Autobiographical

I apologise for the delay. I had a deluge of legal and corporate translations and edits to complete by tight deadlines. Truth be told, I also needed a break after the last entry. Following the visa debacle, I was fortunate to have a distraction that would not only strengthen my ties to Pavel Ouporov and Suzanne Scherer, but also introduce me to sculptors, painters and actors who would all bring me considerable cheer and play an important role over the coming years. 

I must admit that I was curious as to why Pavel and Suzanne had needed all that plaster and other art materials weighing over 60 kilogrammes. However, I would soon realise why they were essential to their first joint solo exhibition at a modern art space located on the first floor in a major gallery that had back then two names: The Central House of Artists and the New Tretyakov Gallery. It was planned as an extension to the famous fine art State Tretyakovka Gallery in the centre of Moscow off Yakimanka, which displays icons, paintings by the 19^th century Russian artists and Dutch Old Masters, as well as sculptures, and would assume the latter name for good after 2019. 

The Central House of Artists had opened fairly recently, in 1979, initially to house famous Soviet and Russian artists from the 1920s to 1960s, including works by Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, Mukheva, Popova, Falk and Filonov. When approaching the exhibition centre, you would enter via a garden stacked with massive imposing outdoor statues from the Park of the Fallen Heroes (such as Lenin).

The exhibition was timed to open at 4:00 PM. Luckily, I now felt a liberty to leave early and could walk to the gallery from work, as it is situated 15-minute walk away opposite Gorky Park which had gained international renown due to the thriller of the same name released in 1983, based on a novel by Martin Cruz Smith and starring William Hurt and Joanna Pacula. The park had also been mentioned in the song Wind of Change (lyrics: I follow the Moskva Down to Gork Park Listening to the wind of change, a song penned by the German band The Scorpions after their visit to the Soviet Union. Released in January 1991, it would become a hit later that year after the failed coup in August.

The Central House of Artists had also gained a reputation for promoting up and coming artists. And Pavel and Suzanne definitely fit that bill: Soviet and American artists working as one to produce a compelling commentary on the grotesque elements of existence in the USSR, reflecting the numbness, tedium and absurdity of various professions in the USSR. While the farcical nature of the regime had been depicted in the small graphic work I had acquired from Pavel back in 1989, now that image was magnified. 

In one work Pavel and Suzanne recreated the square booth protected by glass occupied by an elderly Soviet citizen that any visitor to the Russian, Ukrainian or Georgian metros would encounter at the bottom of escalators in every single metro. The bored employee would sit and spend all day trapped in that claustrophobic box watching passengers go and up down the stairs. The highlight of that suburban life would occur when occasionally the employee had dial the red phone on their desk to announce the stoppage of an escalator due to its malfunctioning. It was clear that the street smart Suzanne had accentuated to Pavel for this work and many others the myriad of peculiar aspects of Soviet life that would seem entirely normal to Homo Sovieticus, but bizarre to a foreigner. I still cannot fathom why this tradition continues to this very day. 

The exhibition was a resounding success. Shortly afterwards Pavel and Suzanne would take up offers to exhibit in the USA and set up office in Brooklyn, New York, where they built up a considerable following, touring the US and elsewhere and constantly developing as artists.  After the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, they decided to move to the quieter planes of Florida. I provide here a link to their website, so you can read more about their story, current and previous works. https://schererandouporov.com

We would stay in touch and I would visit them in Brooklyn and interact with their Gecko.

Before they were to depart, I remember an invitation to Pavel’s flat in March that year where they requested that I serve as a nude model, taking me outside on the roof in the freezing cold to photograph me for a subsequent work. Admittedly, I had a few drinks of vodka before and after that experience. I suppose I can modelling to my list of professions. 

Naturally the event, replete with champagne and vodka, crisps, bread and cheese sandwiches, was attended by, journalists, actors and actresses and a number of artists from the best-known art school, including Pavel’s fellow students/graduates from the famous Surikov Institute, amongst them the sculptor Andrey, painters Artur Gafarov who now lives in a Siberian city with three dogs and two cats, and Manas Kisamedinov, a Kazakh artist who would become a good friend over the years. Unfortunately he passed away far too young, as had his father, the famous Kazakh illustrator Mukhtar Kisamedinov.

It goes without saying that the drinking in and outside the building, and smoking in the corridors was to continue at the residence of Ludmilla, a former model, actress and artist from Ukraine, until the early hours, rendering the start of work the next day very tough. 

Looking back, to a certain extent this would represent the last year when artists would be able to benefit from the Soviet system of free accommodation in art studios and grants, albeit small, and thereby not have to address the concern of having to sell their work to consumers or abandon their artistic dreams to make a living in another sector. 

At the same time, perestroika must have been a godsend, as no topics appeared to be off limits either for discussion or painting/sculpture at the time, given that the control of the KGB (the Committee for State Security) and other law and enforcement agencies continued to wane, with different factions focused on their own needs, siphon cash and assets out of the country to the west and planning to wage a battle for the future at that time of uncertainty. 

Financially, though, things were about to get harder for everyone, including yours truly….