Introduction

China’s Magical Light

Refined landscapes emerge through the mist, rafts float on the surface of the water, colours blur in shades of green and blue – the scene appears more a composition of light, a surreal magical world, than a depiction of reality. We can only be fascinated, therefore, when we learn that the Russian photographer and designer Tatiana Gorilovksy, in her series “The Magical Light of China”, has captured landscapes that actually exist. The scenes appear just as they did hundreds of years ago in Chinese ink drawings: secretive, with overlapping pastel watercolours, surrounded by the softly delineated lines of a landscape.

It was the surreal beauty of the Chinese landscape that inspired Tatiana Gorilovsky to this visual meditation. Its aim, after all, is not to create a pure reproduction of nature, but to bring to life “the soul, the magic, and the lights of these places”. Titles such as “Out of Time”, “The Balance”, “The Return”, and “The Way to Heaven” reveal the contemplative dimension of the pictures. The colourful harmony and the balance of composition have a calming effect on the viewer and show the subjects at one with nature.

Gorilovsky seeks to recreate in others the feelings that the Chinese landscapes left in her. To do this, she edits the photographs on computer to produce an artistic medium much closer to painting than pure photography. Having studied computer science, computer art, and photography, in both Boston and Moscow, she brings the different paths of academic background together in a unified artistic style. Her picturesque photography has received multiple awards and, through these images of Asia, sets a new aesthetic standard.

Stephan Reisner

Bio

1964	Born in Moscow, Russian Federation
	University of Engineer Ecology, Moscow, Russian Federation
	School of Jazz Improvisation, Moscow, Russian Federation
	Pine Manor College, Boston, USA
	Academy of Photography, Moscow, Russian Federation
	Lives and works in Moscow, Russian Federation

Awards

2009	The Best Photo of Russia, Gallery “Vinzavod”, Moscow, Russia
2008	The Best Photo of Russia, Gallery “Vinzavod”, Moscow, Russia

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2012	The Link of Times, Polyplastic Group, Moscow, Russia

Group Exhibitions

2011	Variety, Galerie N, Moscow, Russia
2010	Sincerity, Gallery “Peresvetov pereulok”, Moscow, Russia
	The Animal Planet, Gallery “Butyrsky val”, Moscow, Russia
	1 Photobiennale of the Russian Museum, The Russian Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia