On the occasion of Erik Bulatov’s 90th birthday, his latest works were shown

The artist “found a way out”

Eric Bulatov is a classic of Russian contemporary art, one of the leaders of the Moscow conceptual school, his paintings are kept in the most prestigious museum and private collections and set great records at auctions. In 2014, his birthday was celebrated with a large retrospective in the capital’s Manege, but on his 90th birthday, only a few venues decided to exhibit Bulatov, and so far only one in Moscow. Pop/off/art gallery presented an exhibition of new works by the master Exit – Exit.

They started talking about Erik Bulatov’s 90th birthday back in the summer. More precisely, one is surprised that there was no place in the museum’s exhibition plans for such an iconic artist of the Russian art scene. Olga Sviblova promised to show the works of Eric Bulatov, but the opening of her “Multimedia Art Museum” after renovation was delayed indefinitely. Recently it was postponed again – to February. The first project should be Bulatov’s exhibition. Marina Loshak, who now acts as a freelance curator, put together the anniversary project “Horizon” in Nizhny Novgorod with the help of collectors: it was opened, however, not in September, when the classic celebrated its anniversary, but in November. Important, textbook, but old works are exhibited there – mostly from the Soviet era. The Pop/off/art gallery is also late, but they show relatively recent graphics by Erik Bulatov. The earliest work dates back to 2017, the latest – the end of 2022. It is all designed in three colors – red, black and white. The sky blue color of freedom, which Bulatov once so often chose as the background for his banner paintings, is missing.

The graphics are built at eye level, and all the works are connected by a red line – this is the same horizon that recalls one of Bulatov’s most famous early works and his approach to the space of the canvas in principle. After all, the horizon is a conventional line, it is the border between the parts of the earth’s surface that are visible and invisible to humans. Bulatov, with his poster paintings, talks about the real and the illusory, introducing words or phrases into the space of the border landscape. In this cycle, the background is kept to a minimum and is built on mirror phrases-slogans and phrases-parables: “Exit – Exit”, “Forward – Forward”, “The enemy is suddenly a friend”, “Dangerous – Dangerous”, “Everything is not so scary”, “We don’t give a shit,” “We don’t know what we’re doing.”

Of these, Bulatov’s ironically optimistic “Forward” became known throughout the world several years ago thanks to a sculpture of red letters, with which the artist laid out an installation with such a manifesto in front of the new building of the London Tate Moder museum (the work is now in the museum’s collection). Bulatov also managed to bring “Everything is not so scary” and “Dangerous” beyond the plane and present them in the form of sculptures. However, two of the “formulas” presented at the exhibition are less known. “We do not know what we do” – an almost verbatim quote from the Bible – is the most recent work and is being shown for the first time. This phrase can be found in the Gospel of Luke: before his crucifixion, Christ asks to forgive people for their sins. This is the result that the artist sums up under his project, and is displayed separately on the second floor.

But the largest series of works contains a word that is not entirely censored, but in many ways sacred for the author. There is a secret connected with him that Erik Bulatov has kept for decades. The curators of the exhibition, Sergei and Olga Popov, retold the story from the artist’s words. So, in the 1950s, Eric studied at the Surikov Institute, was just doing his thesis, and in the summer he went to practice in Uzbekistan and became friends with an archaeologist there. He allowed the artist to come to his home whenever he wanted, to read any books, and he had a large library. But he set two conditions: not to bring anyone and not to move the curtain on the wall measuring 50 by 50 cm. “This is my sacred place,” said the archaeologist. Eric fulfilled the conditions honestly. But on the last day before leaving, I asked the owner of the house to show me what was behind the curtain. He pulled it aside, and there, handwritten in pencil, was the word “shit.” The archaeologist said that he had a very difficult life, he survived two wars and more than once found himself in difficult situations. During the Great Patriotic War, he was the director of a museum in Tver, and when the Germans were advancing, ours wanted to burn the gallery so that the masterpieces would not go to the enemy. The archaeologist knew German and agreed with the Germans so that they would not touch the gallery. Saved the museum. But after that he was sent to hard labor for talking with the enemy. Since then, in the most terrible moments, he opened this curtain and repeated the word like a mantra. To abstract yourself, otherwise you can burn out psychologically. The body can withstand a lot – it’s more difficult with the soul and spirit. Only many years after the death of the archaeologist, Bulatov drew this phrase in different forms: against the background of a red exclamation mark, and also against the background of the word “Exit.” Thus, visualizing a simple and at the same time complex formula: in turbulent times, when events around you are spinning like a whirlwind, the main thing is to preserve yourself, and sometimes the voiced method is the only one.