Almost all of Kolosov

Exhibition of photographs from 1980—2005

October 12 — December 1 2005
The Enfilade of the Main Building

Georgiy Mstislavovich Kolosov
Born in 1945, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Energetics, faculty of electronics (has forgotten all of it).

Photographing as a living — since 1976. A new “alma mater” — a photo club “Novator”.

Photographer; professor; participant and curator of exhibitions; chairman of competitions’ juries; author of articles; chairman of editorial boards; photo editor; inventor and manufacturer of soft-focus lenses (uses only this kind of optics and has gained many people over to a cause); researcher of N.P. Andreyev’s work, co-founder of the Center named after him; ideologist (so they say) of the modern pictorialism; full member of the Union of the Russian photographers-artists.
In reality: palmer, parishioner, beadle (like a running dog!).

Heritage:
“Russian North” (1980—1991) — architecture, genre pieces, portraits — about 100 photos.
“Let every thing that hath breath…” (1992—1995) — the world of nature close — about 40 photos.
“Wonderworker” (1993—2003) — Religious procession at the Velikaya River (Vyatka) — 90 photos.
“Portraits” (1979—2003) — portraits, has not counted them.
And several strange series:
“Labyrinth of spirit”; “Valaam 2000 during the Easter Week”; “Smoke of time”, “Indeed risen!”; “Beauty is saving the world” (terrible).
Represented (deep in storages) at the Russian Museum (Saint-Petersburg), at the National Library of France (Paris) and on walls of good people’s apartments.

WONDERWORKER

“Wonderworker” is a title of a series of photographs made in 1993—2003 during the Velikoretskiy religious procession. This procession lasts for six days and its participants cover 160 km. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari: his miraculous icon appeared at the Velikaya River (tribute to the Vyatka River) in 1383. About 100 years later this holy image had been transferred to the city of Khlynov (old name of Vyatka) under the condition that every year on the day of its apparition it would be triumphantly brought back to the Velikoretskoye village — its home. Since then we are carrying it.
After the persecutions the procession resumed as an open event in 1989, since 1992 I have been its participant and — by the way — a photographer. Common mirth on St. Nicholas the Wonderworker rooted as a personal experience.
The Church always as an ordinance, and the church ceremony always as a mysterious hierurgy is understood with difficulty not only from outside of the church fence, but also from within. Because of that an artist of the Church as an artist of a mystery — who is painting, drawing, shooting — is, alas, only the future of the Church. But if this exhibition would indicate this mystery for a visitor, I would say with gratitude only one word: “Wonderworker!”

Georgiy Kolosov 

Russian version