Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/562661
Opposite page: Synchrodogs for Masha Reva This page, clockwise from top left: Detail of "Supernatural" series, 2015 Synchrodogs: Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven "Supernatural" series, 2015 Detail of "Supernatural" series, 2015 Synchrodogs for Bimba y Lola Synchrodogs for Masha Reva "Reverie Sleep" series, 2013 "Animalism, Naturalism" series, 2012 All photos courtesy of the artists: © Synchrodogs avant-garde magazines such as Jalouse and Dazed and Confused, and you get a notion of the realms in which Synchrodogs thrives. For the latter, they shot images of Femen, a group of Paris- based women who are taking the world by storm by going bare breasted, adorning their bodies with all manner of graffiti and storming the gates of Notre-Dame de Paris and other bastions of Western "stodginess." In fact, to say Synchrodogs is politically minded is an understatement; after all, their home turf of the Ukraine has become a raging battleground after Vladimir Putin's onslaught on the region, which has long been associated with beauty and imagery evocative of both the tsardom of Russia and Habsburg, Austria. The artists have much to say about the destruction wrought by Putin. In fact, they corrected my terminology. "This is not just destruction; it is a war," Noven says. "And it is something that all Ukrainians care about, no matter what their occupation may be." All of this should certainly serve as a juiced-up windup for the Synchrodogs' Dallas show. The exhibition will feature all new work, and much of it was shot in Texas during a month-long excursion in a rental car — in which they sometimes slept — from April 11 to May 13 of this year. The process for photographing work for the exhibition began, according to Noven, "at Caddo Lake, and then we moved toward the south, in Ennis during bluebonnet season, along I-20, and then to territory around Marfa and Big Bend National Park." He and Shcheglova also traveled to New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. "A 6,500-kilometer [4,038-mile] drive through America brought us adventures," he says. "We barely escaped snakes in narrow, slotted canyons — they all come out after the sun goes down. And we also saw a real unicorn below a rainbow right after we drove through the biggest snowy thunderstorm we've ever seen — including lightning bolts striking right in front of our car." During a trek in White Sands National Park, they "almost died in the desert." They "ran out of water while only halfway back to the car — it was parked 200 huge dunes away." Life. Death. War. Fashion. Beauty. It's all part of the unique world of Synchrodogs. To say their presence in Dallas is a privilege is an understatement. People willing to die for an image and who live life in a way that is a real-time version of a page-turning thriller deserve all the accolades I can muster. SYNCHRODOGS, "SUPERNATURAL," SEPTEMBER 20 – DECEMBER 21, AT THE DALLAS CONTEMPORARY, 161 GLASS ST., DALLASCONTEMPORARY.ORG