Glazunov's Nationalist Colors

Only Jews and Zionists don't like Ilya Glazunov's paintings, but true Russians like him very much because Glazunov is Russian with all his flesh and blood," a visitor to Glazunov's "God, Save Russia" exhibition at the Bolshoi Manezh Hall said.


But Glazunov himself shrugs off his admirers' comments.


"Some groups build up my image, as if I'm a flag representing something, because it's the best way to 'shoot' me," the controversial artist, whose work has been admired by former President Boris Yeltsin, said.


"But I only tell the truth. Nobody likes to hear the truth. That's why I'm controversial," Glazunov continued.


Whether Glazunov's art represents truth or anti-Semitic Russian nationalism at its worst, is undoubtedly a point of contention - and on display at Manezh are over 650 pieces of controversy from his 1956-99 collection for viewers to praise or scorn.


"Here you can see a pyramid, which symbolizes a new world order. And here's American gum, all these Orbits and Snickers, which are products of American culture and chemicals, destroying the Russian nation," a young guide dressed as an Orthodox priest, explained as he pointed to one of the paintings.


And the Russian heroes of Glazunov's epochal paintings that are sometimes as impressively large as 15 square meters are not surprising, given the artist's nationalistic tendencies. One can encounter grand Slavic princes, Pushkin, Dostoevsky and a particularly voluptuous naked "Russian beauty."


Glazunov's "The Great Experiment" offers a captive audience a large five-pointed star with a portrait of Lenin reading the newspaper Pravda in the middle. Surrounding the star on the right side are Bolsheviks from the first Soviet government, and on the left are portraits of Russian tsars, Cossacks and other figures used by nationalists to represent right-wing leanings. Jesus Christ hovers over the mass of gathered political figures, crying bloody tears.


"Destruction of the Church" shows a Russian priest trying, in vain, to defend a group of praying Russians from the torture of Trotsky and the Bolsheviks.


But the "Market of Russian Democracy," completed in 1999, is by far the most expressive. Russian refugees stand near a transvestite and naked lesbians making love, while junkies shoot up nearby. Russian children hold up a sign: "Thanks to Uncle Soros ... " (borrowing from the well-known Stalinist slogan "Thanks to Josef Stalin for our happy childhood"). Anda business tycoon and Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky poses with a poster that says "I'll buy Russia." Helena Hanga, an erotic television talk-show host poses near the gathering of refugees with a microphone portrayed as a phallus.


Glazunov himself wasn't to be left out of this masterpiece. The artist painted himself standing next to Dmitry Vasiliev, head of the Russian nationalist and pro-fascist "Pamyat" organization. The frame is covered with dollar bills adhered with glue.


"Now official propaganda is for avant-garde in art, ethnic and gender minorities and democracy. It's all the market of democracy and show business, which I hate," said Glazunov.


Glazunov enjoys appearing on the Russian pro-nationalist television program "Russky Dom" ("Russian House") where he has been heard discoursing on "dark enemy forces destroying Russia," Jesus Christ's Russian roots and occasionally referring to Madeleine Albright as an "American rat."


But all his "patriotism" and nationalistic dreams for Russian and his Slavic brothers, went unappreciated by the Soviet Union of Artists, who, for the past 15 years, refused him admittance. And only last year was he admitted as a member of the Russian Fine Arts Academy.


Glazunov has often been accused of being nothing more than an artist for the government - something he categorically denies, despite evidence to the contrary.


"Mass media paints me as a 'court artist,' and I can say a lot of European courts wanted me to be their painter, but I wasn't. I'm always in the opposition to any officials," Glazunov said.


His opposition to officials, however, appears to vanish when principle gives way to profit. Glazunov painted portraits of officials from Leonid Brezhnev to Indira Ghandi, the latter was offered to Ghandi as a "present from the Soviet nation to India." He also took part in the multi-million dollar Kremlin reconstruction project, on invitation from former Kremlin Property Minister Pavel Borodin.


Professional artists often say Glazunov is a much more significant social figure than he is an artist and that his paintings come up lacking. He is often criticized for painting in a colorless manner and failing to understand the concept of composition and anatomy.


And, it is true, that one can notice Glazunov's heroes look more like motionless colored cardboard cutouts.


Perhaps Glazunov's own catch phrase makes his alleged lack of artistic ability a mute point. "If fine art isn't understandable, it's not fine art," he says.


If visitors can't walk away with a Glazunov painting, the artist has made sure they'll walk away with at least one souvenir: a t-shirt with "I love Glazunov" on the front and Russia's two-headed eagle on the back. Glazunov remains as a significant social figure, but not an artistic one.


Ilya Glazunov exhibition runs at the Bolshoi Manezh Hall until Jan. 24; exhibition times are from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., tickets can be purchased until 7 p.m., closed on Mondays. Metro Okhotny Ryad or Teatralnaya.