Valerii Tkachenko: Giving a historical vision contemporary life

Delicately balanced and exquisitely detailed, Valerii Tkachenko’s photographs are gems of the landscape genre. Tkachenko travels the world to capture the most romantic city images – iconic images such as Venetian canals and Parisian bicycle stands, but also often overlooked urban beauties such as medieval alleyways and bays crisscrossed by fishing boats. The photographs focus on a single street, bridge, or waterway, and pack in as much detail as possible. There are no people or even animals, only the living, breathing city. Tkachenko’s influences are diverse, ranging from ancient Chinese calligraphy to twentieth century photographers like Ansel Adams, Don Hong-Oai, and Alfred Stieglitz. He also experiments with different printing and coloring processes including, recently, photogravure, to achieve subtle shifts in atmosphere: a warm sepia tint for a lit-up Bruges street, versus a majestic blue-gray wash for a snow-covered mountain. For Tkachenko, landscape is an emotional subject. The viewer should not only see the image, but enter into the environment and experience it.

Valerii Tkachenko was born in the Poltava region of Ukraine and today lives in Kiev. He has exhibited in Italy, Austria, England, and the United States.

Illumination: an Exhibition of Fine Art Photography

Iryna Brown | Sophie Chemla | Justin Cliffe | Philip J. Cunningham | Erik Kerstenbeck | Tim Knight | Spencer McCall | Ines Miguens | Barbara Moore | Valerii Tkachenko | Dennis Tyler | Love U Sev

About the Exhibition

Illumination: an Exhibition of Fine Art Photography presents the striking, stunning and unforgettable images crafted by talented contemporary fine art photographers. These artists use a range of methods to achieve their effects, with some embracing digital technology and its possibilities, and others preferring to remain loyal to the richness of more traditional methods. Each artist puts great thought and care into composing each aspect of their image, without compromising a sense of spontaneity and openness to their surroundings. The result is enormously appealing and often entirely immersive, as if the viewer is being offered an entry into a world which is encapsulated in the magic of the image before them.

About Agora Gallery

Agora Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery located in the heart of Chelsea’s fine art district in New York. Established in 1984, Agora Gallery specializes in connecting art dealers and collectors with national and international artists. The art gallery’s expert consultants are available to assist corporate and private clients in procuring original artwork to meet their organization’s specific needs and budget requirements. With a strong online presence and popular online gallery, ARTmine, coupled with the spacious and elegant physical gallery space, the work of our talented artists, who work in diverse media and styles, can receive the attention it deserves. Over the years Agora Gallery has sponsored and catered to special events aimed at fostering social awareness and promoting the use of art to help those in need.