Modern artists: geniuses or madmen? Oblivion and triumphant return.

Famous artists of our time, who lacked the brushes and paints to express their genius, delight and shock not only with their works, but also with how exactly they created them.

Paints, pencils, brushes and canvas - that's probably all you need to create a stunning work of art. Oh yes, more talent! These artists undoubtedly have it. After all, they didn’t even need ordinary materials to write unique masterpieces. Look what can happen when a genius takes on the task of drawing.

1. Jet art by Tarinan von Anhalt

Florida princess Tarinan von Anhalt does not use brushes for her paintings. They are created using... an airplane. How does she do it? In fact, the artist simply throws bottles of paint, and the jet thrust of the aircraft engine “creates” a unique pattern on the canvas. Did you have to think of something like that? But jet art is not her idea. The princess “borrowed” the jet art technique from her husband Jurgen von Anhalt. Creating such pictures is not so easy, and sometimes even life-threatening: air flows reach enormous speeds and strength, they can be compared to hurricane winds, and the temperature of such a “hurricane” can exceed 250 degrees Celsius. Risk combined with creativity allows the princess to receive about $50,000 for one of her creations.

2. Ani Kay and artistic torment

Indian artist Ani Kay painted a copy of the painting “The Last Supper” by the great Leonardo da Vinci in his own language. The most common paints were used. As a result of many years of creativity, Ani constantly poisons her body, experiencing symptoms of intoxication: headaches, nausea and weakness. But the stubborn Indian is ready to accept torture for the sake of art again and again.

3. Bloody paintings by Vinicius Quesada

Vinicius Quesada is a scandalous Brazilian artist whose paintings are literally given to him with his own blood and... urine. The Brazilian’s three-color masterpieces are worth a lot to himself: every 60 days, Vinicia spends 450 milliliters of blood to paint paintings that shock and amaze the public.

4. Works of menstrual art by Lani Beloso

And again - blood. The Hawaiian artist also does not accept colors. Her paintings are created with her own menstrual blood. No matter how strange it may sound, Lani’s works are truly feminine, what can I say. It all started out of desperation. One day, a young girl suffering from menorrhagia, deciding to find out how much blood she actually loses during pathologically heavy periods, began to draw a picture from her own secretions. For a whole year, during each menstruation, she did the same thing, thus creating a cycle of 13 paintings.

5. Ben Wilson and the chewy masterpieces

Artist Ben Wilson from London decided not to use ordinary paints or canvas and began creating his paintings from chewing gum, which he found on the streets of London. The cute creations of the “chewing gum master” decorate the gray asphalt of the city, and Ben’s portfolio contains photos of his unusual paintings.

6. Finger art by Judith Brown

This artist is just having fun creating such unusual paintings with tiny charcoal particles and her fingers, she doesn't even consider her work to be art. But fingers instead of brushes and charcoal instead of paint - so unusual and, you see, beautiful. The name of the series of paintings by Judith is also beautiful – Diamond Dust.

7. Self-taught artist Paolo Troilo

The master of monochrome also paints with his fingers, using acrylic paints. Once a successful Italian businessman, Paolo Troilo was voted Italy's Best Creative of 2007. Without a single brush, he paints such realistic paintings that they are sometimes indistinguishable from black and white photographs.

8. Automotive masterpieces by Ian Cook

It’s not for nothing that they say that inside every genius there lives a little child. The young painter from Great Britain Ian Cook is a clear confirmation of this. He paints pictures as if he were playing with the controls of a toy car. 40 colorful canvases depicting cars were created using paints, but instead of brushes in the artist’s hands there are remote-controlled toys on wheels.

9. Tom's Otman and Delicious Art

You just want to take these pictures and lick them. After all, they were written not with paints, but with real ice cream. The creator of such “tasty” painting is Baghdad resident Othman Toma. Inspired by the delicacy, the artist photographs his finished works along with “paints”: orange, berry chocolate.

10. Elisabetta Rogai – the sophistication of aged wine

Italian artist Elisabetta Rogai also uses delicious colors for her creations. She has white and red wine and canvas in her arsenal. What comes out of this? Incredible paintings that change their shades over time, just like an old, aged wine changes its aroma and taste. Live works!

11. Hong Yi's Spotted Paintings

What could be worse for an exemplary housewife than marks from coffee cups on a white tablecloth? But, apparently, the Shanghai artist Hong Yi is not an exemplary housewife. While creating her paintings, she leaves spots like this on the canvas every now and then. And not because she likes to drink coffee while working, but because this is how she paints, without using brushes or paints.

12. Coffee painting and beer art by Karen Eland

Artist Karen Eland also tried to paint using coffee instead of paints. And she did it quite well. Reproductions of the most famous works, made with coffee liquid, look like real paintings. The only difference is the brown shades and Karen's signature sign in the form of a cup of coffee at each work.

Subsequently experimenting with liqueur, beer and tea (no, she did not drink them), Eland concluded that her paintings came out best from beer. A bottle of intoxicating drink replaces watercolors for one canvas.

13. Kisses from Natalie Irish

You must love art so much that, without ceasing to create, you kiss your work every now and then! These are exactly the feelings Natalie Irish experiences. Great love – there’s no other way to describe her paintings, painted not with brushes and paints, but with lips and lipstick. Several dozen shades of lipstick, several hundred kisses - and such masterpieces are obtained.

14. Kira Ein Warzeji - breasts instead of hands

American Kira Ein Varzeji also put a lot of love into art - her magical paintings are painted with her breasts. It’s hard to even imagine how many colors the artist poured onto her chest. But not in vain!

15. Sex art by Tim Patch

He takes the canvas and paints, but no brushes. And what do you think the Australian artist uses to paint his canvases? Yes, the very place that he is not at all shy about. Tim's manhood is just right. At least his pictures painted with his penis are wonderful. It must be said that the artist uses not only the main male genital organ, but also the “fifth point” as a drawing tool. With her help, Tim designs the background of the picture. The master himself does not take his work seriously, and even his pseudonym is frivolous - Pricasso. Imitating the outrageousness of the brilliant Picasso, the artist shocks visitors to exhibitions not only with his paintings, but also with the clarity of the process of their creation.

They said that he played the role of the city madman. I played in order to survive and not fall under the skating rink of repression. During his lifetime he did not sell his works, he gave them to children and said that he wrote for a future viewer.

The artist developed his own original painting style, sometimes called “fantastic expressionism.” Now his paintings are valued at - 15,000-26,000 dollars.

Like a fakir, a wizard and a magician, he could easily create a real miracle from ordinary things. His decorations for performances at the theater. Abai in Almaty turned an ordinary local performance into a show of extraordinary brightness, and the audience always looked forward to the appearance of his new works. His whole life is a theater, and the artist generously decorated it with all the means available to his mind.

It’s hard to imagine Alma-Ata in the 40-60s without this man. Walking around the city in strange, ridiculous outfits, he was an integral part of the capital. A brilliant artist or a city madman? The famous Almaty resident Sergei Kalmykov was an ambiguous and contradictory figure. But nevertheless, it is his paintings that now adorn the museums of many cities.

They got used to Kalmykov - to his homemade trousers with multi-colored legs, to his scarlet beret, to his fantastic jacket with empty cans tied to it, tin cans clanking as he walked. Over time, it became a unique part of the Almaty city landscape, like a hummingbird in the Siberian taiga. He called himself, not without irony, “the last avant-garde artist of the first call”... after all, he actually turned out to be almost the only representative of the brilliant culture of the Silver Age who miraculously survived right up to the Khrushchev Thaw.

1896, family. Signed on the back: “My dad, mom, Lelya, Shura! Vanya and I, the smallest one. I remember how they filmed us. Vanya and I were wearing red silk shirts. Shura is a high school student!”

Sergei Ivanovich Kalmykov was born in 1891 in Samarkand. Soon his family moved to Orenburg, where Seryozha Kalmykov studied at the gymnasium, then at the school of painting, sculpture and architecture. In his youth he was a closed, uncommunicative person. In 1910, he left for St. Petersburg and attended V.N.’s school for 4 years. Zvantseva, where such famous artists as Dobuzhinsky, Petrov-Vodkin, Bakst taught.

It was then that a twenty-year-old young man created the amazing painting “Bathing of the Red Horses.” Petrov-Vodkin highly praised the student’s work, saying about him: “he’s like a young Japanese who has just learned to draw.”

A year later, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin himself wrote his famous “Red Horse,” which became a symbol of the Russian avant-garde. On this occasion, Kalmykov recalled: “The yellow boy who looks like a Japanese and sits on a red horse is me. Only my legs are not so short. Petrov-Vodkin wrote this from a lower angle. My legs will be longer.”

Returning to Orenburg, Kalmykov worked a lot, after the October Revolution he became one of the most active Orenburg artists. He participated in the design of revolutionary holidays, public buildings, and gave lectures. His paintings, graphic and sculptural works attracted public attention. In the 20s, Kalmykov took part in the artistic design of performances of the Orenburg theater and circus, in the development of sketches of theatrical costumes and posters. At that time, he traveled a lot with the Middle Volga Traveling Opera as the main artist, at the same time Kalmykov identified himself as a decorative artist and decided to connect his creative life with the theater.

three graces

In 1935, Kalmykov was invited to Kazakhstan to work in the newly created musical theater (now the Abai State Theater of Theater and Theater). Here he independently designed the operas “Aida”, “Prince Igor”, “Faust”, “Floria Tosca” and others.

“Kazakhstanskaya Pravda” dated October 30, 1935 wrote about the play “Prince Igor”: “Artists Kalmykov and Mikheev successfully resolved the design of the stage, deservedly causing applause from the audience. The scenery, painted in pleasant colors, with a great sense of proportion, not cluttering the scenes as usual, and successful costumes indicate that the artists carefully studied the era and skillfully used the available material.” In Alma-Ata he draws and writes a lot, but does not exhibit, publish, or sell his work.

The art center is currently in my head, wrote the artist.

In 1936, Sergei Ivanovich became a member of the Union of Artists of Kazakhstan. In parallel with his work at the theater, Kalmykov also carried out independent artistic work in drawing, painting and engraving. He took part in almost all art exhibitions held by the union. In 1946 he left work for health reasons. In 1952 he returned to the theater and worked as a decorator.

self-portrait

This is how writer Yuri Dombrovsky described his first meeting with the artist: “...and then I saw the artist above the easel. I've already heard about this eccentric. A month ago, he submitted an explanation to the police (neighbors complained) and signed himself as follows: “Genius of the 1st rank of Earth and Galaxy, decorator, performing artist of the Opera and Ballet Theater named after. Abai SERGEY IVANOVICH KALMYKOV.”<…>

He was also dressed not for people, but for the Galaxy. On his head lay a flat and kind of swift beret, and on his thin shoulders hung a blue cloak with trinkets, and from under it something incredibly bright and desperate - red-yellow-lilac - sparkled. The artist was working. He threw one stroke on the canvas, another, a third - all this casually, walking around, playing - then he stepped aside, sharply lowered his brush - the crowd shied away, the artist tried it on, looked closely and suddenly threw out his hand - once! - and a black greasy smear fell on the canvas. It stuck somewhere below, obliquely, clumsily, as if completely out of place, but then there were more strokes, and a few more strokes and touches of the brush - that is, spots - yellow, green, blue - and now on the canvas of colored fog it began to something appears, thickens, appears. And a piece of the market appeared: dust, heat, sand heated to the point of white sound, and a cart loaded with watermelons...”

“This is probably how ordinary people imagine a genius. These are the greatest salaries. Popularity. Growing fame, money. We, humble professional geniuses, know: genius is torn trousers. These are skinny socks. This is a worn-out coat,” the artist wrote.

“Kalmykov was considered by everyone to be a talented artist,” one of the artist’s colleagues later said. “This was recognized by very competent people, but a lot of oddities in his behavior did not allow him to achieve the position he deserved. So, he could draw the most magnificent sketch or picture to order, but then cover everything up and write something awkward. For example, he could write the Venus de Milo, draw her hands and put a primus stove in them.

Or depict in a sketch an actor in an absurd costume that does not correspond to the situation and the design. A mass of various theories was always crowded in his head: either he wanted to build unusual rockets, or a corridor connecting Moscow with Alma-Ata. Or he worked on his dissertation “Connecting Sutures of the Skull.” Even then, his ideas of greatness clearly manifested themselves. He called himself a cosmic genius, a brilliant artist and said that everyone should kiss his heels...

In recent years, he was not assigned independent work, he often did completely ridiculous things, spoiled them. Many of his works, meanwhile, with which his entire apartment is littered, were seen by Moscow artists and considered him the best artist in the city. He was always sloppy, not interested in his appearance and clothes. He began to smear his hair with oil paint, explaining that he needed to have black hair for longevity... He had his own food system: he ate only bread (in his youth he chewed French rolls all the time), but at the same time, when he went to visit, I ate everything they gave me. Then he ate mainly milk, cheese and cottage cheese, but without bread. He didn't eat meat and was a vegetarian. He said that hot tea and food are harmful to health, electric light is harmful to the eyes, so he has no gas, and in the evening he works by candlelight or sits in the dark.

Everyday poverty followed on his heels; he knew what malnutrition and hunger were. Year after year, milk and bread formed his diet. The “furniture” in his kennel was built from bundles of old newspapers tied with twine.

When the Union of Artists gave him a coat, he tore it open and inserted wedges. Since then, he began to wear ridiculous outfits, bizarre clothes, which he altered from various old rubbish. He believed that he was creating a revolution in world modeling. He considered himself a writer and wrote a lot under fictitious names. He did not know women, he kept diaries in which he wrote about his sexual experiences. No one knew if he had ever visited the bathhouse. I slept on the floor on newspapers. Lately I haven’t let anyone in, I haven’t accepted help from neighbors.”

An important theme of Russian cosmism was spatial architecture, so Sergei Kalmykov builds his Towers of Babel, rising into the sky, and designs some manned spacecraft. Sometimes in his “cosmic pastorals” a frog suddenly appears, which must soon turn into a beautiful Princess, and this is easily explained, because the artist, who lived alone, of course, dreamed of a girlfriend, but not of “Venus with a Primus”, as He named one of his drawings about a sweet and beautiful Lady.

The titles of Kalmykov’s works are full of pretentiousness: the novel “The Last Days of the Tour of the Legendary Kasfikis, or the Apotheosis of Sergei Kalmykov”, the self-portrait “The Contender for Absolute Immortality - S. Kalmykov”, “Extraordinary Paragraphs”, his manuscripts, essays, art history works, philosophical discussions and novels have been preserved : “Pigeon Book”, “Green Book”, “Boom Factory”, “Moonlight Jazz” and others.

Official criticism did not recognize Kalmykov’s work; it caused “annoying bewilderment.”

"The world is sick. And it is not surprising that only artists can lead the world to salvation". - wrote Sergey Kalmykov

However, now his creations hang in museums in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Astana and Almaty. The paintings are also kept in private collections. Some of Sergei Kalmykov's paintings are also http://bonart.kz/kalmyikov-s.html And one of the American collectors founded the Sergei Kalmykov Foundation.

In 1962, Sergei Kalmykov retired and was released from work in the theater. For his active participation in the production and social work of the theater, Kalmykov was repeatedly awarded diplomas of the Supreme Council of the KazSSR (in 1940, 1945, 1959).

In March 1967, Kalmykov was taken by ambulance to the hospital in serious condition, where the conclusion was made: “Exhausted, speech incoherent, gait unsteady. Paranoid delusion. Dystrophy". On April 27, 1967, Sergei Kalmykov died. Before his death, in his hospital room, he admired the taste of hot food. His resting place is unknown. It's fair to say: planet Earth.

According to the roughest estimates, Kalmykov left behind more than one and a half thousand works (drawings, graphics, paintings) and about ten thousand pages of manuscripts. These manuscripts themselves represent a kind of “samizdat”: stitched, stitched and bound books, lavishly illustrated. Without exception, all texts are written by hand, each letter is a drawing, each page contains a complete composition.

The material uses photographs from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Sources,

Adolphe-William Bouguereau (Buguereau)(1825-1905) - one of the most talented French artists of the 19th century, the largest representative of salon academicism, who painted more than 800 canvases. But it so happened that his name and brilliant artistic heritage were subjected to severe criticism and were consigned to oblivion for almost a century.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0002.jpg" alt=" “A woman from Chervar and her child.” Author: William Bouguereau." title=""The woman from Chervar and her child."

The talent of the future artist fully manifested itself in elementary school: all his notebooks were literally filled with drawings and various sketches. But due to financial problems in the family, very young William was given to the care of 27-year-old uncle Yuzhen, who instilled in the young talent an interest in philosophy, literature, mythology and religion.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0033.jpg" alt="Young John the Baptist. Author: Adolphe William Bouguereau." title="Young John the Baptist.

Soon the dream came true, and William Bouguereau became one of the best students of this school. In an effort to further learn as much as possible about his future profession, he takes courses in the history of costume, studies archeology and takes part in anatomical dissections.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0028.jpg" alt=""Italian boy with a piece of bread." Author: William Bouguereau." title=""Italian boy with a piece of bread."

And when the painter returned to Paris, his popularity knew no bounds.
Bouguereau worked tirelessly on his creations. He came to his workshop early in the morning and left home after midnight. Like all great artists, he was characterized by constant dissatisfaction with himself and an insatiable desire for perfection. For this, his contemporaries gave him the nickname “Sisyphus of the 19th century.”

The talented painter was also compared to Rembrandt. They said that "Rembrandt captured the soul of old age, while Bouguereau captured the soul of youth." Impeccable knowledge of the anatomy of the human body, meticulous detailing, amazingly selected colors - all this made William Bouguereau's canvases unusually realistic.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0003.jpg" alt=" “The Virgin of Consolation.” (1877). Author: William Bouguereau." title=""Virgin of Consolation" (1877).

And in order to somehow forget about the bereavement, the artist devoted himself entirely to his work. He painted portraits and paintings on historical, mythological, biblical and allegorical subjects, where the nudity of female bodies and idleness predominated, which caused discontent among many.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0004.jpg" alt=""Oreads".

But Bouguereau continued to write in his own manner, and when new fashionable trends and trends rapidly began to pour into art, he did not accept them and opposed them with all his creativity.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-00113.jpg" alt="Elizabeth Gardner is the artist's second wife. (1879). Author: William Bouguereau." title="Elizabeth Gardner is the artist's second wife. (1879).

The death of his son completely undermined the master’s health. And the depressed mood, accumulated fatigue, immense addiction to alcohol and smoking had a detrimental effect on his heart. And at the age of 79, the brilliant painter passed away.

Oblivion and triumphant return

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-00115.jpg" alt=" Dante and Virgil in Hell. (1850). Author: William Bouguereau." title="Dante and Virgil in Hell. (1850).

For almost a whole century, his name and artistic heritage fell into oblivion, and only in critical literature could one find a negative mention of William Bouguereau as a painter of the nude genre. His paintings, sent to museum storerooms, were kept in damp basements and attics all these years.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/bugro-0017.jpg" alt=""Lovely burden."

In 1984, with the support of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the first retrospective exhibition of the brilliant painter was organized in Paris.
With great difficulty, its organizers managed to collect and make presentable the legacy of William Bouguereau. Many creations had to be restored, since almost a whole century had passed, and the premises in which they were stored did not at all correspond to special storage facilities.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219412167.jpg" alt=""Prayer".

At the first auction sales in 1977, the cost of paintings by William Bouguereau did not exceed 10 thousand dollars, but already in 1999 there was only one painting"Амур и Психея" было продано на аукционе Christie’s за 1,76 миллиона долларов. Ну а к 2005 году стоимость его работ превысила отметку в 23 миллиона долларов. Это было воистину триумфальным возвращением гениального художника.!}

This artist could be recognized by one feature. Just in black
a line drawn along the wall in the corridor.
K. Sapgir

Levitan is wonderful. Korovin, Repin, Surikov are unique... But only after getting acquainted with the work of the artist Anatoly Zverev, seeing in a documentary and reading in his memoirs how he works, I understood what a genius is.

Anatoly Zverev can be called our contemporary (1931-1986). But how many people not connected with art know this name? But his whole life is a legend.

The world-famous musician V. Varshavsky stood behind Anatoly Zverev with a tray of vodka, while the artist, snarling and shaking off the devils, painted his daughter and wife.
Professor Pinsky, who knew Shakespeare in the original by heart, timidly listened to what Zverev would say about the sonority of the Russian translation.
A separate story is his love for Oksana (Ksenia) Aseeva (Sinyakova), the widow of the poet Nikolai Aseev, a close friend of Mayakovsky, Yesenin, a star of the Silver Age. Who didn’t know the Sinyakov sisters!

Where are Pugacheva and Galkin? Anatoly Zverev was twice as young as his beloved woman! When they met, he was 37 and she was 76!!! Their love was unreal and legendary - myths were made about it in bohemian circles...

And here are the impromptu words he wrote to her:

Fallen leaf (by golden weather);
- I am indignant - and - languishing in my soul; -
What do you want? - the leaf asked -
Oak,” and I answered: “I think...
Oh - Ney!

The best is: ... wind and - “heat”,
What is “with me”... in color - “blue”;...
These are autumn leaves... “vying with each other”;...
They sing the song “Yesenin”...
About Aseeva - Oksana - spring,
What lies in the “damp grass”...
And “not poison” - the “beast” tree.

Born into a peasant family, Anatoly Timofeevich Zverev amazed those around him with his drawings from childhood. Without completing a full course of high school, he had absolute literacy. He lived without caring at all about his well-being. He sold his works for pennies. He was repeatedly brought before the authorities for parasitism. He drank shamelessly. He wandered around the Moscow apartments of friends and acquaintances, and in warm weather he could even settle down on the boulevard. He did not have his own workshop. Wherever he painted pictures, he left them there. That is, he was not of this world. “A renegade, a dropout, a painter, good only for painting a fence,” according to the official artists. Anatoly Zverev valued freedom more than anything else and never betrayed it.

He created tens of thousands of works that are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the best museums in the world, private collections in Paris, London, Rome, Washington, etc. Several thousand of his works burned in a fire at the dacha of G. Costakis, a friend of the artist and famous collector, discoverer and savior of the rich heritage of Russian avant-garde artists, who is himself a legend. A portrait of his daughter is in front of you. But a reproduction cannot convey all the charm of this work, every centimeter of which exudes sensuality and passion!

It was about Anatoly Zverev that Falk said: “Every touch of his brush is precious.”
It was about him that Picasso said: “This is the best Russian draftsman.”
With just a few strokes of the brush, Siqueiros awarded Zverev the highest award at an art competition at the International Youth Festival in Moscow in 1957.
In 1959, reproductions of Anatoly Zverev’s paintings were published in the most famous American magazines, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired three watercolors.
In 1965, personal exhibitions were organized in Paris and Geneva. Our other artists could not even dream of this at that time.
When trying to take his works abroad, officials said: “Any other authors, but not Zverev. His paintings are not released abroad.”
They were taken out. Through diplomatic channels.

In an hour and a half he could write 20-30 papers! Hundreds of ink drawings illustrating Apuleius's Golden Ass were completed in one night.
I drew with everything I could get my hands on: there were no paints or pencils - with a piece of beetroot, earth, toothpaste, cigarette butts, etc. According to his memoirs, “he paints with ashes, tomatoes, wine, spilling paint on walls and parquet floors, spectators and models, creating portraits, not being able to get up from the floor.”
A painting begun with paints could be completed with tooth powder!
Or here's another one.
“A beautiful girl sits motionless in a chair, posing. And in vain she tries not to move. The artist never looked at her during the session. With a face distorted from tension, he pours paint from a jar onto the paper, feverishly smears it with cotton wool, and scratches the lines with his nails. The portrait is ready."

Alla Borisovna and Maxim live quietly in their filth, but Anatoly Zverev and Oksana Aseeva had such passions!
Widowed Oksana lived in a house lined with memorial plaques. Her irresistible charm defied time; she kindled the craziest love in the heart of the artist Zverev. He suffered, was jealous, organized grandiose pogroms in the elite apartment of Mayakovsky’s comrade-in-arms, throwing volumes of all Soviet classics out the window. He tore down photographs, incinerating the hated name of his dead rival.
Oksana Mikhailovna was frightened to the point of shock by Zverev’s attacks of anger, but when she dared to lock herself with a key and not let him in, he tore off the oak door of a good-quality writer’s apartment and she flew into the flight of stairs. His expressive brawls were public and artistic, he was not embarrassed by Oksana Aseeva’s elite neighbors, and they did not hesitate to call the police.
In such situations, Oksana Mikhailovna was extremely worried. When the law enforcement officers, two “Uncle Fyodor,” were packing the brawler into the elevator, the poet’s widow saw them off with a prayer and tears in her eyes, wringing her hands:
“Comrade policemen, be careful with him. He is a great Russian artist, please don’t hurt him. Please take care of his hands!” The cops smiled sympathetically at the sweet old lady.
And he drew and painted her face... Their relationship continued until Aseeva’s death in 1985. He missed her very much and died himself a year later.

Actually, it is because of his poetic creativity that I am writing this article, because... Once again I am convinced that a talented person is talented in everything.
Get to know some of them too. The author, I repeat, not only “didn’t graduate from academia,” but also didn’t finish his ten years.

Gray-lilac
Dark and sad
Knows Lermontov
Poetry spoken word
And in the lilac bushes
Dark eyes of the fortune teller
We looked...

Lermontov
(from autobiography in verse)

Without a doubt
- I'm a genius
Yuryevich is needed...

And so, under - “dinner” -
He appeared with his
"A dozen"
Poems, -
Poems and all sorts
"Elemental."

All my stories:
“Vadim” - (well, we’ll wait)
- Blond –
- Brunette –
- (Is this a sonnet, no?)
- POET!..

"Hero of our time" -
And I got pregnant
Poetry
Straightaway, -
"eye to eye"
- And at once: -
Fast, passionate
And frankly -
And “that’s right” -
To the extent -
Faith in triumph
Lord - God!..

Small
soiled
pathetic
weak
and hunchback
and dark
all runny nose
dirty
and lethargic
exhausted
hungry
sick
exhausted
beaten
and damned
raped
and stupid
like a living corpse
that the shadow of the fence
taken away
thrown out
he's exhausted
wanders
doesn't sleep doesn't sleep
and whines something
his lip moves quietly
looks strangely smiling
his name is alcoholic
like a faint sliding shadow
past the plump and graceful
past empty boxes
he passes
God forgive me

Used literature:
book "Anatoly Zverev in the memoirs of his contemporaries."
I read it, bought the rest of the circulation at Young Guard and gave it to friends.

Firstly, we must immediately say that genius is a myth that arose relatively recently and successfully functions to solve specific problems that are hardly related to the aspects of reality that interest us.

If we replace the question with a more adequate one, “is Pavlensky a talented artist-activist,” then we can already reason.

The problem with artistic activism is that it combines two areas: art and political activism. It is not very ethical to discuss Pavlensky as an activist, since he really does bold things, affirms simple, understandable and common-sense ideas and is responsible for them. Moreover, his activism is undoubtedly much more ambitious than any picketing and hanging of banners, for which he undoubtedly deserves respect.

On the other hand, one can discuss Pavlensky as an artist. The attitude of philosophical critics towards him generally varies from restrainedly positive to (in most cases, as one feels) enthusiastic; the problem is that most of them share his political views, and a situation arises in which criticism of Pavlensky is equated with support for the regime and general obscurantism.

Any artistic action includes two aspects: aesthetic and conceptual thoughtfulness and effect. Pavlensky's shares are very heterogeneous. Thus, the most successful work “Carcass” (a naked artist climbed into a coil of barbed wire, got stuck in it, was rescued by the police, who immediately arrested him), in which he meticulously staged a situation of changing states of danger-defenselessness-security-punishment, not received the same resonance as the more straightforward and stupid action of nailing the scrotum: its social pathos was completely killed by the exciting image of the artist.

The action of setting the door on fire is moderately interesting: its most important result (besides the very beautiful photographs) was the actions of the FSB officers, who closed the damaged door with metal sheets, thereby revealing an amazing fear of destruction of their own integrity. There was such a stigmatization of unsterility; a desire was revealed to eliminate any traces of external interference, even at the cost of limiting one’s own freedom. It can be compared to the action of a person who, embarrassed by a scratch on his face, bandages his entire head, thereby losing the ability to see.

The contrast between intention and result becomes quite obvious if you look at the shares of Pussy Riot (both of which, in any case, belong to the artists). So, they did the same thing several times (on Lobnoye Mesto, on the roof of a trolleybus, in the metro, in KhHS). Each time it is essentially the same work, but it was the “furor” of the action in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior that brought their creativity to a completely different level.

To summarize, I am convinced that Peter Pavlensky is a very good artist, with a somewhat uneven creativity, among whose shares there are both outstanding works and passable things.

He went down in history, but he will not create his own school.

Why in the paintings of the so-called Does modern art not have the same level of detail as in classical painting?