07/03: Russian Graffiti - from Glory to Schizophrenia
There was a tradition in the Soviet Union to paint the walls of houses with some propaganda-like images. Usually these images depicted glorious events, such as revolutions, demonstrations or huge construction sites, like this one here from Barnaul (Siberia):
Having served their purpose in the past, they are still an attractive sight to a passer-by. But what happens when state-sponsored graffiti artists let their inner vision out in the modern Russia?
Even though the means of expression are somewhat similar, their art is in no way Banksy style. Instead of being subversive or, as in the past, glorifying the current regime, these artists actually create a parallel reality where there is a place for a naked boy in the middle of the city (depicting future), a huge fist (depicting "good"), and peasants with abnormal carrots (depicting fertility, I guess).
In order to see all this, you need to go no further than a few hundred kilometers from Moscow. There, in a small Russian provincial city called Borovsk (Kaluga region) a local artist Ovchinnikov, former engineer, is making the place beautiful with his frescoes and plastering them with his wife's poems.
This particular one says: "The future is a naked boy, turning the key in a lock, And the earth is flying, like a ball, holding the centruries..."
There's another one:
It says: "The good should have fists(?!)"
And this one says "Attaboy our cucumber!" and the poem at the bottom ends with "... continuing good traditions are our dear gardeners, whose hands have grown in the earth!"
Looks strange? There's much more... Just check out Artemy Levedev's photo report of the city, scroll down to see more stuff...
The assumed well-meaning of this work is very bizarre especially in contrast to the run-down landscape around. And it's even stranger to imagine that some people might take these "depictions of normality" quite seriously...
Graffiti displaying cliche moral values, pseudo philosophical thoughts, and happy peasants with huge carrots... What could be more important for a small town in the middle of nowhere?
Having served their purpose in the past, they are still an attractive sight to a passer-by. But what happens when state-sponsored graffiti artists let their inner vision out in the modern Russia?
Even though the means of expression are somewhat similar, their art is in no way Banksy style. Instead of being subversive or, as in the past, glorifying the current regime, these artists actually create a parallel reality where there is a place for a naked boy in the middle of the city (depicting future), a huge fist (depicting "good"), and peasants with abnormal carrots (depicting fertility, I guess).
In order to see all this, you need to go no further than a few hundred kilometers from Moscow. There, in a small Russian provincial city called Borovsk (Kaluga region) a local artist Ovchinnikov, former engineer, is making the place beautiful with his frescoes and plastering them with his wife's poems.
This particular one says: "The future is a naked boy, turning the key in a lock, And the earth is flying, like a ball, holding the centruries..."
There's another one:
It says: "The good should have fists(?!)"
And this one says "Attaboy our cucumber!" and the poem at the bottom ends with "... continuing good traditions are our dear gardeners, whose hands have grown in the earth!"
Looks strange? There's much more... Just check out Artemy Levedev's photo report of the city, scroll down to see more stuff...
The assumed well-meaning of this work is very bizarre especially in contrast to the run-down landscape around. And it's even stranger to imagine that some people might take these "depictions of normality" quite seriously...
Graffiti displaying cliche moral values, pseudo philosophical thoughts, and happy peasants with huge carrots... What could be more important for a small town in the middle of nowhere?
Total Votes: 3 - Rating: 4.67
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