No time to smile, comrade! No time to smile: the best paintings of Vasya Lozhkin.

Vasya Lozhkina "The Great beautiful Russia". 42-year-old Khodorkovsky, who works restaurant business and tourism, bought the rights to use the image of this and his other paintings from the St. Petersburg artist back in 2012. In addition, the businessman is the owner large collection original paintings by Lozhkin. According to Alexei Khodorkovsky, he was going to publish a reproduction of “Great Beautiful Russia” in a large gift format, but he did not go to court out of selfish motives: “This picture is an ideal example of our hypocrisy and pseudo-patriotism. I hope the lawsuit will draw attention to this topic and teach people to better recognize where true patriotism ends and hypocrisy begins.”

That one of the most famous works Vasya Lozhkina (this creative pseudonym, the real name of the artist is Alexei Kudelin) was recognized as extremist, it became known to the general public at the end of October. A resident of St. Petersburg, Sergei Berezin, told reporters that after the publication of the image of the painting on his page in social network VKontakte called him from Investigative Committee and asked to appear for an interview. IN telephone conversation the investigator said that "Great Beautiful Russia" was recognized as extremist by the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk on January 29, 2016, after it was published on his page on the social network "VKontakte" by a city resident Roman Bykov, a member of one of the local nationalist organizations.

Alexei Khodorkovsky and Damir Gainutdinov, a lawyer with the Agora International Human Rights Group working on this case, are sure that the court had no right to recognize the painting "Great Beautiful Russia" as extremist without participating in court session the artist himself, his representatives and others stakeholders. According to Gainutdinov, there have already been precedents for reviewing decisions to include certain materials on the list of “extremist” materials in Russia, and now the most important thing is to restore the statute of limitations on the case. Gainutdinov intends to prove to the court that Vasya Lozhkin's painting should be regarded as an "object contemporary art using irony.

In an interview with Radio Liberty Alexey Khodorkovsky spoke about his understanding of moral boundaries, about the picture of Vasya Lozhkin in separatist-occupied Lugansk, and why the "Russian nation" cannot be created simply by writing a law.

- Alexey, how did you become a fan of Vasya Lozhkin's work?

– Back in 2009 or 2010, I just saw these wonderful pictures on the Internet. Something in his paintings touched my feelings, and I really, really wanted to buy these paintings. For the first time I wrote to Lozhkin myself, on the Internet, met with him and bought a painting. And then I just started collecting his works. Well, with some free money that I had, I quietly put it aside and bought paintings. I never did art, I never even thought that I understood it, it’s just that Vasya Lozhkin’s paintings touched me personally, and after a year or two I decided that it would be very cool to make some kind of commercial project and popularize them. Over the years of my personal fanaticism, so to speak, I hooked more than one hundred of my acquaintances and friends on the work of Vasya Lozhkin. I met with him and almost by force persuaded him to sell me the rights. No matter how strange it may seem, he does not like fame or any talk about himself, he is very unhappy and upset by the attention that is riveted to him because of the scandal with this picture. I bought the rights and have since been trying to print a trial run of "Great Beautiful Russia" which ended up on the list of banned materials. It must be a laminated reproduction of a picture in a tube. I thought that this picture would be clear to a lot of people, it evokes really strong feelings.

Has the edition already been printed?

- Now they cannot be published until we appeal against the decision of the Novosibirsk Court. The design layout is done, the signal materials are ready, so, to be honest, this whole story happened at the wrong time. We're going to appeal now and hope we win this case.

– When you were preparing this project, you probably did it because you understood that you are not the only one who likes these paintings. They really cause a very lively reaction, both positive and negative. What is special about them?

We are all a little hypocrites

- Vasya Lozhkin - truly folk artist, it affects the deep strings in the soul of every person. You can treat his paintings as you like, but they always evoke some pretty strong feeling. Well, maybe, except for some very cute cats. And even these cats, they are so personalized and human that they also evoke the best feelings. I personally talked with people who are openly enraged by the same pictures, cause aggression, absolutely opposite feelings. He unique artist in the fact that all his paintings necessarily provoke, but provoke in good sense because art should provoke us to think, to make decisions. Therefore, yes, of course, maybe this picture will simply provoke someone to ridicule, but most people will see our self-irony in it and understand that this is how we think about other people, we say one thing, think another, we are all a little hypocrites. These feelings are hidden in his paintings, and therefore, of course, they are very useful.

- You say that "Great Beautiful Russia" is one of Lozhkin's favorite paintings. He himself says that this is far from his best work. Is it just modesty?

He does not welcome this scandal, he is very upset

– You know, there is nothing worse than the situation when the artist begins to explain the meaning of his painting. Vasya is a truly unique person, a genius, because it was precisely his lack of vanity and his unwillingness to talk publicly about his work that were the reasons why I decided to buy the rights to this artist. He himself probably could not protect his paintings properly. Because the artist must draw, the writer must write, and the director must stage performances. And lawyers and copyright holders must protect rights. This is completely normal. Vasya is really unique in this regard, he does not welcome this scandal, he is very upset, worried, maybe, to some extent, he is afraid that this will somehow interfere with his work. He just wants to keep painting.

Is he ready to come to court?

– His presence will not be necessary, because, in principle, as the copyright holder, I have all the rights to protect this picture. But the picture is drawn, the picture is known, the picture belongs to the artist to a lesser extent than when it was painted. I think it's quite normal to defend his work even without his, perhaps, personal approval. We can remember the same Kafka and Max Brod, to whom Kafka bequeathed to burn all his works. If this really happened, we would never have known the brilliant novels of Kafka. So I think it's about the same situation. Lozhkin is a brilliant artist, he must continue to paint, and lawyers must protect his rights.

– The theme of patriotism and pseudo-patriotism, to which the painting "Great Beautiful Russia" is dedicated, has never ceased to be relevant in post-Soviet Russia. Now they began to discuss it with renewed vigor after Putin's words about the need to adopt a law "On Russian nation". How do you feel about this kind of idea?

– I think that Lozhkin is, in fact, a mega-patriotic artist. It is he who attracts attention to this topic, he provokes us so that we really discuss it and try to understand what patriotism is and how it differs from pseudo-patriotism. Just this picture is an ideal example of our hypocrisy and pseudo-patriotism. We all use the words that are mentioned in this picture, which the Novosibirsk court recognized as extremist. We all do this in our lives every day. Therefore, I hope that the promotion of his work, even by such a trial and appeal, will only make people better determine where true patriotism ends and hypocrisy begins.

- In the picture, Russia is shown surrounded by enemies. Voices from every TV speak about the enemies that have surrounded Russia. Do you feel some kind of threat to Russia from its neighbors?

No, I don't feel threatened. I believe that this is a political order, which, most likely, is designed to distract us from our real problems. Abroad, where I constantly visit, they treat Russia very well. Everyone understands that it is necessary to distinguish between how people think on the street, what is printed in the media, what the official voice of the government says.

- Alexei, if you can, tell us a little about yourself. When the news appeared that you had appealed against the decision of the Novosibirsk Court, many people learned about you for the first time. The phrase "businessman Khodorkovsky", as it happens, is associated with a completely different person.

– I am engaged in tourism, promoting the great and beautiful Russia, inbound tourism. I also have several restaurant projects. There was a restaurant in Moscow where only twins worked, delivering burgers. Most different projects. In principle, I never had anything to do with art. I was just very touched by the work of Vasya Lozhkin, and at some point I decided that this would be a good business project. Very nice to own the rights to the images brilliant artist. I myself collected his paintings at one time, I have 15-20 paintings hanging at home.

– Have you already assessed the profitability of this business project? How much did you invest in these copyrights in your time and did the original paintings by Vasya Lozhkin rise in price during this time?

“To be honest, I didn’t think about it at all. At that time it was more of a "table" project. Even during the active phase of the Ukrainian conflict, I remember one of his paintings accidentally surfaced in the media when some military operations were taking place in Lugansk and the local sausage factory decided to use it famous painting"Sausage dream" for their advertising. And right in front of the SBU building in Lugansk, there was a huge billboard, someone hung a doll of Yulia Tymoshenko on it, and thus, quite by accident, this image of "Sausage Dream" got into all the print media. This was also good example that the artist and his rights need protection.

– Is there any big exhibition you don’t want to organize?

- Exhibitions are more the prerogative of Vasya himself. Still, the exhibition is communication with the audience, it is more of a creative part. But if he wants, of course. Now he is very worried excessive attention Media, he is an absolutely non-public person. The artist should only be glad that so much attention is drawn to his paintings, but with Vasya Lozhkin it turns out quite the opposite.

- Do you have political leanings? Are there people in today's great and beautiful Russia to whom you would entrust power without fear that they would ban paintings, songs, books, and so on?

- Of course, I have addictions, but they are not part of my defensive activities in relation to Lozhkin. And Lozhkin, I'm sure, also has some political predilections, but he does not want people to see anything other than what he depicts in the pictures. Let them make their own decision. you know he has lovely picture“This is not the time to smile.” This is literally the essence of what is happening now, it lets us know that this is wrong, that the time to smile is always, as well as the time to provoke, and ask, and want answers. His paintings do it all the time. We live in a rather strange time, when many are confused and cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, understand what extremism is, what can be said and what cannot be said, what is insulting, what is not offensive. And with our appeal, we will, among other things, test the limits of our concepts of morality.

No, of course, I admit that I myself live in some kind of fictional world. A real life- here it is, in newspaper.ru. But, here, you yourself would have done it, I wonder? Or does this whole family consist of a grandmother with a cat?

Our reader from St. Petersburg - about simple rules, allowing the whole family to eat for 6-7 thousand rubles. per month: "There should always be fruits and vegetables on the table, but no semi-finished products."

We do nothing special for this, we just buy only what is necessary and useful. And we do not come up with any tricks, cost optimization and other things. All products are divided into three categories: those that are constantly on our table, those that we buy sometimes, and those that are abandoned on principle.

Permanent
Fruits and vegetables. We buy them from the market. In the season it turns out very cheap, in the off-season it is still cheaper than in the store, and the choice is larger and the quality is better. Fruits and vegetables are the basis of our diet. Especially in summer and autumn. For example, 10 kg of fruits and vegetables bought at the market last time cost 300 rubles. This amount is enough for us for about a week.

We buy only whole fish and only local fish. Firstly, this way you can be sure of its freshness. Secondly, local fish is healthier. Thirdly, it is cheaper.

Fourthly, it is not poured with bleach and other muck. Once I didn’t feel these “wonderful aromas” (when I ate semi-finished products and all my taste buds were completely clogged), but for a couple of years now my husband and I have absolutely not been able to eat all these fillets from supermarkets.

From fish we buy perch, pike perch, trout (they cost 100-300 rubles per kilogram). In St. Petersburg, you can still buy bream and pike, they are also local and inexpensive.

We cook the fish mostly as a whole (bake in the oven, and if the fish are small, then fry in a pan), but if suddenly the fish is large (2 kg or more), then we cut it into steaks or fillets.

We also buy whole chicken. This is much more profitable than buying separate pieces. Then we either bake it in the oven as a whole, or (more often) we cut it into several parts: the fillet - separately, the legs-wings - separately and the back. On the back, a very rich broth is obtained, to which I add potatoes, carrots and seaweed (or I can also rice, lentils or vermicelli), and now a full meal is ready. The remaining parts, if not prepared immediately, are removed in the freezer, and then I take them out as needed. Very comfortably.

I don't really follow discounts in stores. But if, having come to the store, we see that our favorite pasta / rice / flour, etc. Today is a discount, then we buy more immediately, for future use. Sometimes the savings are very significant.

From dairy products we buy milk, kefir, fermented baked milk, sour cream and cheese. All the simplest, our manufacturers. No “violas”, “laughing cows”, etc. We sometimes buy sweet yogurts, but very rarely and mostly somewhere along the way, when the child is already hungry, but there is no way to eat normally. Cottage cheese, as a rule, we make ourselves, from milk. It turns out cheaper and somehow tastier. Very rarely do we buy ready-made.

We drink homemade drinks. This is primarily tea and compote. I cook compote from fruits that I did not have time to eat on time and which no longer look as appetizing as we would like. Or I buy a special “compote” mixture on the market. It is not at all expensive, it consists of dried apples, pears, apricots (dried apricots), grapes (raisins), sometimes plums come across inside. Delicious.

My dad, who lives in a completely different region, goes to the market in Abakan every autumn and immediately buys a bag of this mixture. The bag is enough for him until the first summer greens. He says that without such a vitamin cocktail in winter and spring, one cannot hold out.

We also drink freshly squeezed citrus juices (one orange per glass, then add water, otherwise it comes out very concentrated) and fruit drinks: I take a handful of any frozen berries, pour boiling water - and that's it, you can drink. Each glass comes out five rubles.

We cook our own baked goods. I mainly bake according to simple proven recipes: charlotte, meringue, oatmeal cookies, Breton pie. The cost of such baking is simply ridiculous: for example, charlotte costs about 40-50 rubles. And it's not a piece of cake! This is a whole big pie that we eat for two or three days!

Homemade semi-finished products. If you harvest fruits and vegetables for the winter even during autumn fairs, you can save a lot of money and time by pulling out of the freezer, for example, a ready-made set for homemade stew, which you can simply throw into the pan, stew for a few minutes, and that's it. In addition to berries or some kind of frozen vegetables, homemade cutlets, dumplings, ravioli, dumplings, etc. periodically appear in the freezer.

We buy nuts only in the shell. It's cheaper and more useful. After all, nuts without shells are not stored for a long time, and in order for them to lie longer on store shelves, they are generously watered with chemicals.

From ready-made sweets, we have marmalade, halva, sweets and chocolate. I only eat chocolate and sometimes sweets. The rest is mainly for the child, but in a strictly limited amount.

Products we don't buy on principle
We do not buy semi-finished products. Somehow we returned home late, it was already time to sleep, but there was nothing ready at home. We went to the store and bought fish sticks there. The package cost 200 rubles. There were ten sticks inside, and, having eaten them, we didn’t feel at all that we had dinner (although we ate, of course, not empty, but with rice and vegetable salad). For 200 rubles. at that moment (and even now, depending on what to take), you could buy 1-2 kg of fish.

Products we rarely buy
I will say right away: we spend little for the simple reason that we do not have the opportunity to spend more. In some months, we have the opportunity to spend a little more, in such months we increase the cost of nuts and dried fruits, berries. The pleasure is expensive, but tasty and healthy. IN regular time we manage with fruits, but if possible, we start buying blueberries, currants, etc. If in summer, then fresh, if in winter, then frozen.

We buy cocoa butter and cocoa beans. And honey - my men love it. I buy myself expensive sweets and chocolate. Agree, these products, although tasty and healthy, are still not vital. You can perfectly do without them completely or limit yourself to a minimum.

Today one of the most famous Russian artists birthday, he turns 42 years old. Congratulations!

In connection with this event, we decided to tell a little about the artist, and at the same time show his best paintings (in our subjective opinion).

The real name of Vasya Lozhkin is Alexei Kudelin. The most born famous artist Runet in Solnechnogorsk.

If anyone does not know, Lozhkin is also a musician, the leader of the Vasya Lozhkin and some people group. In 2015, the group released an album called "Drunkenness and Debauchery", and in 2016 Lozhkin recorded a solo disc - "The Cries of a Bald Fool". Music critics characterize his style as eclectic, alternative pop-rock.

Lozhkin himself writes about this hobby on his website in this way: “I am also the author and performer of my songs, but this separate story, for I have no hearing, I do not know the notes, not on any musical instrument I can't play. Yes, in addition, I do not pronounce the letter "P" (and after they made me false teeth- also the letter "C"), so you yourself understand what my singing is. Well, okay."

The name of the artist often appears in the news, and the last time was only four days ago - August 14th. From now on, the picture "Great Beautiful Russia" has officially ceased to be considered extremist (that's why we will show it to you now).

The painting was recognized as extremist in 2016 by the decision of the Oktyabrsky district court Novosibirsk. It depicts part of a world map where all countries, including some regions of Russia, are given stereotypical nationalist labels.

In court, it was possible to prove that the picture does not promote, but on the contrary, ridicule everyday nationalism and xenophobia.

Lozhkin had several personal exhibitions, which took place at one time in the Moscow Central House of Artists (exactly there,).

The artist often collaborates with musicians, in particular, he designed the cover of the album of the Zero group.

“I don’t like generalizations in my work, therefore everything is concrete in my paintings - if, for example, it is a humanoid grandmother with an ax who has gone out of her mind, then this is she, and not some kind of collective image, metaphor or other crap,” Lozhkin says on his official website.

"As an artist (in big sense words, of course, because I can’t draw) I’m of little interest surrounding reality. I depict a fabulous fantasy world. Sometimes it's a world of psychosis and all sorts of borderline states, sometimes it's scary, but still it's a fairy tale with good ending. Generally, in Lately I try to do more of something positive, something that would evoke positive emotions,” he also writes on his website.

Vasya Lozhkin (real name Aleksey Vladimirovich Kudelin) is a Russian artist and blogger, singer, founder musical group"Ebony hammer", a member of the group "Vasya Lozhkin and some people", a member of the society "Witch artists".

Alexey was born on August 18, 1976 in the town of Solnechnogorsk near Moscow. Graduated after school legal institute, but by profession he did not get a job. Kudelin did not receive special art education.

Painting and creativity

In 1996, Kudelin began to create own paintings with gouache. The plots of the first canvases contained scenes of torture, murders, and bloody showdowns. The young artist placed canvases on the walls of his own apartment. In 1998, for two years, Alexey stopped doing artistic work. Started writing in 2000 oil paints. The artist purchased canvases and brushes. Aleksey gave new paintings to friends, Kudelin himself had only one canvas of the second period of creativity left.

In 2002, Kudelin joined the Witch Artists (KOLKHUi) community, which consisted of 20 members. The authors worked in the style of "multi-realism". New term was coined by members of the community and denoted the use of animation techniques in satirical films. The founders of the group were artists from St. Petersburg - Nikolai Kopeikin, Andrey Kagadeev, Vladimir Medvedev. First exhibitions artwork Alexei Kudelin were part of the expositions of "Witch artists" at the biennale at the Central Exhibition Hall "Manege", festivals in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Geneva, at the exhibitions "ChMO", which were held in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Soon Alexei was invited to Solnechnogorsk Theatre of Drama to work on scenography for performances, and the artist switched to the new kind creativity. In 2007, Kudelin again began to engage in artistic creativity, using gouache at first, and since the beginning of 2008 - oil and canvases. Since then, the artist has not abandoned his passion. In his work, Alexey refers to the themes of seals, hares, elephants, bears. Present in the artist's drawings and evil grandparents with axes or saws, as well as representatives Soviet militia. Kudelin depicts on the canvases the world of fairy tales, full of evil characters who are trying to be better. At the same time, the figurative structure, according to the author, is devoid of metaphor.

The hero Vasya Lozhkin appeared in the life of Alexei Kudelin in 2005, when the artist began to explore the Internet. The artist created his own blog in LiveJournal and used the name of the hero of jokes as a pseudonym. Lozhkin's account quickly became popular and a year after the first post had 10,000 subscribers.

Vasya's pictures became Internet hits, subscribers used them as avatars, illustrations for their own articles. The virtual name Aleksey began to be used in real life. Several personal exhibitions of Vasya Lozhkin were held in the Moscow Central House of Artists. But when Alexey first applied to the Union of Artists of Moscow, the professionals refused to support the self-taught.

Since 2007, with the support of the community of St. Petersburg artists, Vasya participated in the exhibitions "TARTARAR", "LIBIDO", "LENENERBE", " Family portrait”, which were held alternately in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 2013 Vasya Lozhkin's paintings could be seen at the Just Art exposition in Geneva. The most popular among Internet users are still the paintings “Lady in evening dress”, “Homeland hears”, “Grandfather Hasid and hares”, “No time to smile”, “Happy Birthday”, “Abroad”, “Smile to this world” .

Apart from artistic creativity, Alexey Kudelin created his own musical group "Ebony Kolotun", the first album of which was a collection called "Glory to Russia!". In 2015, Alexey released the album "Drunkenness and debauchery". Team musical group records clips that he uploads for free use on YouTube video hosting. The rock band "Vasya Lozhkin rock and roll band" is named after the artist, with which he performed for some time. After the creation of the fourth album, the band broke up. As an artist, Alexey worked on the cover of the Zero + 30 disc by the Zero group. Since 2015, Alexey has been working with the Vasya Lozhkin and some people group.

Personal life

There is practically no information about the biography of Alexei Kudelin on the Internet. Even on the official website in an autobiographical sketch, the artist himself reports very little about his life.

It is known that the artist has a wife and a young son. Until 2013, the family lived in Solnechnogorsk, later the Kudelins moved to Yaroslavl, where they now live.

Vasya Lozhkin now

In 2016, the exhibition "Plots of the Old Testament" was held at the "Pig's snout" gallery in St. Petersburg, where Kudelin's popular works were exhibited. In January of the same year, the painting by Vasya Lozhkin “Great Beautiful Russia” was recognized as extremist by the decision of the Novosibirsk court.

In autumn, a VKontakte user received a summons from the Investigative Committee for posting an extremist image on his page. When the young man refused to come to the Investigative Committee, the investigator promised to call a police squad to detain him. His long-time admirer, Moscow businessman Alexei Khodorkovsky, who since 2012 has become the official copyright holder for the use of Vasya Lozhkin's pictures, stood up to protect the artist's work.

Together with lawyer Damir Gainutdinov, the entrepreneur decided to appeal against the decision of the Novosibirsk court, which was made unlawfully, without the presence of the author of the work, Alexei Kudelin, at the trial. In addition to legal nuances, Khodorkovsky intends to prove Copyright to irony, which is not extremism and a manifestation of Nazism. The last exhibition of paintings by Vasya Lozhkin entitled "We will live - we will not die!" completed in January 2017 at the Central House of Artists in Moscow.

Paintings

• "Good evening!"
• "Russian Gothic"
• "There was an iPhone"
• "Homeland hears"
• "Road"
• "Lady in Evening Dress"
• "Doctors"
• "Choi"
• "No Time to Smile"
• "Hundreds of Oil"
• "I shook your house pipe"

Today one of the most famous Russian artists has a birthday, he turns 42 years old. Congratulations!

In connection with this event, we decided to tell a little about the artist, and at the same time show his best paintings (in our subjective opinion).

The real name of Vasya Lozhkin is Alexei Kudelin. The most famous Runet artist was born in Solnechnogorsk.

If anyone does not know, Lozhkin is also a musician, the leader of the Vasya Lozhkin and some people group. In 2015, the group released an album called "Drunkenness and Debauchery", and in 2016 Lozhkin recorded a solo disc - "The Cries of a Bald Fool". Music critics characterize his style as eclectic, alternative pop-rock.

Lozhkin himself writes about this hobby on his website in this way: “I am also the author and performer of my songs, but this is a separate story, because I have no ear, I don’t know notes, I don’t know how to play any musical instrument. Yes, in addition, I don’t pronounce the letter “P” (and after they made my dentures - also the letter “C”), so you yourself understand what my singing is. Well, okay."

The name of the artist often appears in the news, and the last time was only four days ago - August 14th. From now on, the picture "Great Beautiful Russia" has officially ceased to be considered extremist (that's why we will show it to you now).

The painting was recognized as extremist in 2016 by the decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk. It depicts part of a world map where all countries, including some regions of Russia, are given stereotypical nationalist labels.

In court, it was possible to prove that the picture does not promote, but on the contrary, ridicule everyday nationalism and xenophobia.

Lozhkin had several solo exhibitions, which were held at one time in the Moscow Central House of Artists (exactly where the Banksy exhibition is now taking place).

The artist often collaborates with musicians, in particular, he designed the cover of the album of the Zero group.

“I don’t like generalizations in my work, so everything is concrete in my paintings - if it’s, for example, a humanoid grandmother with an ax that has gone out of her mind, then this is she, and not some kind of collective image, metaphor or other crap,” says Lozhkin on his official website.

“As an artist (in the big sense of the word, of course, because I can’t draw), I have little interest in the surrounding reality. I depict a fabulous fantasy world. Sometimes it's a world of psychosis and all sorts of borderline states, sometimes it's scary, but still it's a fairy tale with a happy ending. In general, lately I have been trying to do more of something positive, something that would evoke positive emotions,” he also writes on his website.