Briefing.
Alexei Gordin - a famous Estonian visual artist.
He needed a set of portraits to go before the opening show at the Punctum Gallery in Tallinn.
Alexei has long worked with the city as an exhibition space. He finds abandoned buildings, gets into them, sometimes literally forcing entry and transforms these deserted places into temporary galleries.
So for his own portraits it made sense to shoot somewhere that fits his world.
We chose Linnahall in Tallinn, a huge Soviet-era concert hall that has stood unused for years. It has its own history with Aleksei too: he once appeared there as an extra in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet movie.
Needs:
Visual material for the exhibition at the Punctum Gallery that shows Aleksei as an author whose subject is forgotten places.
Portraits for the exhibition opening press and social media.
Shoot:
- environmental portraits at Linnahall
- Aleksei within the architecture.
Mood and style.
Bright, loud and colorful. Linnahall is covered in graffiti so we leaned into that instead. Aleksei wears the clothes compete with the painted walls and play off them. The light is direct flash, straight on, with flat punchy color and sharp.
Result.
The Instagram post got a lot of warm comments, and some people compared Aleksei to Bowie.
We also recorded an interview with him for the exhibition, where he talks about the spaces he works with and why he keeps going back to them.
We also recorded an interview with him for the exhibition, where he talks about the spaces he works with and why he keeps going back to them.
And here is the reel from the opening, if you want to see how it all looked on the night.