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Artwork description:

This surreal black-and-white manipulated photograph blends memory, dream, and visual metaphor. Inspired by the experimental spirit of photographic art by Dora Maar, it stages a fantastical vision born from a real encounter: while collecting a shell on the shores of the Red Sea, the artist discovered a small crab hidden inside. The crab was returned safely to the sea, but the experience lingered in the subconscious and later reemerged in a dream. In the artwork, the crab-shell hybrid rests incongruously on desert sands, holding a cigarette over a glowing ashtray. The stark desert landscape contrasts with the marine form, evoking displacement, survival, and the absurd poetry of existence. The smoky atmosphere recalls both the fragility of life and the fleeting nature of dreams, where reality and imagination entwine. The work invites viewers to reflect on chance encounters, the hidden worlds within ordinary objects, and the strange beauty that arises when the sea meets the desert in the theater of the subconscious. Art print on paper signed on the front. Certificate of authenticity.

Materials used:

Print on paper

Tags:
#black white #digital collage #alex solodov #smoke abstract #surreal phorotgraphy 

Smoking in the Desert (2025) Photograph
by Alex Solodov

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£208.85 

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Artwork description
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This surreal black-and-white manipulated photograph blends memory, dream, and visual metaphor. Inspired by the experimental spirit of photographic art by Dora Maar, it stages a fantastical vision born from a real encounter: while collecting a shell on the shores of the Red Sea, the artist discovered a small crab hidden inside. The crab was returned safely to the sea, but the experience lingered in the subconscious and later reemerged in a dream. In the artwork, the crab-shell hybrid rests incongruously on desert sands, holding a cigarette over a glowing ashtray. The stark desert landscape contrasts with the marine form, evoking displacement, survival, and the absurd poetry of existence. The smoky atmosphere recalls both the fragility of life and the fleeting nature of dreams, where reality and imagination entwine. The work invites viewers to reflect on chance encounters, the hidden worlds within ordinary objects, and the strange beauty that arises when the sea meets the desert in the theater of the subconscious. Art print on paper signed on the front. Certificate of authenticity.

Materials used:

Print on paper

Tags:
#black white #digital collage #alex solodov #smoke abstract #surreal phorotgraphy 
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Alex Solodov

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Location Mexico

About
Alex Solodov’s work encapsulates the odyssey of an artist whose life and work have been shaped by the rich cultural tapestries of the regions he has inhabited. Trained at the... Read more

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