Sergey Bratkov

The oeuvre of Sergey Bratkov (1960) is strongly influenced by his origins and is clearly rooted in Soviet realism. Meanwhile, the internationally known artist makes portrait series of various groups of ordinary people, such as workers, children and soldiers. In the portraits, the protagonists transcend their commonplace. Ordinary people are taken out of their daily context and portrayed as heroes or better anti-heroes. After all, Bratkov's images are permeated with razor-sharp realism. Behind the portraits is a collective past that has not yet been reconciled and an individual reticence towards the future. Bratkov denounces in his photo work both cliché images from the propaganda of Soviet ideology, and stereotypical poses from the capitalist mass media. The exhibition in S.M.A.K. let both existing photo series and a series of new works be discussed. In addition to the works in the museum, there will also be a course of a series of light boxes at various locations in the city. Available in trilingual edition (English / Russian / Dutch)