In filmmaking and television production, zooming refers to the technique of changing the focal length of a zoom lens during a shot. It can either be performed towards longer focal lengths, giving a “zoom in” effect (the filmed object will increase in apparent size), or performed towards shorter focal lengths, giving a “zoom out” effect.
Based on this principle, and through experimentation with unorthodox graphic media, Evgeniy Stasenko deeply explores the expressiveness of the graphic image. As a result, the project “Zooming” was conceived, in which the artist addresses his favorite themes of city landscapes and industrial areas, often dominated by chimney pipes of Moscow and, now, Barcelona.With “Zooming”, the artist explores how the change of media and the size of the images influence the expressiveness of graphic work. Each piece is made in several sizes, inviting the audience to zoom in or out, suggesting different levels of engagement with the image. As the real landscape gets interpreted and then reduced in the artist’s imagination, first to appear is the smallest version of an image: a sketch. Then the artist gradually transforms the image back to the life-size landscape, allowing the viewer to find himself part of this re-created environment. And when a viewer takes a photo—or a selfie—of the bigger artworks, the images get small again, now including the viewer and, thus, ending the cycle and transforming the passive observer into an active participant.The original series of this project were created three years ago. First came the white gouaches on black paper. Later on, they transformed into larger versions, painted with white enamel on black roofing material. Enlarged, these images conveyed the same expressiveness and even communicated a new dimension, inspiring the artist to continue exploring and discovering the potential of graphic images.

BIO

Evgeniy Stasenko is a Russian artist (born in Budapest, 1958), who at present lives in Barcelona. In 1985 he graduated from the Department of Fine & Graphic Arts from Moscow Pedagogical University, and his career as an artist and as an art teacher took off at the same time.

In his early years of creativity, Evgeniy was enchanted by the process itself of creating whole universes on canvas, and his work was within the realistic tradition. After a certain artistic maturation, he developed his own style that balances the rationality of minimalism and pure emotion of expressionism in the intention to overcome the limitations of both.

Stasenko has presented his work in many exhibitions, auctions and projects, both in Russia and in Europe. Among them are: La Tradition Russe (Paris), Die Kraft Der Stille (Hildesheim State Art museum, Hildesheim, Germany), Art-Kontor (Contemporary Art Museum, Frankfurt), Two Faces Of Buddhistic Moscow (Centre for Russian Culture, Budapest), Contemporary Russian Art (Koller auction, Geneva), Russian Art (Koller auction, Zurich), Looking Eastward (Luciano Benetton’s project, Treviso, Italy). His paintings are to be found in private collections in Russia, the USA, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France.