Gorbachev's grand-nephew holds exhibition

Gorbachev's grand-nephew holds exhibition

By Greg Doyle

JAKARTA (JP): These days as we think of the former Soviet
Union we are apt to think of civil disturbances, urban squalor
and a rampant mafioso providing former Party apparatchiks with
stolen fur coats and thousand dollar bottles of undrinkable
cognac while street urchins hustle outside McDonald's.

As popular as this view is, an exhibition of Russian art
currently in Jakarta suggests that it may not be entirely fair to
Russia or the Russian people.

Yuri Gorbachev, the grand-nephew of former Soviet leader and
all-round international nice-guy, Mikhael, is an artist of
international repute currently exhibiting in Jakarta. In his work
Yuri has captured not the garish post-communist slums of urban
Russia but a land of vivid colors and startling intensity. His
paintings present to the world a Russia not of stale collectivism
but of vibrant and careless individualism.

While it is difficult for the casual observer to know if they
are witnessing yet another variant of the long popular left-wing
idealization of proletarian life, or some hitherto unrecorded
rural joy in Yuri's paintings, there is little doubt that his
work makes a stunning visual impact.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post Yuri explained
that his work can best be referred to as "naive primitivism" in
which color is the dominant force within the usually rural motif.
He further explained that, within his work, his object is to
create "mood paintings" that work towards dissipating what he
sees as negative energy of the urban environment. To this
observer at least such a claim is not as precious as it may first
sound.

Yuri's paintings are in many instances an absolute riot of
color with challenging combinations of contrasting colors, with
little tonal variation, providing an extremely sympathetic medium
for the delightful summer and winter scenes. It is clear that
rural architecture and landscape have provided the greatest
inspiration for the series of paintings presently in Jakarta,
although Yuri also pointed to the Russian writer Gogol as being
of some influence on his work. In fact, an appreciation of
nineteenth and early twentieth century Russian literature is
something of an asset in appreciating Yuri's work as he gives
shape, perhaps unintentionally, to many of the images cast by
Doestoesky, Gogol, and Turgenev in their revelations of ordinary
Russian life.

Although Yuri is, by his own account, now an "international"
artist he served a long apprenticeship in the Soviet Union's art
industry where he first studied ceramics at the Novgorod School
of Arts. While it was in ceramics that he mainly worked for the
next twenty years, in the last six years he has made a
substantial change to painting with oils and gold enamel on
canvas. This use of gold enamel draws very heavily on the
traditions of Russian Icon painting which Yuri also acknowledges
as an important influence on his work, both in technique and
style. However, it is also clear that the primitive tactility of
ceramic work has influenced his later paintings. Unfortunately,
none of these earlier works are included in the present
exhibition.

According to Yuri, the Soviet system placed a strong emphasis
on realist tradition, in the form of Socialist Realism, in which
the function of art was morally formative in shaping the self-
perceptions of the proletariat. (Readers unfamiliar with this
school may wish to refer to much of the public statuary in
Jakarta for further clarification). A quick comparison between
Yuri's present work and extant Russian formalism shows just how
far post communist culture has managed to re-assert traditional
artistic norms, in a manner that foreshadows exciting
developments in Eastern Europe.

Although Yuri's work is rooted in the Russian countryside, he
admits that the circumstances of his life in recent years have
begun to become apparent in his work. One major influence has
been the fact that he has resided mainly in New York in recent
years on the strength of a tremendous growth of interest in
Russian Art. This interest has also extended into the
international art market, allowing Yuri to travel extensively in
Asia where he has successfully exhibited in places as diverse as
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and the Philippines. This boom in
Russian art has meant that many of Yuri's paintings are now
priced in excess of US$70,000.

Yuri's visit to Jakarta has been made possible through the
involvement of the Financial Club which is hosting a special
dinner in his honor, together with a promotion of Russian cooking
from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2. This promotion, open to members of the
club and their guests, will feature chef Dmitri Egorov from New
York's most famous Russian restaurant, The Russian Samovar.
Working with the Financial Club is Deborah Carr, Vice-President
of Bank Internasional Indonesia and a major international
collector of Russian art.

Local aficionados of contemporary art need not miss out on an
introduction to Russian art as Yuri is also holding a public
exhibition of his work, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1, at the Koi
Gallery and Restaurant in Jl. Mahakam near Blok M.