Modern Sylphids In the Photography of Ukrainian Artist Yevgeniy Repiashenko

If you've never seen La Sylphide (1832), a ballet by the Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni and composer Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, based on the novel of the French writer Charles Nodier (1822), then the Spirits series of the Ukrainian photographer Yevgeniy Repiashenko might give you the proper impression of its main character. The deceitfully fragile figures wearing fabric or special makeup on their bodies seem to emerge right from the air. Just like the sylphide, the air spirit, that seduced James Ruben when he fell asleep by the fireside shortly before his wedding. 

Fig. 1. Spirit no.22  

Fig. 2. Spirit no.24 

Fig. 3. Jeune Nuit/Young Night

Fig. 4. Spirit no.45

Fig. 5. Spirit no.5

Fig. 6. Spirit no.70

Challenging to Work With

Yevgeniy Repiashenko was born in Kyiv in 1979. Having received his first SLR camera at twenty, the artist started taking photographs while studying at the National Technical University. Other Yevgeniy's passion was music, so after graduating, he opened a High-End audio salon. After a working day at the salon, he would take photographs in the evenings. The hobby gradually became art. Since Yevgeniy knows what he wants standing behind the camera, models report that the artist is challenging to work with. We don't know if the process is as difficult as the training of Taglioni's daughter Marie was (La Sylphide was the first ballet conceptually requiring en pointe dancing, essential nowadays), yet the results may satisfy the most sophisticated jury. Taglioni's approach was defined as groundbreaking; the success of the highly demanding photographer Yevgeniy Repiashenko is proven by the list of his achievements. The artist's been participating in various photo contests since 2017 and received several first and second prizes. His first and, to the moment, only personal show happened in 2017 at the Artprichal Gallery in Kyiv. It was devoted to his Spirit series. The prints of the artist are available for collectors at artmajeur.com. 

Fig.7. Spirit no.28

Fig. 8. Spirit no.75

Fig. 9. Lotus

Fig. 10. Spirit no.85

Fig. 11. Spirit no.3

Fig. 12. Spirit no.29

Fig. 13. Photo by Nicholas Cope (nicholascope.com)

Sculptures and Flowers

While the ancient sculptor Pygmalion, with the help of Aphrodite, transformed his creation into a human being, Yevgeniy Repiashenko succeeded in doing the opposite. Some people commenting on his work mistake it for sculptures. The artist claims that the series doesn't involve computer graphics. All the magic is done by ballerinas, gymnasts, acrobats, dancers, and, of course, by the magician behind the camera. 

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Click HERE for an article preciousness of the human body in the photography of Pavlo Protsenko

Sources: artmajeur.com; Wikipedia.org