scene. Whether subtly mocking a classical painting or using strongly symbolic elements, Shanidze invites the viewer to subvert his own views of the real in the process of decoding the surreal.
Shanidze’s work first enjoyed international exposure in 2001. It happened after winning a bet, which involved taking a picture of space shuttle Discovery take-off from a spot that was off limits for the general public, without proper credentials. A few days later, of the photos found its way to the cockpit of the orbiter after it was noticed by a mutual acquaintance of the photographer and an Israeli astronaut who was onboard of the spaceship.
Professional projects in advertising photography vary between the ‘straight’ (though rarely totally so) style of well-lit and executed studio work and the intricate application to commercial purposes of his subversive and symbolic style, sometimes involving complex pseudo-real setups intended to imbue the product with the spontaneity and style of street life. A good example of the latter is his recent collection of images created for Japan Tobacco International as a symbolic representation of their brand “Sobranie”.[2]
At the time of writing Shanidze has exhibited his work in more that twenty personal and group shows in the USA, Canada and Russia. He has published more than a hundred photographs and numerous articles in American and Russian magazines and web sites. He is a founder of the International Academy of Photographic Arts, and a visiting professor at Moscow Academy of Photography where he actively teaches the artistic side of photography online. He also holds seminars and workshops across the US and Europe. In June 2008 he was awarded a title of "Photographer of the year 2007" (Fine Art Nomination) in a competition held by the media agency ARTINDEX based in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Shanidze participated at more than twenty personal and collective exhibitions, in several countries (USA, Canada, Russia, Finland, Portugal, etc.).