Евгений Рухин

Без названия
Рухин, Евгений
1975
Коллаж

Thanks to Moskovskii Muzei Sovremennogo Iskusstva for the image.

I've started reading John McPhee's 'The Ransom Of Russian Art' - I had come across parts of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Soviet Nonconformist Art in the past, but this book details how Norton Dodge, an American professor of economics built this collection by meeting with these artists, buying their works and smuggling them out of the Soviet Union.

The figure of Rukhin looms large in the early parts of the book as he was a Petersburg-based geologist, polyglot and anti-establishment figure at the centre of much of the non-conformist art world during the 1970's. He was, of course, killed by a fire in his studio started in mysterious circumstances in 1975. There is a much more complete biography in Russian here, as well as an electronic gallery of his work.

The book also seeks to engage with the material conditions of these non-conformist artists, most of whom had little access to the basic materials required by artists, and so would paint using towels in place of canvas, and using paint designed for cars rather than the more traditional oils. They were also frequently compelled to work as labourers to avoid charges of parasitism. In the meantime, their wives, often artists themselves, would be working two or more jobs, as well as painting 'officially' to support their husbands.