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.