It’s a Hard-Knock Post-Commie Life
Slava Mogutin: “As a kid I was sexually confused. At school I was in love with a boy and a girl at the same time. But dealing with girls seemed more complicated, so at the age of 11 or 12 I found myself naked and fully armed with my best friend, the son of a local KGB officer. His dad had an impressive collection of confiscated guns and pistols. We used to play with them when we were home alone, forcing each other to do things at a gunpoint. I think it’s very symbolic that my first homo experience was associated with KGB, guns and the overwhelming feeling of danger. My first hetero experience took place a couple years later when I went to school in Moscow and briefly dated a girl who happened to be the school’s beauty queen. She was a virgin and a witch. I didn’t mind the blood part but after our first clumsy drunken fuck she claimed that I got her pregnant, so it just confirmed that dealing with girls was way too complicated.”
And the money quote:
“BLAB: The art world bubble has burst. What are your views on the current state of the art world, and how do you relate to the art establishment? Don’t you find them hopelessly bourgeois?
SM: I think this burst art bubble is a good reality check for a lot of people. The art market is a small model of a capitalist consumerist society, it’s highly competitive, career-oriented and success-driven. I’ve seen so many interesting and radical artists who got spoiled by money and success, great starving artists who turned into pathetic fashion whores and starfucking holes.”
»Hah!«
But here’s the moral:
“And my heroes were always rebels and outcasts - people like Henry Darger and Jack Smith who never cared about sales, publicity or commercial success. Sometimes failure can be the best thing that happens to an artist. For the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to support myself with my art, but my prices were never inflated and I never made art to satisfy any trends or anyone’s expectations. I never received any grants or sold my work to corporate collectors, so I don’t have any relationship with the art establishment. I make art because it’s my way of expressing myself and because it’s something I really enjoy doing.”
pic via [eastvillageboys]
