This photographer is primarily a maker of contemporary urban landscapes. The work is composed in a formal way with great attention given to how the compositions interact with the edge of the frame. Additionally the eye is drawn to the tiny figures in the compositions, dwarfed by trees, structures, vistas. Most of the work I've seen so far is taken in Eastern Europe and there is a cold clean light that pervades the landscapes.
Taken in the same environments, Gronsky's 'Pastoral' work looks at the familiar subject of edgelands - unused spaces that interconnect the rural and the developed. In Gronsky's images people inhabit these spaces, sunbathing, passing through, standing forlorn. They are surrounded by the detritus of urban living or large scale development - usually taking place in the distance. The people look like they are disconnected from the landscape somehow. As if they are unsure of how to inhabit the space or are lost and adrift.
Edgelands are often seen as a metaphor for contemporary urban culture and how we are now so disconnected from nature and the necessities for our own survival. The title of 'Pastoral' for this work seems incongruous as the term usually refers to a mythical ideal rural landscape of beauty and tranquillity that bears no resemblance to reality. I can only surmise that there is maybe some irony in choosing the title, because the scruffy nature of the edgelands are at odds with the pastoral idyll. I wonder if these are the only places available to escape and gather ones thoughts in these Eastern European urban environments?
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