art & spirituality
in siberia
An
art exhibition at the Russian Academy of Arts (Krasnoyarsk) which opened this
year, evoked strange feelings and reminiscences in me. Formally, it was dedicated
to the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. The exhibition itself was certainly
a beautiful event. It was attended by a priest who used to be an architect, and
who initiated this exhibition. An academic choir performed church songs.
An academic choir performs
at the exhibition opening
It was a slight
surprise for me that so many artists introduced religious elements into their
artwork. What does it mean? For decades, we in Russia lived in a situation where
not belonging to a religion was a kind of bias for the majority of the people.
Of course, there were churches, priests, monks etc., nobody convicted a person
solely for being religious. Still, many years of mass propaganda did form quite
a definite attitude to religion in the mentality of several generations. For the
majority, religion was something odd, something alien, not because of knowledge
or convictions - the policy of the government simply was to not approve of religion.
Religion was
not an abstract issue for me personally, so I do not judge from outside. I was
brought up in a 'normal' secular family in a remote provincial town, but had to
visit my grandparents in Moscow that were deep believers.
Now,
after decades of anti-religion pressure, the pendulum of mass consciousness has
swung in the opposite direction. Nearly everybody (except, probably, orthodox
communists) recognizes the church, speaks freely about God etc. Car drivers place
small icons on the dash board - to secure the car from accidents... Exhibitions
like that mentioned above are now welcome. I expect, it's considered to be good
manners to attend them. Well, it's OK with exhibitions, it's not ridiculous like
icons in cars. But, I thought, is it all true and sincere, is it not perhaps,
just another bias.
Icons and digital technology
in contemporary Siberia
I discussed all this with artists I know. For example, is spirituality and religion
the same thing? It is true that the church in Russia 'privatized' the notion of
'spirituality', which has a clear historical background. "Look at Russian art
history," - said Victor Rogachev, artist and teacher at the Krasnoyarsk Institute
of Art, "visual art was initially embedded into religion. In Russia, the development
of fine art originated in icon painting. I think, yes, a highly spiritual person
should tend to religion."
"No,
they are different things," - says Sergej Forostovskii, a Krasnoyarsk artist,
who from time to time paints religious motifs, "if I paint a church I just want
to try the form, to depict it as connected with the social environment etc."
It's
interesting to look at the reactions of the two artists to the religion issue
because of the difference of their geographical origin. Sergej was born and grew
up in Far East, that was relatively recently conquered by the Russian Empire.
The influence of the church to the mentality of the population should be rather
weak there - there was simply too little time to build cathedrals, monasteries
, and it's really very far from Moscow. On the other hand, Victor was born and
got artistic education in Central Russia, which has a thousand-year old history
of orthodox Christianity.
Big painting - big faith?
Would they agree
to paint real icons? "I think, now I am not yet ready. Something lacks, perhaps,
I do not have enough faith. To paint for a cathedral is something different,"-
says Victor. "Well", - replies Sergej, "I would. In order to try the new forms,
to look at the life from another point of view. I am a secular man, it's equal
for me, whether to depict the Christ or Lenin or a vase, though I do not insist
that I am ultimately right."
But
in one thing Sergej and Victor agree with each other. Namely, Russian artists
do tend to accept the supernatural due to their profession. An artist has to deal
with a subtle and fragile world of imagination. Sergej explains it this way: "God
is inspiration. When I manage to do a first-class painting, it's like God kissed
me. The next day I can with no success spend a lot of effort trying to repeat
the feeling. I can't control it." It's doubtful that the depicting of formal symbols
of faith and religion are always evidence of a sincere movement of the soul.
Victor: "I know many artists who paint icons. But what sort of believers are they?"
Vladimir Gavrikov
gavrikov@online.ru
