Random Excellence: Valerii Iavtushenko

Valerii Iavtushenko, A crumbling concrete elk
in an abandoned Soviet pioneer camp

Apologies if people didn't like the link to the Atlantic's "Abandoned Russia" portfolio. One person objected that it was stock-sourced and not commissioned, and another objected that it doesn't have single authorship or coherent focused meaning. Those are valid points of view and I'm not arguing with them. I didn't see it that way, however...I thought they were thought-provoking and good to look at anyway, despite having questionable provenance and being a motley. I liked the onion-dome church, the drowned steeple, and, really, isn't it just like humans to build a statue of an elk in a forest and then let it go to hell? The rebar showing through the legs like the wire armatures of an antique plaster child's figurine, the crumbling antlers, the slyly under-emphasized heroic perspective...I like it.

I don't think I would have minded if all those pics came from across the world...they all have a sort of Ozymandias vibe and I got into it. I would have looked at that set just for the elk statue pic.

But sorry if anyone thought it wasn't up to my usual standards of referral. I don't want to, you know, damage the brand.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Steve Jacob: "A friend of mine travels all over the former USSR and Soviet block countries taking similar photos. It is an endless source of fascination, but it's hard to explain why exactly."

Comments

[RubyT]

"Ozymandias" certainly came immediately to mind when I looked at the portfolio. The older I get, the more that resonates.

[Guy Perkins]

Sometimes you just want to enjoy some images. And I really enjoyed those images. Source, provenance, whatever... let's not get too puritanical. And your brand is fine, and completely intact.

[Michael]

No damage to the brand, Mike. Everything copacetic.

[Andrew]

Mike, I don't come to your blog to see what other people like, I come to see what you like! Please carry on :)

[Dave Van de Mark]

No damage to brand! All you did was provide me some pleasure I would not otherwise have had. Things like an unfinished and abandoned hospital are far out weird. All of the photos were interesting...

[jh]

Personally, I enjoy looking at all types of photographs, good/bad, beautiful/ugly, whatever. It's not necessary to have everything perfect to be enjoyable.
Yesterday I watched over the shoulder of a young lady looking at photos on a phone and she was flipping through them at a very fast pace. At first I was surprised but then, I realized that's how I look at photo books -flipping through the pages to see what catches my eye.
Sometimes I find myself drawn to photos just like the elk - something out of the ordinary that's strangely compelling.

[Y.B. Hudson III]

“Badges, wot badges, you don’t ‘ave t’ show no stinkin’ badges!”

Y.B. Hudson III

[Henry Rogers]

Mike,
That's such an interesting collection of pictures. I don't care who took them or why. They are about human history and that matters just as much as art.
Henry

[John Ashbourne]

We really can get a bit too 'precious' and myopic sometimes about these things - the importance is surely in what we see in the image. Of course provenance and respect for the author are also important.
The elk image being shown anew is a powerful image which speaks to the impermanence of human creations, the impact of human activity on wildlife and environment and a number of other things perhaps.
It does that no more or no less for its' history , or lack of it, in its' journey to our screen. To edit it out because of that background would be a strange version of the Orwellian nightmares.

[Fritz]

Similar images of decay and urban or industrial decline are easily found in the old industrial areas in East and West Germany, Northern England or the American rust belt, and so are images from the depopulated rural periphery. In fact, the romantics have been so fascinated with decline that they built ruins in the 19th century.
Yes, some of these are great images in their own right, and I have done simlar ones myself. But I feel they are misinterpreted if they are presented as a statement on the conditions in a particular country.

[Jim Arthur]

Based on the muzzle, I'd say this is a moose. I always find pictures of abandoned buildings and cars to be interesting for some reason.

[Lazo]

Mike, The Russian photo collection you posted was simply lovely. Thanks!

[Moose]

As Mr. Arthur points out, this is an example of Alces Alces, known as Moose in America and as Elk in Europe. They don't have the other sorts of NA Elk in Europe.

So Soviet Era Russian, concrete and overly noble.

Herewith an American, Maine moose, in both a more American pose and material - AND - it can fly!

[Richard Parkin]

It is an elk since it’s in Europe, if it was in North America it would be a moose ;-)

[John Hufnagel]

"I thought they were thought-provoking and good to look at anyway"

I've always thought this is what art was all about.

[paul in Az]

I am strongly attracted to photos like the 'abandoned Russia' set. I often wonder if they could talk just what they could tell me.
Maybe an oddball perspective in the view of some just as yet another gorgeous scenic shot of the Grand Canyon is worth no more than a nanosecond of my thought. Different strokes ~~~~

And congrats on your program. I am still a work in progress with my most recent coin stamped XXXVII.

[Michael Perini]

Mike,
This is YOUR Blog, you have a point of view (about lots of things).
Because your point of view resonates with lots of people, it has grown to be a touchstone for generally like minded people.
You present a curated offering. You moderate comments based on your beliefs and sensibilities.
No one is expected to like or enjoy every post or every picture equally, but , on balance, people come back because they enjoy more stuff than they don't enjoy. For most, you are the 'unmet friend' we enjoy checking in with every day.
But to presume to tell you what you 'Should' or 'Ought' to show or write seems pretty silly.
Everyone is able to start their own log and see who shows up, and everyone is welcome to post a comment expressing why one of your selections 'didn't work for them' -- which for me is one of the best features of the community.

[Oskar Ojala]

While I was critical to the overall quality of the image series and reportage, I'm not critical per se to posting it as the photos were certainly of good technical quality and the subject itself is interesting even though I would by now prefer more depth than a cavalcade of exotic pictures. In fact, I think it went well with the psychology parts of the post: had the photos been presented on a list-site with several ads of dubious quality, my inherent bias would be to be more skeptical about the merits of the photos than when they are clearly presented on the site of a reputable magazine.

The elk in question has certain Egglestonian qualities to it (as a subject, the photo is a bit bland) presenting some mystery to what aesthetic considerations prompted making it and placing it there in the first place, but most abandoned buildings look simply like something that was used at the time but things moved on.

[Tim Auger]

Nothing wrong with that link to 'Abandoned Russia'. What's wrong (aesthetically) with stock photos, or photos on one broad theme from a variety of sources?

No damage done to the MJ brand. It's the slightly unpredictable variety of what pops up here that makes the OP site interesting.