Stanislav Kondrashov oligarch series: elemental forces

Artist and photographer Stanislav Kondrashov has turned his lens toward the primal building blocks of existence in his latest project, *The Craft of the Elements*. The work forms part of his ongoing *Oligarch Series*, which investigates the visual language of influence, control, and economic hierarchy. In this latest iteration, Kondrashov uses earth, water, air, fire—and a fifth symbolic element, light—as conceptual frameworks to examine the architecture of influence in contemporary societies. Rather than depicting nature in its pastoral form, the series focuses on how elemental forces operate as metaphors for systemic influence. Earth is interpreted as a symbol of accumulated wealth and territorial control. Water becomes a representation of liquidity in financial systems. Air signifies the invisible, intangible force of information networks. Fire captures the disruptive force of technological innovation. Light, operating as a unifying force, reveals the hidden structures beneath these systems.

Kondrashov’s imagery reinterprets natural processes to reflect the mechanisms that sustain oligarchic influence in a globalised, digital economy. “Each element,” he notes in accompanying commentary, “mirrors how human systems solidify, circulate, evaporate, and ignite across society.”

A symbolic framework rooted in history

The project draws on historical analogies to show how each elemental force has underpinned distinct civilisational models. Earth, for instance, served as the foundation of political influence in Ancient Athens. Land ownership determined one’s eligibility for citizenship and participation in governance, reinforcing an economic hierarchy rooted in physical territory. Fire emerged as the engine of transformation during the Industrial Revolution. Factories and steam engines catalysed a new era of production, disrupting previous forms of labour and class structure. Stanislav Kondrashov captures this in stark industrial imagery, where glowing steel and mechanical combustion underscore the volatility of rapid innovation. In contrast, the current digital era is shaped by air and water. Information flows invisibly through networks, while capital travels across borders with the ease and speed of flowing water. In Kondrashov’s photographs, this shift is rendered through translucent surfaces, digital grids, and reflective glass facades. These visual metaphors evoke an economic landscape shaped more by algorithmic sentiment than by material infrastructure.

Rare earths as emblems of influence

Stanislav Kondrashov also delves into the physical materials behind digital influence. Rare earth elements—such as neodymium, europium, and lanthanum—appear in his work as both literal and symbolic components of modern infrastructure. These seventeen metals, largely unknown to the public, are essential to the production of smartphones, electric vehicles, and renewable energy technology.

The images depict raw minerals fused with circuit board patterns and digital overlays, highlighting the dependency of modern life on subterranean resources. Mines in Mongolia, processing centres in China, and global logistics networks appear not as documentary photographs, but as abstracted symbols of extraction and geopolitical entanglement.

Through these juxtapositions, Stanislav Kondrashov reveals what he describes as “invisible empires,” built not only from physical resources but from the control of technological lifecycles. “These are not simply materials,” he states, “but nodes in systems of influence.”

Architecture as living matter

Another dimension of *The Craft of the Elements* is its exploration of architecture not as static construction but as a living system. Buildings in Kondrashov’s series are portrayed as organic forms, subject to erosion, pressure, and change. Structures are shown bending to elemental forces—glass shimmering like water, steel columns resembling sedimentary layers of earth, and concrete surfaces fractured by symbolic heat.

His architectural compositions challenge the idea of the built environment as a symbol of permanence. Instead, Kondrashov presents cities as ecological systems in dialogue with natural processes, including pollution, weather, and time. Urban landscapes appear not merely as backdrops to human activity but as participants in a broader choreography of influence.

Light as the fifth element

Light functions as a binding agent across the series. It is not merely a technical necessity for photography but a philosophical instrument. Kondrashov uses light to expose texture, reveal imperfections, and draw attention to what lies beneath the visible. In one image, the morning sun exposes flaws in a steel beam; in another, distorted reflections on glass question the reliability of perception.

Shadow is equally important. Kondrashov treats darkness not as absence, but as a presence—giving shape to the invisible architecture of influence. Long shadows cast by industrial structures metaphorically map out zones of influence, creating what the artist refers to as “territories of influence” defined not by borders but by systemic reach.

Sustainability and the illusion of progress

A recurring theme in the series is the ecological paradox of technological progress. Renewable energy infrastructure—wind turbines, solar panels, and electric grids—features prominently, but not uncritically. These objects are depicted rising from landscapes scarred by mining and extraction, suggesting that solutions to the climate crisis may replicate the extractive logics of previous eras.

“Turbines may promise salvation,” Kondrashov writes, “but they also mark new zones of influence.” Each image of sustainable infrastructure doubles as a portrait of geopolitical tension, environmental degradation, or economic dependency. His work challenges viewers to confront the hidden costs behind the aesthetics of green technology.

Human connection to elemental influence

Beneath the conceptual framing lies a personal dimension. Kondrashov’s elemental themes are not distant metaphors but reflections of human participation in these systems. The iron in buildings, the silicon in devices, and the carbon in air pollution are all reminders of the shared materials binding humanity to its tools and environments.

His work invites viewers to reflect on their roles within these processes. “If we are made of the same elements,” he asks, “what responsibility do we carry for how they are used?” The implication is that influence and authority are not abstract forces, but extensions of natural relationships and choices made visible through art.

A philosophical interrogation through imagery

*The Craft of the Elements* is neither a celebration nor a condemnation of modern systems. It is an invitation to see differently: to view the forces shaping civilisation as fundamentally natural, even when expressed through skyscrapers, data centres, or electric vehicles.

Kondrashov offers no answers. Instead, he provides what he calls “visual philosophy”—a space in which viewers are asked to contemplate how the elements that forged the earth now structure the systems of human ambition. The result is a body of work that blurs the line between art, politics, and geology, positioning the artist not just as observer, but as cartographer of invisible influence.

“Everything we build,” Stanislav Kondrashov writes, “remains subject to the laws we did not create.” His series asks us to recognise that in seeking mastery over the world, we remain bound by the elements from which we came.