With the Magnificent project and book, I raise questions about the search for value and the criteria (impossibility) of defining it.

Diamond mining is an industry based on the satisfaction of pure desire (because it is based on the search for objects that symbolize desire). Likening myself to a diamond miner, I dive into a quarry pit to find my diamond. But if the immersion of the corporation underground has economic reasons, the immersion of the artist, in turn, comes from aesthetic premises. The immersion does not so much provide an answer as raise questions for me: is it possible, by immersing oneself in the stream of images that are part of the visual totality, to isolate the very "value" that seduces the eye? In what does it manifest itself, in light, form or object? Is it possible to stop this process?

Yury Gudkov (b.1990) based in St-Petersburg, Russia

The key aspect of Yury Gudkov's works is a thorough investigation the essence of the most non-obvious things. His interest in the premises the phenomena and processes can be seen regardless of the objects he works with: photography and appropriated images, video, books or installations.

His works has been exhibited since 2014. His solo exhibition "Keep an eye on what you see" took place in FotoDepartament Gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia. Solo show "Magnificent" held in 2016 during International Festival of Photography, Uglich, Russia. His project "MINE" was exhibited within the project NEMOSKVA in 2018.