Alexander Rodchenko

I have been looking at the work of Alexander Rodchenko, he was a Russian artist, designer and photographer who was born in 1891 and died in 1956 at the age of 65. He was one of the founders of constructivism, he started as an artist and graphic designer before turning towards photography. He often photographed from unusual angles and was quoted for saying "one has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looking through the same keyhole again and again" I find his view towards his photography quite intriguing and it has made me think how I might apply this to some of my work. He became a member of the productivist group in 1921 which supported the inclusion of art in everyday life. In 1922 he worked with and was influenced by film maker Dziga Vertov which lead him to give up painting and spend more time on graphic design work like posters, books and films.

Rodchenko also became impressed by the German Dadaists photomontages and started experimenting in this field, firstly using found images and later moving on to shoot his own. He had his first photomontage published in 1923 which illustrated Mayakovskys poem "About this" he continued working closely with Mayakovsky until 1928 on the publications of constructive artists he photographed many front covers for these Journals. With the changes to party guidelines in the 1930s Rodchenko changed his style from abstract to concentrate on sport photography also taking images of parades and choreographed movements, He returned to painting and ended his photography in 1942 concentrating on abstract expressionism throughout the 1940s

Here is some of Rodchenko's work that I particularly like

I like the abstract feel with the lines and shapes of cubism

With the lovely muted colours and deep shading this picture of the juggler is my favourite


This composition with its lines and curves shows so much detail texture and depth

I love  this black and white photo it looks so modern there is lots of detail to it with the lines and angles