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Street art is treated differently: numerous actions of street artists attract attention, some criticize the artists, others - critics. What is the essence of this - by the way, not new - phenomenon, said the legendary Petersburg artist Boris Anikin.
Street art is treated differently: numerous actions of street artists attract attention, some criticize the artists, others - critics. What is the essence of this - by the way, not new - phenomenon, said the St. Petersburg artist Boris Anikin.
More and more messages about the actions of street artists began to appear in the St. Petersburg news feed. Taking into account the loud criticism, both against the activists themselves and against their opponents, we decided to understand in detail the peculiarities of street art as a phenomenon gaining popularity.
In order to avoid the tendentiousness characteristic of this topic, we turned to an expert for help who, given his classical art education, undeniable merits in the visual arts and obvious respectability, is himself the author of works that, if we speak in today's terms, can be attributed to the objects of street art. We are talking about a St. Petersburg artist, book graphic artist, painter, teacher, board member of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists Boris Alexandrovich Anikin.
Boris Alexandrovich is known as the author of illustrations for more than 200 books, which are familiar to the inhabitants of our country from childhood. However, as we managed to find out, at the beginning of his career he was fond of large mosaics, sgraffito and wall paintings. In addition, he, a native of Leningrad, has lived in two cities since 1992, the second of which is London, which, according to many, is one of the world's centers of street painting. Therefore, it was him, as a participant in both Russian and British artistic life, that we asked him to answer the question of what street art is.
What motivates the artist to create these images?
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Either the need to communicate something, an important thought or task of the customer, if we are talking about serious work, or helplessness, if we are talking about writing a three-letter word on the fence. A person has something boiling inside, but he has no tools for expression. So he will suffer a little and begin to express himself as best he can. This is the cry of a helpless man. He is not entirely sure that the world around him notices him, does not understand how to interact with him, and tries to declare himself, remind him. Now there is a whole direction - they leave signatures and strive to make them recognizable. This is it. There they have many gradations - street art is not the same as public art, graffiti is also different, tags, etc. But I prefer not to use these terms. This, you know,as aunts with mops (with all due respect to the work of cleaners) to call a cleaning company is just dust in the eyes.
If we're not talking about damaging fences, but about meaningful activity, is street art a positive or negative phenomenon?
Visual agitation (laughs). It depends on who is campaigning for what. During the war the Germans had monumental works of excellent quality. But I'm not sure that a talented mosaic that calls for the destruction of people can be called good. Rather the opposite. Its artistic merit only enhances the enormity of the broadcast image. They had very high quality mosaics and murals and posters, but were they literally good? I think definitely not. At the same time, if the image carries a distinct, constructive content, refers to the highest in a person, then it may well be useful for society, for the urban environment.
True, there is one big BUT. If we are talking about how to embed an image in an already established environment, then everything is very difficult. There are so many factors to consider that the task becomes extremely difficult. It is necessary to take into account the interaction of the new image with the surrounding architectural objects, the color and tonal range, the general aesthetics of the place, its history, contexts … A lot of things. There are very few successful examples. You are probably expecting me to say that in Soviet times … No, I will not. I will say that at least then people with a very serious special education were engaged in this business, there were art councils, where all aspects were scrolled by different specialists from all possible sides. Up to the point that they calculated how the painting would look when the paint starts to fade. Even so, there are not so many successful examples. More unsuccessful ones.
For myself, I came to an unequivocal conclusion - it is impossible to invade the existing environment. The only way to really fit a large image into the architectural environment is to lay it down at the design stage. By the way, when the USSR realized this and followed this path, it turned out really a lot of real masterpieces. And not only in the USSR.
Monumental panorama on buildings. St. Petersburg.
Some street artists say they only work on dirty peeling walls, decorating them. Is this an argument?
Yes, we have dirty walls and peeling houses. There are crumbling buildings. As in any big city, there are no less of them in London. Yes, they do not look the best, but trying to hide these flaws by masking them with images, often of dubious quality, specifically in our city, is the same as if a person in a dusty and shabby tailcoat would sew a patch with Mickey on this tailcoat. Mouse. Tailcoat should be cleaned and given to a tailor for repair, not a substitute for concepts.
You say that the pictures on the walls carry a message. Who sends it and to whom?
The sender is the one who wants to influence the audience for one purpose or another. In this case, on passers-by, on residents. In the USSR, the Communist Party promoted communist ideas among the people. For this, among other things, she used visual agitation. Everywhere there were slogans, portraits of Lenin, Marx and other major communists, on which it was proposed to be equal. The question of the quality of that campaign is a separate conversation, but here is the sender and the recipient of the message. During perestroika, this tool of agitation was ridiculed, called "the glaring spirit", then all these slogans and portraits of the leaders were destroyed, but a holy place is never empty. Now in all those places where there were slogans like "Glory to October", written SONY, RAIFFEISEN BANK, etc. The sender has changed, the content of messages has changed, but the principle itself remains. Earlier they called to strive for new victories,are now encouraging to buy SAMSUNG refrigerators.
What does street art have to do with it? There are also no ads
Yes, there are no advertisements for vacuum cleaners. This is a different technology, more complex. Influencing emotions with images. Well, if we are talking about serious street artists, such as Banksy or our Pasha. He has a number.
Society can be influenced in different ways. There are rough ways - laws, prohibitions, various restrictions of direct action. There are more technological ones - media, cinema for a wide audience, now here is the Internet. And there are very subtle and very complex methods, and this, of course, is art. Major political figures at all times brought famous artists, poets, musicians closer to themselves, including in order to transmit certain ideas to society through them. Music, literature, painting, illustration in the book that you are reading - all this affects you, creates a frame of mind, disposes to one or another action. And most importantly, it allows you to hide the very fact that someone is influencing you. The person is sincerely convinced that what came to his mind is his own thought, although this is not always the case,a person can be very carefully brought to a thought.
Such techniques are used in advertising
Yes, and in advertising too. Advertisers know perfectly well how to make a person do what they need - to make a purchase using a combination of colors, sounds, smells, tactile sensations. It is not a secret, they teach it, there is a mass of literature. What do you think, even if traders successfully use such techniques, why won't politicians, special services, military or entire states use them for their more serious purposes?
The hand of the State Department?
Why exactly the State Department? For example, we had such, as they say now, art group, KUKRYNIKS. This is an abbreviation for the names of the artists. They quite officially, with the support of the state, conducted propaganda and counter-propaganda both before and during the war, at the front and in the rear, and they did it very talentedly. There were ROSTA windows, Mayakovsky, at last. Many people. And the Germans were doing this, and the British, and the Americans. And now they are doing it. Only at a much more advanced technological level. It's a wunderwaffe! The ability to influence the consciousness of people, control their thoughts, mood, paint them a picture of the future, change the past. Tell me, what politician in the history of mankind, possessing such a magic wand, would resist the temptation to use it?
No…
These are the countries that have serious ambitions in international relations and are using it. And not on the sly, but quite officially, on legal grounds. Go to the website of the European Parliament, enter the query "Culture as a tool in EU foreign policy", and you will see that everything is described in detail, structured, there is a strategy, there are goals, there are tools. Their culture is officially defined as the main instrument of foreign policy. And the goal is absolutely unambiguous - global domination. It is written in black and white. The same goes for the United States. For example, the American organization BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS openly writes on its website, which is a division of the US State Department. They have it right on the site, you can see for yourself. They are actively promoting their culture, and in particular,promoting street art is only a small part of their activities. China, by the way, is very actively involved in this work.
Still, it is not entirely clear how ordinary street artists can be involved in this complex process?
They don't even need to be involved. They are already involved in the fact that they themselves are doing what others need. They have seen in a magazine or on the Internet that somewhere where, in their opinion, heaven on earth, people paint on the walls and this is considered a way of self-expression. They start to imitate. They can be told that they are talented, that the evil local authorities are infringing upon them, and offer prompt help. Not necessarily in the form of money. You can help with materials, you can order something for them. Then another. Then give them the idea that they can do something useful for their country, for example, denounce the "criminal regime" or point out some obvious injustice. Then assign a curator with the appropriate ideological training, or invite someone from the group to go “to study” in the USA or the EU and become a curator yourself. They have a lot of programs there. Then help to create a website, support it with information - and here is a group ready to broadcast information to a certain, albeit small, audience. And if there are many such groups and if they do not act on their own, but as one of the elements of the network, then this is a great force. Art groups are usually associated with musicians, theater and film actors, with radio, with the media, have lawyers in their staff, and all this together, if necessary, can have a powerful cumulative effect.and all this together, if necessary, can have a powerful cumulative effect.and all this together, if necessary, can have a powerful cumulative effect.
Can you give an example of this use of art groups?
You are welcome. It has long been noticed that before the start of the “color revolutions” in the Middle East, “young talented artists” appeared spontaneously in large cities, painting graffiti on acute social themes. But without explicit politics. In Libya, there was such a character Tarek Algorhani. It was the same in Ukraine. They worked at a high technical and sometimes even at a high artistic level. Their task was to make a hole in the public consciousness, to show that it is not only possible to draw or write on the walls, but that it is good, beautiful and correct. Then they stepped aside, and completely different people rushed into the breached gap, who did not care about the artistic quality of the images, the urban environment. They addressed with direct political slogans, with calls for the overthrow of the government, etc. And when they tried to stop them,they covered themselves with the authority of their predecessors and said that the authorities were fighting art. Then, when a real booze with blood began, with the dead and the authorities tried to jam communications and the Internet, the walls became a kind of messenger for communication between anti-government groups. It may seem like a stretch to you, but this method of transmitting messages has been known since the days of Ancient Rome.
Those who acted in the first stage were secret agents?
They were not agents dropped from helicopters at night wearing black masks and cloaks. These were ordinary local guys, more or less talented, who fell into the clash of large forces and, without realizing it, worked for the side that turned out to be more agile.
With us, can you name a group that fits your definition?
Well, I've heard of a certain "Street Art Institute". Judging by the name, people came up thoroughly - for a start, they got an institute. One of the founders (Albina Nurgaleeva - ed.) Works in parallel with the Danish Institute of Culture, which is a well-known hotbed of "European values". By the way, until recently the Danish Institute of Culture was headed by a certain Finn Anderson, who had previously headed EUNIC. This is, roughly speaking, the EU Ministry of Culture. There are several interviews with him where he speaks directly about culture as the main tool in EU foreign policy, about methods of invading the cultural spaces of other countries, about goals, about the impossibility of working in countries where the state is pursuing a sovereign cultural policy. In their terminology, these are, of course, totalitarian countries.
There are many characters revolving around this "institute of street art", I remember the group "Yav", they organized a round table last year, there was someone from the "institute", an official from the ZakSa was summoned, the storm was raised, in general, everything was according to the laws information war. It is clear that these are pawns, but they work systematically. Moreover, according to a system that was not invented by them.
But "Yav" claims that they are not involved in politics
Have you seen their work? What is Swan Lake? I understand that very young people may not understand the hint, but there are also older people. And what about attempts, albeit to the public, to push through your understanding of the law on the urban environment? They offered to prohibit officials from painting over their drawings. Is this also an artistic action? Although right now they will not get too involved in politics. They will be mocking in the second or third semantic series, but now their task is different. At this stage, they need to declare themselves as an oppressed group, to make a gap in public consciousness, that is, to show that self-painting on the walls is not painful at all. They will try to be as polite as possible, clean up the trash after themselves, and draw what people are guaranteed to enjoy in order to gain support. What is the name of the one who wants to paint over Danila Bagrov's portrait? Well,at least - a bad person. It's as easy as a rake, but it works. By the way, have any of these guys already started calling those who paint over their works as vandals?
Long called
This is old technology. In England a similar discussion took place ten or even fifteen years ago. As far as I remember, as a result, the speaker from the artists was jailed and it was all over. There is also freedom, there will be no clatter. This is a classic technology for promoting minorities. Smart people create a special concept with a negative context, and this concept is used to stigmatize those who are trying to defend themselves against the attack of one or another minority. You don't like propaganda of homosexuality in schools - you are homophobic. You do not like the destruction of your country - you are against freedom, you, as a professional, criticize some kind of daub - you are an official from art. So it is here. I don't like the disfigured wall - a vandal. In accordance with the law, painted over - the arbitrariness of officials, and the one who technically painted over is a stupid public utility who does not understand anything in art.
Then they will say that the authorities pose a threat to society because, for example, a guy with a spray does not bother anyone and is fearful like a doe, and the brutal police break his hands, threaten with weapons and humiliate his human dignity. All this has already happened.
Young people think that they are at the forefront of contemporary art, although in fact this is a stage long passed in the West, an obsolete phenomenon that has long been ousted there into quarters for the poor and into third world countries. This is a marginal culture, which they want to replace our great, original, centuries-old cultural essence. We are not talking about coexistence, we are talking about replacing, moreover, rapidly replacing what has been overvalued for us for many centuries. Why do we need classical painting, music, literature? We've had enough of rap, street art and "modern theater" with naked men.
All this mess around so-called contemporary art now reminds me of the first McDonald's in Moscow. In the 91st year. There were kilometer-long queues there, it was something new and recently forbidden. And people then walked in a rampart, but over time, everyone realized that in any collective farm cafeteria they fed a thousand times better. And now they are again trying to impose on us a kind of "McDonald's", only this time in the field of culture. Right here next to the miracle Yudo "Art Space Sevkabel", go, well, "McDonald's", naturally.
Then it turns out that this phenomenon needs to be fought?
Do you know how many fines are collected in England per year for illegal street images? A billion pounds! But if that - they have democracy and freedom, because there is Banksy, which, quite possibly, was created as a kind of fig leaf.
But Banksy seems to be a rebel …
Yes, but within their culture. Therefore, for them, he does not pose a danger. I think that if in the center of London we make a hefty, good quality painting with a Soviet soldier-liberator or, say, who does not like Soviet, equestrian portrait of Alexander III, then the British will perceive it as a direct threat, an insult and another act of Russian aggression.
Then, perhaps, follow the example of the British and do only their own?
They periodically try to do something here. Somewhere the authorities are trying to exploit past victories, appealing to the civic consciousness, which at the same time they themselves are diligently destroying. As for visual agitation, yes, they order wall paintings on patriotic themes to professional artists, passing them off as spontaneous. Most of the time it looks pathetic, unfortunately. And here it is not about the quality of the drawing, if the state does not have a clear project that is understandable to most people, there is no ideology, then anything you want will inevitably become a fiction, a fig leaf covering the void. Whether we like it or not, the West has its own project. Let it be extremely gloomy, antihuman, let it be a project of the end of history, but they have it. And here - "as of old, the village is far away with fog, and it smells like burning" … We need a project and development within the framework of this project. We need the will of the state for self-preservation. Otherwise we will be lost.
Boris Alexandrovich, you have touched upon many important topics that cannot be discussed in detail in one interview. We would like to meet again and discuss in more detail such points as, for example, European cultural policy, the tools they use, the links of our organizations responsible for culture with Western foundations, etc. Can we do a series of interviews?
Of course, please, but I would recommend that you include the opinion of other specialists in this series, because you can always say about me that what I say is my personal opinion. Ask different people, ask the street artists themselves. Then you get a really objective picture.
Denis Lyasin