Israel Dead Sea

TIM PARCHIKOV

“Israel Dead Sea”

This is the second exhibition by Tim Parchikov presented by Juana de Aizpuru Gallery, with whom we started working when the artist was only 24 years old.

Tim Parchikov works and lives between Moscow and Paris, but is constantly travelling through different places of the world in order to take images for his photographs. He always works with series and the one we are now presenting was made in the Dead Sea during 5 trips Parchikov made to Israel for this reason, in a period of time between 2013 and 2014.

He has always been attracted by this very special place, which he frequently visited with his family when he was a child and therefore cares a lot for it. The Dead Sea is a zone with a great geologic activity since it is where several tectonic plates, which used to have a lot of activity, come together. The Dead Seaappeared after a crash of these plates which lifted mountains and created hollows and a small part of the Mediterranean Sea gathered in one of these hollows. So, the Dead Sea stayed 300 meters from below of other oceans’ sea level. On the other hand, it is exposed to high temperatures which make the water to evaporate quite quickly and that’s the reason why this sea has superior salinity than others. Besides, its composition holds a great amount of favorable and healthy minerals, so it’s not a surprise to always see people from different countries searching for its benefits. It’s also a meeting point since, even though it’s such a small sea, it’s surrounded by 3 countries, Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

Parchikov has always taken his shots from Israel, so what can be seen in front is Jordan, which appears above the sea with significant mountains (Photographs numbers: 654 – 517 – 11). That’s why it’s weird to find beaches to get into the water, so it’s not very attractive to visitors, who look for this sea from Israel, which is a more touristic place, with hotels and restaurants.

All of this, together with his child-memories, is what moved Parchikov to take this sea as a subject, through which he wanted to reflect as evident as possible, how special these costs are and, mostly, the peculiar light that surrounds these scenery and that he shows in his photographs in a masterful way. He’s an artist who comes from cinematography and the light is something that seduces and interests him at the same time.

Taking into account that he has a great knowledge on the technique, some of his works present a very radiant light, and surprisingly they were made at night, with a time exposure of between 2 and 3 minutes (photographs numbers 898 – 893). This way he accomplished a very seductive and intriguing atmosphere, in which this intense brightness contrasts with the shinning of the electrical lights of the surrounding villages. It’s also surprising not to see any shadows and that reflects on the water are so evident.

Galería juana de aizpuru. barquillo 44, 28004 madrid. España. T: 34-913105561; fax: 34-913195286. e-mail: aizpuru@juanadeaizpuru.es