Viktor & Sergiy Kochetov
Viktor Kochetov (1947-2021, Kharkiv, Ukraine), Sergiy Kochetov (1972, Kharkiv, Ukraine)
ENG. Viktor Kochetov is a representative of the first generation of Kharkiv School of Photography. He has unfinished musical and engineering education. Kochetov became engaged in photography in 1968. For over 40 years he has been working as a professional photographer in film and photo laboratories, namely, in the House of Amateur Artists in Kharkiv, as well as for the Southern Railway and various newspapers. A significant part of his body of work was created together with the son Sergiy Kochetov. Sergiy has assisted Viktor since he was a teenager. Similar to his father, he abandoned his studies in the Kharkiv technical university, pursuing a career in photojournalism instead.
The Kochetov’s art is based on cooperation and mutual exchange of ideas. Their approach was shaped in the dialectic confrontation with the authors’ photojournalist background: on the one hand, it’s the "craft" of making images that would catch the eye of news agencies in the highly competitive atmosphere; on the other hand, it’s a desire to get away from the faked images of welfare and censorship of official reportages. Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov have shifted the focus to the scenes of bold, non staged reality of the late Soviet - Post-Soviet times. The authors are well-known for the extensive usage of the method of hand-colouring of black and white prints, which is rooted in the tradition of "luriki" — enlarged, retouched and often tinted photographic portraits. It was a common practice that evolved into the embodiment of kitsch and image of an average soviet person. Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov experienced different modalities of the method, varying intensity of colouring and formats. A large number of prints are single or double panoramas featuring sceneries of Kharkiv, its outskirts and other locations to which the photographers were sent on assignments. The "fauvistic" colours of their works don’t veil but intensify the plainness of the reality, at the same time revealing the lyrical side of mundane subjects
FR. Viktor Kochetov représente la première génération de l'Ecole de photographie de Kharkiv. Avant d'avoir achevé son cursus académique dans le domaine de la musique et de la technique, il se lance dans la photographie en 1968. Il commence à gagner sa vie en tant que photographe professionnel au début des années 1970. Pendant plus de 40 ans, il travaille dans des laboratoires photographiques, notamment à la maison des Artistes amateurs de Kharkiv, ainsi que pour la Société des chemins de fer du sud et divers journaux. Une partie importante de son œuvre est réalisée en collaboration avec son fils Sergiy Kochetov qui assiste Viktor Kochetov depuis son adolescence. Comme son père, il quitte l’école technique pour poursuivre une carrière dans le photojournalisme.
L’art des Kochetov est basé sur la coopération et l’échange mutuel d’idées. Leur approche est façonnée par la confrontation dialectique avec leur passé de photojournalistes dans le contexte de l’ex-Union Soviétique : d’une part, il y a le « métier », qui consiste à créer des clichés qui attirent l’attention des agences de presse dans une atmosphère très compétitive ; de l’autre, le désir de s’éloigner des images illusoires vantant le « bonheur » du peuple et de ne pas se plier à la censure qui contrôle les reportages officiels. Viktor et Sergiy font porter l'attention sur des images de la réalité souvent brutales et non mises en scène, caractéristiques de la fin de l'URSS et de l'époque post-soviétique. Ils sont réputés pour leur utilisation intensive de la méthode de coloration à la main, qui s’enracine dans la tradition des «luriki», c'est-à-dire de portraits photographiques agrandis, retouchés et souvent teintés. Un grand nombre de leurs tirages sont des panoramas simples ou jumelés présentant des paysages de Kharkiv ou de sa périphérie, dans lesquelles les photographes ont été envoyés en mission. Les couleurs « fauvistes » de leurs œuvres ne voilent pas, mais intensifient la simplicité de la réalité, révélant en même temps le côté lyrique des sujets les plus quotidiens.
ENG. Viktor Kochetov is a representative of the first generation of Kharkiv School of Photography. He has unfinished musical and engineering education. Kochetov became engaged in photography in 1968. For over 40 years he has been working as a professional photographer in film and photo laboratories, namely, in the House of Amateur Artists in Kharkiv, as well as for the Southern Railway and various newspapers. A significant part of his body of work was created together with the son Sergiy Kochetov. Sergiy has assisted Viktor since he was a teenager. Similar to his father, he abandoned his studies in the Kharkiv technical university, pursuing a career in photojournalism instead.
The Kochetov’s art is based on cooperation and mutual exchange of ideas. Their approach was shaped in the dialectic confrontation with the authors’ photojournalist background: on the one hand, it’s the "craft" of making images that would catch the eye of news agencies in the highly competitive atmosphere; on the other hand, it’s a desire to get away from the faked images of welfare and censorship of official reportages. Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov have shifted the focus to the scenes of bold, non staged reality of the late Soviet - Post-Soviet times. The authors are well-known for the extensive usage of the method of hand-colouring of black and white prints, which is rooted in the tradition of "luriki" — enlarged, retouched and often tinted photographic portraits. It was a common practice that evolved into the embodiment of kitsch and image of an average soviet person. Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov experienced different modalities of the method, varying intensity of colouring and formats. A large number of prints are single or double panoramas featuring sceneries of Kharkiv, its outskirts and other locations to which the photographers were sent on assignments. The "fauvistic" colours of their works don’t veil but intensify the plainness of the reality, at the same time revealing the lyrical side of mundane subjects
FR. Viktor Kochetov représente la première génération de l'Ecole de photographie de Kharkiv. Avant d'avoir achevé son cursus académique dans le domaine de la musique et de la technique, il se lance dans la photographie en 1968. Il commence à gagner sa vie en tant que photographe professionnel au début des années 1970. Pendant plus de 40 ans, il travaille dans des laboratoires photographiques, notamment à la maison des Artistes amateurs de Kharkiv, ainsi que pour la Société des chemins de fer du sud et divers journaux. Une partie importante de son œuvre est réalisée en collaboration avec son fils Sergiy Kochetov qui assiste Viktor Kochetov depuis son adolescence. Comme son père, il quitte l’école technique pour poursuivre une carrière dans le photojournalisme.
L’art des Kochetov est basé sur la coopération et l’échange mutuel d’idées. Leur approche est façonnée par la confrontation dialectique avec leur passé de photojournalistes dans le contexte de l’ex-Union Soviétique : d’une part, il y a le « métier », qui consiste à créer des clichés qui attirent l’attention des agences de presse dans une atmosphère très compétitive ; de l’autre, le désir de s’éloigner des images illusoires vantant le « bonheur » du peuple et de ne pas se plier à la censure qui contrôle les reportages officiels. Viktor et Sergiy font porter l'attention sur des images de la réalité souvent brutales et non mises en scène, caractéristiques de la fin de l'URSS et de l'époque post-soviétique. Ils sont réputés pour leur utilisation intensive de la méthode de coloration à la main, qui s’enracine dans la tradition des «luriki», c'est-à-dire de portraits photographiques agrandis, retouchés et souvent teintés. Un grand nombre de leurs tirages sont des panoramas simples ou jumelés présentant des paysages de Kharkiv ou de sa périphérie, dans lesquelles les photographes ont été envoyés en mission. Les couleurs « fauvistes » de leurs œuvres ne voilent pas, mais intensifient la simplicité de la réalité, révélant en même temps le côté lyrique des sujets les plus quotidiens.
Personal exhibitions:
2019 Kochetov, the show of “UkrContempPhoto” award winner of Bird In Flight, IZONE, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Neither important nor main, or Everything can be sold exept for the pioneer’s honor, COME-IN gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1999 Aniline Melancholy, Palitragallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1996 Kharkiv Fine Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Group exhibitions (selection):
2024 Ukrainian Dreamers, Communal Galerie, Berlin, Germany, curator: Sergiy Lebedyndskyy
Generations of Resilience - 22 Ukrainian photographers, Hangar, Brussels, Belgium, as a part of the PhotoBrussels Festival, curators: Hangar and Kateryna Radchenko
2023 Paris Photo, Main sector, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris, France
Ukrainian Dreamers. Kharkiv School of Photography, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
Kharkiv School of Photography — 50 years of artistic photography in Ukraine, Kreis gallery, Nurnberg, Germany
Photo Basel, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2022 Ukraine. Une donation contemporaine. Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Paris Photo, Main sector, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
Photo London, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, London, UK
The Kharkiv School, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Once upon the war in KHARKIV, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
2021 Author in Game, Yermilov Art Centre, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Sensitivity. Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 Photo Basel, Mironova gallery, Berlin, Germany
2019 Storytelling from Kharkiv: Singular Voices, galerie Alexandra de Viveiros, curator Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk, Paris, France
Transit, Alexandr Chekmenev, Viktor Kochetov, Odessa State Literature Museum, Odesa, Ukraine
Crossing Lines, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Ukrainian Photobooks, Photobooks festival XPRINT, Rodriguez gallery, Poznan, Poland
2017 City of KhA. Avant- garde Kharkiv: Research Project, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukrain.
Kharkiv. 18+, as a part of Odessa/Batumi PhotoDays 2017 festival, Odesa Museum of Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine
2015 Kharkiv School ofPhotography: SovietCensorship to New Aesthetics
2012 Perestroika, Liberalization and Experimentation (1980s-2010), FotoFest Biennial, Houston, USA
2011 The Drawing lessons: Ukrainian Photography, as a part of International Photography Festival PIP, Pingyao, China
2006 Beach Romance, Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
2003 Photography from 70s, as a part of the International Photography Biennale, Honchary gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
1999 Photographers from Kharkov, Kohlenof gallery, Nürnberg, Germany
Contemporary Photographers of the Ukraine, Mulhouse, France
Сarte blanche à Boris Mikhailov, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, as a part of Est-Ouest Festival, Die, France
1998 A Day from Life, Soros Contemporary Art centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
1995 The Art of Photography from Ukraine, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA
1994 Art of contemporary photography: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
1993 Kharkiv Photography, Museum of Industrial Culture, Nürnberg, Germany
Pan Horama, Tampere, Finland
Overpainted reality, Boris Mikhailov, Vyktor Kochetov, House of Popular Art, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Art-24 Union, Basel, Switzerland
1991 Pan Horama, Helsinki, Finland
1989 150 Years of Photography, Central House of Artist, Moscow, USSR
1988 F-88, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
1987 F-87, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
1983 House of Scientists, Kharkiv, USSR
1980 International contest Assofoto, Leipzig, Germany
1979 Salon of colour diapositives Diapol, Radom, Poland
Collections (selection):
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography (MOKSOP), Kharkiv, Ukraine
KADIST Foundation, USA
2019 Kochetov, the show of “UkrContempPhoto” award winner of Bird In Flight, IZONE, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Neither important nor main, or Everything can be sold exept for the pioneer’s honor, COME-IN gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1999 Aniline Melancholy, Palitragallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1996 Kharkiv Fine Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Group exhibitions (selection):
2024 Ukrainian Dreamers, Communal Galerie, Berlin, Germany, curator: Sergiy Lebedyndskyy
Generations of Resilience - 22 Ukrainian photographers, Hangar, Brussels, Belgium, as a part of the PhotoBrussels Festival, curators: Hangar and Kateryna Radchenko
2023 Paris Photo, Main sector, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris, France
Ukrainian Dreamers. Kharkiv School of Photography, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
Kharkiv School of Photography — 50 years of artistic photography in Ukraine, Kreis gallery, Nurnberg, Germany
Photo Basel, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2022 Ukraine. Une donation contemporaine. Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Paris Photo, Main sector, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
Photo London, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, London, UK
The Kharkiv School, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Once upon the war in KHARKIV, Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, Paris, France
2021 Author in Game, Yermilov Art Centre, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Sensitivity. Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 Photo Basel, Mironova gallery, Berlin, Germany
2019 Storytelling from Kharkiv: Singular Voices, galerie Alexandra de Viveiros, curator Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk, Paris, France
Transit, Alexandr Chekmenev, Viktor Kochetov, Odessa State Literature Museum, Odesa, Ukraine
Crossing Lines, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Ukrainian Photobooks, Photobooks festival XPRINT, Rodriguez gallery, Poznan, Poland
2017 City of KhA. Avant- garde Kharkiv: Research Project, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukrain.
Kharkiv. 18+, as a part of Odessa/Batumi PhotoDays 2017 festival, Odesa Museum of Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine
2015 Kharkiv School ofPhotography: SovietCensorship to New Aesthetics
2012 Perestroika, Liberalization and Experimentation (1980s-2010), FotoFest Biennial, Houston, USA
2011 The Drawing lessons: Ukrainian Photography, as a part of International Photography Festival PIP, Pingyao, China
2006 Beach Romance, Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
2003 Photography from 70s, as a part of the International Photography Biennale, Honchary gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
1999 Photographers from Kharkov, Kohlenof gallery, Nürnberg, Germany
Contemporary Photographers of the Ukraine, Mulhouse, France
Сarte blanche à Boris Mikhailov, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Contemporary Ukrainian Photography, as a part of Est-Ouest Festival, Die, France
1998 A Day from Life, Soros Contemporary Art centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
1995 The Art of Photography from Ukraine, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA
1994 Art of contemporary photography: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
1993 Kharkiv Photography, Museum of Industrial Culture, Nürnberg, Germany
Pan Horama, Tampere, Finland
Overpainted reality, Boris Mikhailov, Vyktor Kochetov, House of Popular Art, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Art-24 Union, Basel, Switzerland
1991 Pan Horama, Helsinki, Finland
1989 150 Years of Photography, Central House of Artist, Moscow, USSR
1988 F-88, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
1987 F-87, Palace of Students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
1983 House of Scientists, Kharkiv, USSR
1980 International contest Assofoto, Leipzig, Germany
1979 Salon of colour diapositives Diapol, Radom, Poland
Collections (selection):
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography (MOKSOP), Kharkiv, Ukraine
KADIST Foundation, USA
Bibliography:
+photographie, t.3 : les acquisitions des collections publiques, authors: Collectif, Marie Robert, editor Le Bec En L’air, France, 2022
Ukraine. The Pass to Freedom, Noorderlicht Photography Foundation, Groningen, Netherlands, 2022
Kochetov, art book, edited by The Museum of the Kharkiv School of Photography, MOKSOP, 2019
Publications & Press (selection) :
Ukrainisches Kriegstagebuch: Fotokunst aus Charkiw in der Kommunalen Galerie, Berlin, Yuriy Gurzhy, Tagesspiegel, 11 March 2024
L'oeil de Kharkiv, Les Cahiers du témoignage chrétien, FR, Jean-François Bouthors, winter 2023
"Paris Photo 2022" sage comme une image, Le Figaro, Valérie Duponchelle et Béatrice de Rochebouët, Nov 10, 2022
Les Insolites Photographes de Kharkiv, M Le Monde Magazine, Roxana Azimi, Sept 2022, DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE
Kharkiv. La mémoire à vif d’une école de photographie ukrainienne, Réponses Photo, Carine Dolek, May 2022
A Photo London, une diversité de regards sur l’Ukraine, Le Monde, Roxana Azimi, May 13, 2022
The Kharkiv School of Photography – in pictures, The Guardian, May 13, 2022
Photo London 2022. Top five fair highlights. Selected by Alessandro Merola, 1000 Words, May 11, 2022
Soviet and contemporary Ukranian art, Centre Pompidou, France, The Art Newspaper, April 2021
Galerie Alexandra de Viveiros : 6 artistes rejoignant la collection du Centre Pompidou, L'Oeil de la Photographie, 2021
Victor et Sergey Kochetov download, Réponses Photo, Sept-Oct 2019
Painting Photography: Victor and Sergey Kochetov, British Journal of Photography, Marigold Warner, Jan 30, 2019
Viktor Kochetov, Bird in Flight, by Alina Sandulyak, Feb 6, 2019
Article by Oleksandra Osadcha download
Portfolio download pdf
+photographie, t.3 : les acquisitions des collections publiques, authors: Collectif, Marie Robert, editor Le Bec En L’air, France, 2022
Ukraine. The Pass to Freedom, Noorderlicht Photography Foundation, Groningen, Netherlands, 2022
Kochetov, art book, edited by The Museum of the Kharkiv School of Photography, MOKSOP, 2019
Publications & Press (selection) :
Ukrainisches Kriegstagebuch: Fotokunst aus Charkiw in der Kommunalen Galerie, Berlin, Yuriy Gurzhy, Tagesspiegel, 11 March 2024
L'oeil de Kharkiv, Les Cahiers du témoignage chrétien, FR, Jean-François Bouthors, winter 2023
"Paris Photo 2022" sage comme une image, Le Figaro, Valérie Duponchelle et Béatrice de Rochebouët, Nov 10, 2022
Les Insolites Photographes de Kharkiv, M Le Monde Magazine, Roxana Azimi, Sept 2022, DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE
Kharkiv. La mémoire à vif d’une école de photographie ukrainienne, Réponses Photo, Carine Dolek, May 2022
A Photo London, une diversité de regards sur l’Ukraine, Le Monde, Roxana Azimi, May 13, 2022
The Kharkiv School of Photography – in pictures, The Guardian, May 13, 2022
Photo London 2022. Top five fair highlights. Selected by Alessandro Merola, 1000 Words, May 11, 2022
Soviet and contemporary Ukranian art, Centre Pompidou, France, The Art Newspaper, April 2021
Galerie Alexandra de Viveiros : 6 artistes rejoignant la collection du Centre Pompidou, L'Oeil de la Photographie, 2021
Victor et Sergey Kochetov download, Réponses Photo, Sept-Oct 2019
Painting Photography: Victor and Sergey Kochetov, British Journal of Photography, Marigold Warner, Jan 30, 2019
Viktor Kochetov, Bird in Flight, by Alina Sandulyak, Feb 6, 2019
Article by Oleksandra Osadcha download
Portfolio download pdf