WE II
Photographs from Russia 1996-2017
“Imagine, for a moment, a Cézanne who, rather than attempting to picture the structure of Mont Saint-Victoire and of every part of the natural world through “the geometric forms: the cone, the cube, the cylinder, and the sphere”, instead attempted to picture it through the idea and form of fire (Cézanne 1904). Imagine that in this alternate universe Cézanne took the idea of picturing the world in terms of the structure of fire, where all matter was energy, all energy was active, and all activity was a transferral of energy, both physical energy and psychic energy. This is not such a counter-intuitive proposition as it may first seem, in relation to John Peter Askew’s quarter-century-long project to capture the intimate lives of a single family in Perm, Russia, and to think about our collective direction through the twenty-first century so far. Indeed Askew has predecessors in this regard even in the recent history of British art: Derek Jarman referred to his art ‘as [a] poetry of fire … luminous and oblique’. Askew’s work is, as both Cezanne’s and Jarman’s are, luminous in both the literal and metaphorical senses.” Alistair Robinson
WE II, a companion volume to WE and the second part of Askew’s quarter-century long, maverick work, is a timely voice of humanity, celebrating friendship, communality and kindness.
352 pages
158 colour plates
Texts Alistair Robinson and Lee Maelzer
Published by Kerber Verlag, Berlin 2022, supported by the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and launched at the Photographer’s Gallery, London
ISBN 978-3-7356-0851-2
WE II
Photographs from Russia 1996-2017
“Imagine, for a moment, a Cézanne who, rather than attempting to picture the structure of Mont Saint-Victoire and of every part of the natural world through “the geometric forms: the cone, the cube, the cylinder, and the sphere”, instead attempted to picture it through the idea and form of fire (Cézanne 1904). Imagine that in this alternate universe Cézanne took the idea of picturing the world in terms of the structure of fire, where all matter was energy, all energy was active, and all activity was a transferral of energy, both physical energy and psychic energy. This is not such a counter-intuitive proposition as it may first seem, in relation to John Peter Askew’s quarter-century-long project to capture the intimate lives of a single family in Perm, Russia, and to think about our collective direction through the twenty-first century so far. Indeed Askew has predecessors in this regard even in the recent history of British art: Derek Jarman referred to his art ‘as [a] poetry of fire … luminous and oblique’. Askew’s work is, as both Cezanne’s and Jarman’s are, luminous in both the literal and metaphorical senses.” Alistair Robinson
WE II, a companion volume to WE, is a timely voice of humanity, celebrating friendship, communality and kindness.
352 pages
158 colour plates
Texts Alistair Robinson and Lee Maelzer
Published by Kerber Verlag, Berlin 2022, supported by the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and launched at the Photographer’s Gallery, London
ISBN 978-3-7356-0851-2
WE
Photographs from Russia 1996-2017
“A wonderful book.. a beautiful close, incredibly touching and vast photographic story…It warms the heart as an incredible reminder of the enduring role of photography as the chronicle of lived experience and human relationality” Charlotte Cotton
“His pictures have to be inspected for their secrets, for their lightning strikes and unexpected rhymes.” Ian Jeffrey
“Whether in the gallery or on the page, this is commonplace beauty to make you think.” Paul Carey-Kent
John Peter Askew is an artist who works with the camera to create dense, poetic images of domestic life, and of the historical forces that shape who we are. WE is an idiosyncratic portrait that stretches back over a quarter of a century of the Chulakov family and their friends. Set in and around Perm, the most easternmost city in Europe, these photographs transcend their particular circumstances. Askew pays attention to our ‘best selves’, asking us to imagine the possibility of a better, more playful world, and pointing towards who we might yet become.
380 pages
162 colour plates
Texts by Ian Jeffrey, Fatos Ustek, Alistair Robinson, Lee Triming, Anna Kligman and John Peter Askew.
Published by Kerber Verlag, Berlin 2019 to accompany the artist’s exhibition at the Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, UK.
ISBN 978-3-7356-0543-6
WE
Photographs from Russia 1996-2017
“A wonderful book.. a beautiful close, incredibly touching and vast photographic story…It warms the heart as an incredible reminder of the enduring role of photography as the chronicle of lived experience and human relationality” Charlotte Cotton
“His pictures have to be inspected for their secrets, for their lightning strikes and unexpected rhymes.” Ian Jeffrey
“Whether in the gallery or on the page, this is commonplace beauty to make you think.” Paul Carey-Kent
John Peter Askew is an artist who works with the camera to create dense, poetic images of domestic life, and of the historical forces that shape who we are. WE is an idiosyncratic portrait that stretches back over a quarter of a century of the Chulakov family and their friends. Set in and around Perm, the most easternmost city in Europe, these photographs transcend their particular circumstances. Askew pays attention to our ‘best selves’, asking us to imagine the possibility of a better, more playful world, and pointing towards who we might yet become.
380 pages
162 colour plates
Texts by Ian Jeffrey, Fatos Ustek, Alistair Robinson, Lee Triming, Anna Kligman and John Peter Askew.
Published by Kerber Verlag, Berlin 2019 to accompany the artist’s exhibition at the Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, UK.
ISBN 978-3-7356-0543-6