Oleg Leynov
Images and Writing by Oleg Leynov
About the Artist:
Oleg Leynov, a lens-based artist originally from Russia and currently residing in Israel. He studied photography at FotoDepartament Foundation in Saint-Petersburg and at Rodchenko Art School in Moscow. In his practice he refers to such topics as the hybrid nature of the modern world, vitality of matter, Anthropocene era, mythology, mass culture, and the impact of modern digital technologies on contemporary perception. His creative endeavors extend to photography, collage, video, and site-specific installation.
While working across various mediums, photography takes center stage as Oleg's primary creative direction. Inspired by industrial landscapes, dark ecology philosophy and surrealism art movement, he constructs a unique visual world. His photographs delve into metaphysical transformations, exploring the relationship between the organic and the man-made, blurring the boundaries between the two.
About the Project: Un/dis/covered
Urban spaces are often designed to guide our vision and perception. Some elements are accentuated, meant to be seen, while others are either deliberately or unintentionally concealed. Yet, are spaces ever static and stable? Whether planners like it or not, materials — both manmade and natural — can deform, rot, break, and even sprout, often in random ways. Other makeshift structures such as commercial banners are used to simultaneously cover imperfections and maximize profit. However, even these pristine, alluring ads are not immune to corrosion, often failing to disguise deformities.
In "un/dis/covered", I am exploring ways in which materials disrupt prearranged spaces, transforming them into multilayered heterotopic assemblages. Unplanned disruptions in material fabrics turn conventional idyllic projections into something quite the opposite. Instead of ‘hiding’ and ‘covering’, they reveal fragments of a more complicated reality of imperfections, controversies, and mixed meanings. These spaces resist uniformity, assuming agency by recreating themselves in new forms. By capturing such material discrepancies, I hope to suggest there are always other worlds hiding behind the veils of manmade spaces.
