| The Art Manege fair presented to the public a picture that was perhaps the most contrasting in the entire five years of its existence. On the one hand, never before have Moscow galleries presented here Western stars of the new generation, such as the Belgian Wim Delvoye or the American Mike Kelly. On the other hand, the most vulgar easel painting, which the organizers tactfully call the “so-called salon,” has not decreased either in volume or in pretensions.
This opposition, relatively speaking, of “ash and diamond” is not a matter of chance, it is the result of a long-standing strategy of the exhibition founders to invite prominent personalities of the “left” (that is, European-oriented) arts front to the organizing committee of the fair in order to somehow correct the general situation , make it less routine.
Versatility, diversity and variability have only one negative synonym in our language - mishmash. However, that’s why the fair exists, to trade all sorts of things. The problem is different - in the proportional relationship between tawdry national exoticism and what is called modern art in a global sense. The structure of “Art-Manege” inexplicably ignores the golden mean, showing the latest achievements of artistic creativity and outright slag. The core is missing, the operating system to which individual programs are attached, be it “contemporary art,” “design,” or even “kitsch.” Such a system is Russian-European culture. It is clear, therefore, that the most priority and valuable (primarily in a commercial sense) works here should be the works of the pillars of this culture - those who are called not the “new generation”, but the Classics of Modern Art. Of course, with due diligence, you can meet some names at the fair: Vladimir Nemukhin, Oscar Rabin, Alexander Grinberg, Vladimir Weisberg, Yuri Zlotnikov, Andrei Grositsky. But these are just grains of gold in tons of picturesque ore.
The situation described looks almost stalemate. The exhibition organizer should give up the idea that retail trade in all sorts of rubbish should provide the means for the existence of actual creativity - this never happens anywhere. Both prices and names at art exhibitions must be shaped by strict policies that must be followed. No matter how spectacular and talented the activities of the owner of Regina, Vladimir Ovcharenko, his gallery is not able to deal with the entire volume of pop production alone. It is possible to defeat bad taste only from the standpoint of the European norm of artistic literacy. And if this norm seems optional to most gallerists and dealers, it should be imposed by the fair organizers. What can you do - in order to vouch for your product, you have to set a quality bar and ruthlessly weed out what cannot overcome it. Evgenia KIKOZE
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