The case of Vlad Loktev is quite extraordinary: one of the most sought-after Russian fashion photographers who used to shoot glossy editorials throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he eventually turned into an experimenting avant-garde art photographer whose images now grace the leading museum and gallery spaces.

His artworks showcased at Erarta can be grouped into figurative and abstract categories. The former betray the grasping eye of a fashion photographer, which totally makes sense, as this type of photography primarily deals with the human form. The female shapes transformed by rippling water could have been the product of some editorial shoot, ultimately jettisoned by the magazine fashion editor for being too unconventional and alien in the consumerist world.

Offering endless opportunities for experiment, chance has always been central to avant-garde art and acts as one of its markers. At the same time, chance occurrences have been the source of creative inspiration throughout the entire cultural history. For his experiments, Loktev chooses water, the universal and powerful maternal element in whose patterns the viewers may see whatever they fancy.

Works from the Birth of a star series also featured in this show resulted, according to the artist, from his experiments with light and texture. Once again employing the element of chance, the photographer creates light-based prints illustrating the physical theory of the Big Bang. Whereas Balance and freedom is based around the confrontation of water and rock, Birth of a star captures an erotically charged struggle between light and dark matter.

Within the random and chaotic metamorphoses of water and light, the philosophically inclined photographer manages to see the beauty and infinite variety of reality.