Andrey Yakovlev & Lili Aleeva

With Sky, Andrey Yakovlev and Lili Aleeva release their visual worlds from historical reference and shift them into an open, almost boundless space. Where earlier works drew deeply on art history, a new form of staging emerges here – reduced, weightless, and almost dematerialized.
The sky becomes the stage. Figures float, balance, or linger in states between movement and stillness. Elements such as water, birds, and landscape enter the scene, expanding it with associations of freedom and vastness.
In Sky. Dreams, photographic staging merges with collage-like elements into a form of romantic realism: a glider becomes an image of departure and childlike imagination, while the figures remain suspended between observation and action. In Sky. Flight, this logic tips into the surreal: swimming motions in the open sky create the illusion of flight and quietly suspend the laws of physics.
Throughout the series, the precise choreography of the body remains central. Gestures, gazes, and constellations create meaning – not through narrative density, but through reduction. The motifs appear clear and yet remote, familiar and yet impossible.
Sky expands the duo’s work with a new lightness: less reference, more imagination. Less quotation, more atmosphere – a state of suspension shaped by curiosity and ease, beyond fixed definition.

Classical painting, Dutch still lifes, traditional folk imagery, Art Deco influences, and high fashion collide in extraordinary compositions that have brought the artistic duo Andrey Yakovlev and Lili Aleeva international recognition. Their works combine their individual talents in equal measure; Aleeva, the Art Director, designs and sets the scenes, and Yakovlev photographs them.

Composition, color, and concept are the three main components of the duo’s work. When it comes to the latter, they have a very specific approach. Playfully constructed references to art history, the translation of traditional images into modern ones – that’s what makes the works of Yakovlev and Aleeva’s so powerful.

The Triumph Of Form

The works of the Triumph of Form series are inspired by the masters of art history. In them, Moscow-based artist duo Andrey Yakovlev & Lili Aleeva draw inspiration from famous paintings and historical art styles to create new and fascinating photographs. As a result, they enter into an artistic dialogue with Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665) and transform the central, eponymous element from this world-famous work of art into the face of a clock without hands. This allegorical timelessness becomes an extraordinary experience against the constructivist background, carrying the viewer across different eras of cultural history. Likewise, in Sisters, inspiration is drawn from a painting in the Louvre: "Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters" (1594). Yakovlev & Aleeva decoratively redesign and colorize the image with an innovative color palette. Lights, tints, gestures, graphic elements, and even the gaze of the female subjects in the bathroom are a multifaceted reference to the original. Another great source of inspiration was the work of glamorous and melancholic painter Tamara de Lempickas, who was famous in the 1920s and 30s for her Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and members of high society. With its immense diversity, the Triumph of Form series transcends the various eras of art history and creates a lush ecosystem of imagery that spans from the 16th to the 20th centuries, captivating the viewer.

Gallery

Clear facial features and a piercing look. Dress, headscarf, and lips the same impressive shade of red. Upon first glance, the composition appears to be as simple as its name: “Girl with a Fish”. On closer inspection, however, the artists’ finesse emerges: We notice the silvery sea bream is resting on nothing less than a piece of tissue paper decorated with the famous Louis Vuitton emblem. The color, composition, and materiality are suggestive of the Russian avant-garde movement, and the image is reminiscent of Kusma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin’s “Girl in red headscarf”.

While “Girl with a Fish” impresses through its minimalist style, other works in the Gallery series are characterized by opulence. The artists present two classic beauties in silk dresses in front of a table laden with culinary delights. Facing the viewer, the models are enigmatic and mysterious. Nothing in the image is left to chance; carefully draped, the curtains and tablecloth complete the composition. The photo’s subjects evoke the paintings of Jan Vermeers and Pieter Claeszs.

Hannah Hör