Environmental Improvisations

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Photography January 7-27, 2012 Said Business School, University of Oxford
www.whitewall.com/environmentalartist

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Dr Stanislav Shmelev Dr Stanislav Shmelev Flat 3, Banbury House 1 Staverton Road Oxford, OX2 6XH e-mail: [email protected] In my work I am trying to capture the unique atmosphere and sense of place of different environments. I am most attracted by the unique and unusual in the ordinary. I combine my interest in sustainability and visual expression in two series of images that could be called Nature Reserves of the World and Sustainable Cities. I search for motives which have been prominent in the history of art (a series Hommage a) and explore the spirit of music in creation by studying jazz musicians at work. I am inspired by complex patterns in nature, beauty in broad sense, and the art of the past. Colour plays an important role in my work, I try to use only natural sources of light and travel to my destinations in a sustainable and responsible way. Stanislav Shmelev combines his expertise in ecology (he is an ecological economist) with his fine art training to create photographs of natural environments, the impact man and his artefacts have on those environments and the interfaces between the two. In Complete Systems Dorset, the beauty of lacy patterns made by sea and surf are mirrored on the sandy shore where, by contrast, crowds of insistent footprints allude to the pressure man puts on nature. http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/history_heritage/9149864.Stanislav_Shmelev__Summertown _Wine_Cafe/ Photography is the only kind of art that is always in tune with the times. This very formula expresses the first impression of the works by the scientist and photographer Dr Stanislav E. Shmelev if they require any words at all. In fact his photos hardly need any additional comments, they even ask for silence. In a truly amazing way these architectural and natural landscapes combine the harmony of pictorial and geometric forms, absolutely integral and complete in themselves. According to the photographer, the true keys to his works are the colours, tints and tones. They are those basic elements that form the so called sense of space and let any spectator catch it as finely as photography can let it at all. As regards the artistic influences on Stanislav Shmelev, he usually mentions the French impressionistic tradition (Oscar-Claude Monet and pointillist Paul Signac in the first place) and certain drawing masters from the Renaissance and Baroque periods (such as Jean Clouet). But there is some subtlety we always remember, comparing painting and photography: no matter how the photo resembles the canvas, people inevitably trust it like a mirror. http://www.summertownwinecafe.co.uk/events/index.html

Solo Exhibitions 2012 Said Business School, University of Oxford, January 2012 2011 Summertown Wine Cafe, Oxford, UK (May-August 2011) 2010 Oxfordshire Artweeks Festival, Oxford, UK (May 2010) 2009 Vaults and Garden, St Marys Church, Oxford, UK (March-May 2009) 2008 Oxfordshire Arweeks Festival, Oxford, UK (May 2008) 2003 St Petersburg Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, St Petersburg, Russia (October 2003)

Dr Stanislav Shmelev Group Exhibitions 2011 STITCH, London, UK (November 2011) 2011 St Ives Arts Club Members Exhibition, St Ives, UK (September 2011) 2010 St Ives Arts Club Members Exhibition, St Ives, UK (September 2010) 2010 Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK (September 2010) 2004 British Council, St Petersburg, Russia Membership 2010 St Ives Arts Club 2009 Hermitage Friends Society 2008 Royal Photographic Society 1988 Hermitage History of Art Club

Image Libraries Contracts 2010 GETTY IMAGES 2011 ALAMY Gallery Contracts 2010 White Wall Photographic publications and competitions: 2012 The PHOTO Paper, April Issue, Complex Systems Dorset 2011 International Color Awards PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP Nominee
http://www.thecolorawards.com/gallery

2011 The Oxford Times, UK

2011 PHOTO, France (The image Complex Systems Dorset named in Premiere Selection de le Plus Grand Concours
Photo du Monde)

2008 PHOTO, France (The image Moonlight chosen as a Finalist of the 2008 World Photo Competition) 2004 British Council St Petersburg (Venice in Snow 2nd Prize in Environmental Photography) 2003-2006 British Journal of Photography On-line Gallery

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Midnight Tatras, 2004. . Mounted photographic print, 30x40 cm, 180 Vysok Tatry are a mountain range on the border between Slovakia and Poland. The highest peak is Gerlachovsk tt at 2,655 m. Tatra National Park is the first European cross-border national park, founded in 1948 in Slovakia and in 1954 in Poland. This image features Krivan (2,495 m), the most beautiful peak of Slovakia. The name Kriv, first recorded as Kriwan in 1639, is derived from the root kriv- meaning "bent" or "crooked". A country-wide vote in 2005 selected it to be one of the images on Slovakia's euro coins. Many rare and endemic animals and plant species are native to the High Tatras. Large predators, such as the bear, Eurasian lynx, marten, wolf and fox live there.

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Sable dArcachon, 2009. Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 60x40 cm, 499

The Great Dune of Pyla (or Pilat) (French: la Dune du Pyla is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area, France, 60 km from Bordeaux. The dune has a volume of about 60,000,000 m, measuring around 500 m wide from east to west and 3 km in length from north to south. Its height is 107 metres above sea level. Close to this magnificent sand dune are: Parc Naturel Rgional des Landes de Gascogne (1970), and Reserve Naturel National Banc d'Arguin (1972).

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Cassis Paradise, 2009. Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 60x40 cm, 499

A calanque (from the Corsican word of pre-Indo-European origin calanca (plural calanche) with meaning "inlet"; Occitan calanca too) is a steep-walled inlet, cove, or bay that is developed in limestone, dolomite, or other carbonate strata and found along the Mediterranean coast. A calanque is a steep-sided valley formed within karstic regions either by fluvial erosion or the collapse of the roof a cave that has been subsequently partially submerged by a rise in sea level. The calanques have a particular ecosystem, as soil is almost non-existent there, and the limestone cliffs instead contain numerous cracks into which the roots of plants are anchored. In places where cliffs are less vertical, their vegetation is a classical Mediterranean maquis, typically consisting of denselygrowing evergreen shrubs such as sage, juniper and myrtle. It is similar to heath in many aspects, but with taller shrubs, typically 2-4 m high as opposed to 0.2-1 m for heath. Like anywhere on Mediterranean coast, Calanques' climate is arid, with any moisture coming only from evaporation of the sea. This xericity associated with the salt spray conditions the subsistence of an adapted vegetation. The calanques also shelter rabbits, foxes, large crows and the Bonelli eagle, as well as many reptiles and wild boars.

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Complex Systems Dorset, 2008. Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 60x40 cm, 499

The Jurassic Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2001) on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of 153 kilometres. The area has been studied for more than 300 years and has contributed to the development of earth sciences in the UK. The site includes a near-continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock exposures, representing much of the Mesozoic era (251-66 million years ago) or approximately 185 million years of the Earth's history. The site shows excellent examples of landforms, including the natural arch at Durdle Door, the cove and limestone folding at Lulworth Cove and an island, the Isle of Portland. Migratory wildfowl habitat occurs in the area, with a relatively diverse invertebrate fauna.

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Hommage to Van Gogh, 2009. Mounted photographic print, 30x40 cm, 180 This piece created in the South of France has been inspired by the The Starry Night by Van Gogh painted in 1889.

Van Gogh The Starry Night, 1889

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

View from Tate Modern, 2002. Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 60x40 cm, 499

In this work the new plays with the old and presents an image of what could be a truly sustainable city, where modern technology and design enhance the visual impact of historic iconic buildings. Millenium Bridge, a joint project of Arup, Foster and Partners and Sir Anthony Caro was started in 1998 and finally opened in 2002. The total length of the bridge is a total structure length of 325 metres and it is designed to support up to 5000 people at the time. The present St Pauls Cathedral was built after the fire of 1666 by Sir Christopher Wren, although the site has seen the original church founded in AD 604, and the Gothic St Pauls cathedral built by the Normans between 1088 and 1314.

View from Tate Modern... is in the tradition of urban realism. The Millenium bridge is seen from underneath, its tense steel structure dominating the picture, with the fine detail of the fading image of St Pauls beyond it (The Oxford Times)

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Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Venice in Snow, 2004. . Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 40x60 cm, 499

This unique view of Venice shows how unstable climatic system can bring extreme winter weather events in the Mediterranean, where it hardly ever snows. The melting ice of Greenland and the changing speed and pattern of Gulf Stream is likely to affect the European climatic system. It is our best interests to everything possible to avert the climatic change caused by humans. This image won the 3rd prize in environmental photography from the British Council in 2004.

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Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Notre Dame de Paris, 2009. Mounted photographic print, 30x40 cm, 180 In 1160, because the church in Paris had become the "Parisian church of the kings of Europe", Bishop Maurice de Sully deemed the previous Paris cathedral, Saint-tienne (St Stephen's), which had been founded in the 4th century, unworthy of its lofty role, and had it demolished shortly after he assumed the title of Bishop of Paris. According to legend, Sully had a vision of a glorious new cathedral for Paris, and sketched it on the ground outside the original church. To begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built in order to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Sully or Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. However, both were at the ceremony in question. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life and wealth to the cathedral's construction. Construction of the choir took from 1163 until around 1177 and the new High Altar was consecrated in 1182 (it was normal practice for the eastern end of a new church to be completed first, so that a temporary wall could be erected at the west of the choir, allowing the chapter to use it without interruption while the rest of the building slowly took shape). Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The cathedral was essentially complete by 1345. Notre Dame de Paris has been attracting the interest of many distinguished artists: Albert Marquet, Henri Matisse, Maximilien Luce and Paul Signac

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Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Hommage to Monet, 2008. Mounted photographic print, 30x40 cm, 180 This image is part of the series Hommage a and is inspired by the Rouen Cathedral. Sun Effect painted by Claude Monet in 1894.

Claude Monet. Rouen Cathedral. Sun Effect. 1894 13

Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Oxford Moonlight, 2008. Photographic print on aluminium plate under acrylic glass, 60x40 cm, 499 The Radcliffe Camera was designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style and built in 17371749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. John Radcliffe (16521714) was royal physician to William III and Mary II and intended to build a library in Oxford in 1712. Oxford Moonlight captures the familiar dome and upper windows of the Radcliffe Camera, rose red thanks to the night light, with one window a shining silver as the reflected moon is magnified onto it (The Oxford Times)

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Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Third view of Mountain X, 2011. Mounted photographic print, 30x40 cm, 180

Vanoise National Park (French: Parc national de la Vanoise), is a French national park in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps, created in 1963 after mobilization from the environmentalist movement against a touristic project. It was the first French national park. This park is in the dpartement of Savoie. The park is well-known for its population of Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), bouquetins in French. Other than Alpine ibex there are Chamois, Alpine Marmot, Eurasian Lynx, Mountain Hare and Stoat. Birds include Bearded Vulture, Golden Eagle and Black Grouse.

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Dr Stanislav Shmelev

Lobos Island, 2009, Framed photographic print, 30X40cm, 180.

Lobos Island (Spanish: Isla de Lobos) is a small island of the Canary Islands (Spain) located just 2 km north of the island of Fuerteventura. Politically it belongs to the municipality of La Oliva, on the island of Fuerteventura. It has an area of 4.6 km. It has been a nature reserve Parque Natural del Islote de Lobos since 1982. Lobos Island (Wolves Island) was named for the large number of Sea wolves (also called monk seals) that lived there. When it was discovered by Spanish conquerors in the Archipelago, in the fifteenth century, the sea wolves were its only inhabitants, but with the arrival of man, these animals were hunted on a massive scale by sailors and fishermen who saw them as a source of food, fat and skin. Because of this hunting, the species eventually became extinct on the island and its presence now is only occasional. In 1405, Lobos Island served as resupply base for Jean de Bthencourt's conquest of Fuerteventura. The Lobos Island, as well as the rest of the Canary Islands, is a volcanic island. Its age is estimated between 6,000 and 8,000 years. The highest sector on the sea level is the mountain's Caldera, that is 127 meters. Another feature of the Lobos island is that, despite being desert and volcanic, it has a large number of habitats: there are over 130 plant species, including the siempreviva - endemic island-, the Sea Uvilla, or White Caleton which is very attractive because of its shape and color. Likewise, birds are an important feature of the island: it has a great variety of seabirds that usually nest on cliffs and rocks. Among these species are the Shearwater Cinderella, Little Shearwater and the herring gull. Also in residence are the storm petrel, Bulwer's Petrel and Yellow-legged Gull. In addition to birds a great diversity of Fish can be spotted in its waters. Of these abound old Fish (Canarian fish), Barracuda, Bream and Striped fish.
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