Putin and the bear. Denunciation for the artist Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun

A resident of St. Petersburg appealed to the police demanding that the Erarta Museum of Modern Art Museum of contemporary art. The visitor to the exhibition "Prize 2023" was not arranged by the work of the famous St. Petersburg artist Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun called "Bathing of the Red Bear", since it may contain "signs of discrediting the Russian army" or even "betrayal of the Motherland." The North Correspondent attended the exhibition and tried to figure out a flared scandal.

Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun wrote "bathing the red bear" back in 2020. The picture shows a huge bear standing on the hind legs, illuminated by a red sunset. The bear leads on a chain a man reminiscent of Putin, in a recognizable image of a macho with a bare torso and glasses. The brutality of the picture is emphasized by the army cap, pilot glasses and Khaki color shorts.

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According to Grigoriev-Bashun, the picture was conceived as an Ommage (tribute.-SR ) the well-known work of the artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin "Bathing of the Red Horse". However, the picture has another name - "Anxious evening".

“At first I was still thinking of calling her“ dictator and his bear, ”Grigoryev-Bashun laughs. - They say that Putin is depicted on this canvas ... In general, frankly, I meant him. So I emphasized its small growth (it is 168 centimeters): if you look closely, then it can be seen: it stands on a pebble, holding a red bear on a chain to seem higher. I emphasized his characteristic Chekist stiffness and tension, which, on the contrary, is not characteristic of a strong bear who personifies Russia. I wanted to convey the slightly frightened, troubled movement of this "hero", and in contrast to him - to depict a completely evil, furious bear, which he, in the end, lowered the chain.

Explaining the plan of his picture, the artist indicates that her characters illuminates the setting sun, and it is in the West. That is, the characters on the canvas are looking west, as if a threat was coming from there. The picture was made by hard strokes, the viewer’s gaze seems to be drawn into a whirlpool.

"War is a children's matinee, or what?"

The Erarta Museum is holding the Prize-2023 competition for several years. This is a prestigious prize in the field of contemporary art with a prize pool of 3.2 million rubles, which will be divided between authors (2.5 million rubles) and viewers (700 thousand rubles). Spectators will be able to vote for their favorite work, without relying on the opinion of specialists, write down their review in the museum base and thereby also take part in the competition.

But participation in the vote "Bathing of the Red Bear" is now in question. The vigilant visitor found that "the bear is a symbol of Russia, President Vladimir Putin, a camouflage network and a helmet with paint, leads it to a chain on a swamp - this is blood and a reference to the military special operation," which he reported to the police. He requires not only “give the exhibit for examination and establish the meanings embedded in it”, but also to check the museum itself: whether he is visible in the exhibition of treason to his homeland, insulting the president, the threat of the internal and external security of Russia, whether it contains elements of extremism, public justification of terrorism, as well as criticisms of SV.

The picture of Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun is placed almost in the very corner of the hall. The part of the wall on which the installation is located is covered with a camouflage military net, and in front of the picture itself is a giant army helmet, filled with a kind of paint. When you approach the picture, the switch clicks, and the inside of the helmet lights up with a red color, making the liquid inside similar to the blood.

- Camouflage mesh with this composition. Here is the beginning, here is the investigation, ”says the artist, pointing to the helmet.

Diptych was not always exhibited in this form. Although the helmet in it was conceived from the very beginning, but at the exhibition in Moscow, at the State Museum of Modern History of Russia, which lasted from November 2021 to January 2022, they refused that the installation did not take up too much space.

- According to the plan, my exposition was supposed to take six halls, completely the upper floor. Then the curator calls me, says: "Vadim, here it is such a thing, you see, the museum is very asking, let's not spoil the relationship, there was a call from the Foreign Ministry, that you need to make an exhibition of one English artist." Then my halls were reduced to three. After that, we bring all the work, unpack, arrange.

The director of the museum comes (and this is a purely pro-Knight museum) and, shaking his head, says that some of the paintings cannot be shown: “You see, we have children, excursions, schoolchildren, and here violence is still too much,” she made excuses.

- And the war is that, a children's matinee, circus, or what? OK. Another hall was reduced to two. Two large halls, large expositions. Then there was also a "bathing of the red bear." No one had any questions, ”the artist shrugs his hands.

Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine

For three months, the exhibition "Mars attacks" in the State Museum of Modern History saw about six thousand people. Among them was the ex-minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky and Patriarch Kirill. As the artist’s employees later said, the patriarch was very liked by the patriarch. There were no complaints even after the visit of such tall guests either. But all this was a month before the start of the war.

Among the famous paintings included in the series “War of War” (there are more than 40 of them, which belongs to the “bathing of the Red Bear”), there are canvases and installations dedicated to the war in Chechnya and the war in Syria. Vadim takes out the phone and shows the paintings that he worked on from zero.

- Here, for example, my work "Syrian watermelon". Here is a clear association with the fact that the hero’s mouth flows from the mouth. I try not to act primitively, but so that some allusions, associations arise. So that there is no unambiguousness, as in a poster, ”he explains. - I try to make three -dimensional paintings, this one is called "cannon meat." Then a real strap comes to the surface of the canvas, here the helmet is also voluminous, but this piece of meat, there I made the LED light back. When the viewer comes up, it turns on, like a picture with a bear.

The artist continues to leaf through the photos. Among the paintings by which he is inspired, of course, the canvases of the famous artist, who back in the 19th century opposed the aggressive wars, Vasily Vereshchagin. Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun and often in criticism is called modern Vereshchagin.

- Here is the famous picture of Vereshchagin "The mortally wounded", which he wrote in 1873. And I have a mortally wounded one - using modern technologies. Here I added luminous cords, my bullets are flying. The bullets struck him, they shine, and the blood was also made luminous - from plastic with illumination. Here it is, a modern paratrooper, ”explains Grigoriev-Bashun.

The biggest resonance was caused by the picture "Killed and forgotten." She was removed from exhibitions more than once, although it was written back in 2010.

- We do not throw our own. Here is my picture "killed and forgotten." A young killed soldier lies with his eyes open, and flies crawl along him. I have long been sick with this topic. It started with me with the Chechen war. I then performed, said openly that it was complete nonsense and crime. Then it still started, and how ended? There are exactly the same methods. Some kind of stupidity is trouble-free. Falling asleep with bodies, corpses, complete horror. Unfortunately, life shows that history does not teach anything, ”the artist sighs.

Since the exhibition "Mars attacks" was held in Moscow with great success, Vadim began to receive proposals from other state museums. It was the Mashkov State Museum in Volgograd, and the National Picture Gallery in Kazan, and the Nesterov Museum in Saratov.

- We agreed, everything was already planned, in particular, in the museum in Volgograd they wanted to confine the exhibition by June 22, by the day of the Great Patriotic War. I have already packaged the work, contracts with carriers were concluded, we were already preparing for the opening, we watched hotels and tickets, when suddenly the curator calls me and says that everything is canceled because someone came, looked at which exhibition, and said: "There is no military theme, there is no war!" They sent a letter to me: "We apologize, for technical reasons, we transfer your exhibition to the end." And then all the other plans rained down like a domino ... This is the first exhibition after that cancellation, ”says Vadim.

A degree of madness

After the denunciation of the “bathing of the Red Bear”, supposedly discrediting the Russian army, Vadim personally meets each visitor at the entrance and conducts an excursion on the exposition of Erarta. For how much more it will sag, no one knows.

- When this work was taken from me for the competition, I specifically asked: "Are you not afraid?" Because this is not the first time I have been withdrawing work from the exhibition, they do not allow to show. They are a little not "patriotic". I show the pain and all the tough that is in the war, ”says the artist.

Among the exhibits of the exhibition, the picture is very distinguished. Guests are staring at each detail intently - but they do not see any discrediting of the Russian army on the canvas.

- What does it have to do with it? There is absolutely no discredit. The picture was written earlier. I know Vadim for more than 30 years and I know what wisdom is in it. He always anticipates events. Well, what is the discredit here? He conveyed the essence of what is really happening, ”says the visitor to the exhibition Svetlana Kondratyeva. Her friend, standing nearby, completely agrees with her.

- Today's realities in this picture are really reflected. At least, I went through the whole exposition and identified this particular picture as one of the most significant. There are many other worthy works, but this one grabs the main point in the present time, ”says another visitor, Natalya Rumyantseva.

Museum staff also do not see any discredit in the installation of the artist. Wronging around, they say that maybe competitors wrote a denunciation, since the prizes have a lot of money, and Grigoryev-Bashun’s picture is really one of the brightest.

- I don’t know how events about discrediting will develop. So far, the lull: the museum lawyers are now solving legal issues. But nevertheless, common sense should triumph. Long live the mind, may the insanity perish! But it is not yet known how much the degree of madness will increase, ”says the author of the picture.

Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun is known not only for his anti-war works, but also by abstract works. The artist’s paintings were exhibited dozens of times in the leading Russian and world museums.

As artist Vadim Grigoriev-Bashun, he became known for a wide circle of spectators from the end of the zero, when he moved away from abstractions, sculptures and photographs and began to write paintings about the war.

"Most of the paintings do not tell about the battles of any particular war, the images of the soldiers are generally symbolic on them. They only guess references to specific military conflicts in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Donbass, Syria, Karabakh. These are thoughts about the war in general, about its horror, pain, suffering. And, of course, about death as the main component of the war," he writes about him about him. creativity of art critic Anna Steinman .

According to art critic and art critic Pavel Gerasimenko, the artist combines traditional and modern techniques in his works, therefore it is very difficult to attribute his work to some particular modern course.

-This work of Grigoryeva-Bashun would suit the Gallery "Pork Rylo" and the movement "Sordovsky artists (Colkhui)." Because Kolkhui is absolutely oppositional, they always had a caustic political satire, says Gerasimenko.

He believes that Erarta may well lose the "bathing of the Red Bear" because of the case of "discrediting".

- Pictures are often shot. This is constantly happening, many curators are even at a loss. And the work is now being removed in full swing: both paintings and videos, often under the pretext of self -censorship, ”the critic says.

So, in January of this year, in the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art, a picture of the St. Petersburg artist Dmitry Shagin was shot from the exhibition due to the "political subtext". In less than a month, the security forces broke into the Petersburg office of Yabloko at the exhibition of Elena Osipova, known for their anti -war posters. The work of a 77-year-old artist seized.

Russian courts and investigating authorities consider it “discrediting” and the distribution of “knowingly false information” about the army of the Russian Federation any information about the war in Ukraine, which does not correspond to official reports of the Russian authorities. In March of this year, the legislation was still tightened: Vladimir Putin signed the law on fines up to 500 thousand rubles for the "discredit" "volunteers" of the so -called "own".