Four paintings by the artist Avdey Ter-Oganyan were selected for the exhibit of modern Russian art “Russian Counterpoint,” which will be opened in the Louvre on October 14 within the framework of the Year of Russia in France. However, a few days ago the shipping of the works was blocked because “the Russian government dislikes” one of the pictures, Radical Abstractionism No. 8, reports the information agency AFP.
The picture is a rectangle against the red background with a small white circle, the composition is captioned as follows: “This work appeals to an encroachment on life by the statesman Vladimir Putin, with the purpose to put an end to his political activity.”
Earlier Russian Internet mass media stated that the Ministry of Culture and the Department for Protection of Russian Culture prevented the works of the notorious artist-abstractionist from coming to France.
The Louvre’s administration knows about the resolution of the Russian authorities to forbid sending this work to France, the AFP reports. The French national museum treated the incident very seriously. The museum’s administration “is considering the actions which must be taken after this resolution,” the Louvre’s direction stated. At present, the Louvre does not comment on the resolution of the Russian government.
On September 27, the radio station Echo of Moscow reported that seven Russian artists refused to participate in the exhibit of contemporary art in the Louvre as a protest against the actions of the Ministry of Culture of Russia.
Yurii Albert, Andrei Monastyrsky, Igor Makarevich, Vitalii Komar, Vadim Zakharov, Yuri Leiderman, and Valery Koshlyakov are among the artists who refused to participate in the Russian exhibit in Paris.
Earlier Ter-Oganyan himself addressed artists-participants of the exhibit with an open letter urging them to boycott the exhibit at the Louvre on account of the governmental resolution. “We face problems like this all the time when it is too late — when Yerofeyev is already sued, and Mavromati (the artist Oleg Mavromati who resides in Bulgaria and is accused of fomenting strife between nations and religions and hurting feelings of believers according to part 2 of the article 282 of the Criminal Code. – Author) turned out to be an illegal immigrant. I know it from my own experience,” wrote Ter-Oganyan in his blog.
Recently the Internet periodical Gzt.ru, referring to the words of the director of the State Center for Modern Art Mikhail Mindlin, reported that “neither the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, nor the Department for Protection of Russian Culture forbade bringing the works of Avdey Ter-Oganyan to Paris,” and generally, “no one prohibited it.”
