Bio:

Alexander Lefler (born 1981) is a documentary and art photographer, currently residing in the Komi Republic, a remote northern region of Russia. For the past 10 years, he has been practicing commercial and art photography. From 2020 to 2022, he studied at the «Kiev School of Photography» in Kiev, Ukraine, and at the «Fotografika» Academy of Documentary Photography in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Artist's statement about the «Colors of the city» series:

I shoot abstract cityscapes based on the experience of early 19th century Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian. A hundred years ago, he depicted harmony and poise on his canvases, simplifying his paintings, removing color shades, perspective and curved shapes from them, leaving only straight lines and pure colors. Thus, he showed the viewer the basis from which not only any piece of painting begins, but everything around.

I believe that if everyone understands that beauty and harmony can be found not only in famous artists’ paintings, but also in ordinary objects, it will help to see the world around us differently — be it the buildings roofs, an old fence or paint spots on a concrete wall. These are exactly the objects that are the core of my photographs.

Everyday things ceased to be interesting for one reason — we just stopped paying attention to them, we got used to passing by without noticing. But each person can become a little like Pete Mondrian if he looks at the combination of colors and shapes in front of him, seemingly faceless. If you just look around, going out on a seemingly gray and familiar street. And, perhaps, he will understand: beauty sometimes lies in the simplest things that we face every day.