Mikhail Sidlin. Auction mania

Auction mania
For the first time in 10 years, the signature of the MICEX CEO could be purchased for 900 rubles

Mikhail Sidlin

Publication date: January 22, 2002

The 10th anniversary of the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange was celebrated in New Manege . Modestly and tastefully: the exhibition "Current Russian Painting. 1992 - 2002" and wine tasting, performances by young poets (!) and solemn messages from the president, government, State Duma, patriarch and other various others. The highlight of the anniversary program was an auction of paintings by contemporary Moscow artists. The most striking event was the donation of A. Kosolapov’s painting “Malevich sold out” to the Tretyakov Gallery.

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Auction mania. This is how we can define a new disease of the Russian art market. The disease is pleasant because it brings pleasure to participants on both sides - the artists are happy that the rich have paid attention to them again, and the businessmen are happy that they can help the poor. But at the same time, both sides do not have much enthusiasm - the oligarchs are not yet lining up for paintings by the famous X or Y, and the “X” and “Y” are unhappy with the fact that they are buying few of them and cheaply. But the disease is contagious, which leaves hope for a better outcome. The more people get sick, the more winners.

The source of the infection was the National Reserve Bank. 2 auctions in the National Library of Belarus have again revived interest in this form of trade in contemporary art in Moscow. According to our information, Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharov, General Director of the MICEX, was one of the active buyers at the first NRB auction. Obviously, it was there that he became infected with auction mania.

The New Manege had everything. Competent experts (Maria Popova and Elena Selina), the best Moscow auctioneer (Alexey Savinov), the right selection of the public (mostly the banking elite), excellent artists (Moscow classics of the eighties and nineties), high-quality works, low starting prices. Everything was done. But the auction failed. That is, out of 14 works, 8 were not sold (even the famous Vrubel calendar), and all the rest were bought in one way or another by employees of the currency exchange (the first work - by Andrei Filippov - was bought by the MICEX CEO himself for $1,600). Employees of friendly banks looked - but did not buy.

Incident. The paradox is that the recent December auction in the NRB was organized incorrectly. No expert selection of works, no skillful auctioneer. But most of the 18 works were sold out. And this was done not by fakes, but by real buyers. Relatives and friends of the artists. Not moneybags at all. This means that the Russian business elite is not yet ready to buy contemporary art at open auction.

Not knowing our own... The MICEX security service barely allowed Marat Gelman , the most famous Moscow gallerist, into the exhibition at the New Manege. The banking and gallery elites do not know each other. They clearly don’t see each other as “their own” (1). The fraternization of big business with “great” art has not yet worked out, but the friendship of very specific bankers and factory owners with very specific gallery owners and artists is in full swing. Just like in the times of Morozov or Guggenheim.

In the new Russian economy, private interests matter more than corporate ones. Thus, the general director of the MICEX is fortunately different from his colleagues in that he is keenly interested in contemporary art. In addition, the stock exchange anniversary is the first official event of this kind, where poems by modern poets in their own performance were heard from the stage. Which is difficult to explain by the importance of modern poetry for currency trading. But it is possible - due to the private interests of one of the high-ranking bank managers. And now the MICEX supports the poetry magazine "Arion" .

The best exhibition of contemporary art in Moscow this season. It's a shame it only lasted 5 days. "Current Russian painting. 1992 - 2002" - an exhibition that rehabilitated painted canvases. Throughout the nineties, painters were forced to bashfully hide their brushes: they either inserted video monitors into their works, or threw themselves into photography. After this exhibition, organized by XL Gallery together with the MICEX, the brushes will again be taken out of the dusty closets. Finally, from under the veil of the “relevant”, ours, dear, enduring, peeked out... (2)

The most radical artists can be cute when it comes to painting. Avdey Ter-Oganyan is presented at the exhibition with his appropriationist works of the early nineties, when he redrew reproductions of paintings by Picasso or Warhol. “Ter-Oganyan’s study of religious discourse did not meet with the understanding of power structures,” as Elena Selina delicately writes in the catalog about the artist’s future path. To put it simply, he then chopped up religious pictures with an ax at the Art Manege fair and fled from the trial to the Czech Republic. But at the exhibition, Avdey is wonderfully included in the excellent twenty. Vrubel and Zvezdochetov , Makarevich and Faibisovich ... But something is missing.

The exhibition is almost caramel-like. Without Kulik and without Prigov . Without sound and fury. Without metaphysics and pathophysics. “Contemporary” art may well be interior art. This was the main task. Show that paintings by contemporary artists are suitable for the office and home. The problem is that the recipients did not understand the message, and the auction that followed the exhibition was neither a triumph of contemporary art nor even a successful marketplace. But the short sale of wines went off brilliantly.

The evening began with a greeting from President Putin . We ended with a tasting of wines from the 1992 vintage. It turned out that the taste of currency is democratic to the point of being completely identical with the taste of the new middle class. Stock traders love strong, sweet and inexpensive - ranging from natural ( Tokaj ) to fortified (Port). An unexpected surprise was the sale of four bottles from the New Manege stage. Wine connoisseurs got excited and began to wait for unprecedented miracles - some museum Tokaj or a rare Porto for the right money. However, they started with the usual native Tokaj 92 year old - the same one that was poured to the guests (not a museum or even an elite wine - thin, too light and dry, and, in addition, introduced during the bad years of privatization for Tokaj winemaking). The first three bottles (from Tokaj to Sauternes) went for 2500 - 3000 rubles (within normal prices). And a bottle of Porto for 900 (!) rubles went to a lady in a wide skirt - and she joyfully walked onto the stage, taking money out of a wide shopping bag along the way to hand it to Mr. Zakharov. But the essence of the wine auction was not the sale of wines, but the sale of signatures. The fact is that the general director of the MICEX signed each of the bottles with his own hand. So the holiday ended with the applause of leading Russian bankers - they clapped for the lady who managed to buy the signature of their colleague for just $30. In fact, for nothing.

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(1) “Where have you brought me?” the arctic fox lady was almost hysterical on the shoulder of a Moscow gallery owner. “There are some unwashed artists walking around here” - it was in the lobby of the National Library of Belarus. The case is symptomatic - businessmen are expecting “artistry” a la Shilov - Glazunov - Safronov: a brand new suit, trousers are ironed, but somewhere in the center a “bohemian” detail is carelessly thrown - a painted scarf or a lace bow or a silk cape. We have few such “washed” artists. And then there is the drunken Kostya Zvezdochetov or Dima Vrubel in a shaggy sweater.

(2) see Evgeny Barabanov. About relevance.