Thirty years ago Alexander Rukavishnikov along with some other prominent artists including his father Iulian Rukavishnikov, helped establishing Moscow Gallery of Modern Art, the first private art gallery in the country. Alexander Rukavishnikov has always tried to be independent in creativity and business, so now he is a renowned sculptor, member of the Russian Academy of Arts, and also owns production facilities nearby Moscow, an office and a restaurant in Moscow downtown. Alexander Rukavishnikov is a true realist as far as his works are concerned, be those monuments to actor and clown Yuri Nikulin, or actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky, or singer Muslim Magomayev. Rukavishnikov is also a realist as far as mutual comprehension of a sculptor and all others, including those who can ensure adequate conditions for his creative work, is concerned.
Combination of multiple crafts
– In your view, is sculpture as a fine art, cost consuming? Is the situation in Russia any different from the situation abroad?
– A French theorist and arts critic once said that a sculptor is the most cost intensive profession. To engage with it, one needs a studio (or some comparable premises), a variety of materials and a life model. A sculptor needs to master a number of skills and, these days, of diverse functions since he needs to be a manager, a dealer, etc. Sculpture is a public art, but it is at times inexplicable and hardly comprehensible. In my opinion, communications between a sculptor and the public in the contemporary Russia are not well established as there are very few good sculptors and negligibly few people who can appreciate sculpture. We see that in other epochs artists and sculptors were much appreciated. I read memoirs by Konstantin Korovin lately where he wrote about an important part Savva Mamontov, an outstanding entrepreneur and philanthropist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, played in lives of Korovin and other artists such as Serov, Vrubel, etc.
The occupation of a sculptor is a hard one. I have been in this trade for a long time and have got used to its specifics, has accumulated some experience, has received awards and recognition, whereas young sculptors have to face lots of hardships. When I was young, it was really difficult to buy any materials. It the early 1990-s it became totally ridiculous but very sad at the same time. My colleagues and myself had to literally chase in our cars concrete mixer trucks out in the streets and one way or another strike deals with the drivers on buying concrete from them. Can you imagine that such drivers, instead of going to their destinations, would change their routes and drive to our studios to unload concrete. Casting was also a big problem. So I had to go through all sorts of such things. Nowadays, supply of everything, including materials for sculpture, is abundant and it’s not a problem to get semis. Instead, there is a problem of funding.
– I am aware your have arranged a closed cycle production of your own to be independent of wholesalers and suppliers.
– That is so to some degree. I have a mold yard in Solnechnogorsk county nearby Moscow. It is important for me to be independent, especially since I experiment a lot with casting.
Gigantomania. What lies beneath
– Lately, sculptor’s personality is often a cause of public debate in Russia. Everyone remembers all the intense disputes of 2016 and 2017, namely, whether a monument to Grand Duke Vladimir may be placed at Vorobyovy Hills in Moscow. The story ended with the monument being located in the very center of the city at one of the Kremlin gates. Other causes of discussion were the monument to Ivan the Terrible in Orel by the local youth theater, or the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov by Moscow’s Garden Ring – which required a machine gun to be reshaped after the monument was already inaugurated. There are also some officially unconfirmed news of monuments to Stalin being erected in various parts of the country. What do you feel about the growing public demand for sculptors and sculptures?
– I once in a while, as you see, give interviews to media, not too often though. Some of my colleagues then criticize me for asserting that some 90% of the so called monuments should be removed, while the sculptors who created those monuments should be isolated from the rest of the society so that they had no chance to litter the global psychosphere. You see, the paradox is, in the Soviet Union there were some symbols and subjects, even though everybody was tired of those, such as Lenin, communist party, pioneers, soldiers with guns, etc. But all those ideas ultimately materialized in stone on such a high artistic level, that ideology was totally forgotten and viewers were impressed by the sculptural images. Ordinary people could not be put in charge of accomplishing such a task. My teacher Lev Kerbel was quite active in this area, even though, as any artist, he was not incessantly successful. Other outstanding sculptors of that period were Dmitry Tsaplin who emigrated from the country but later came back, and Sergei Merkurov who created a monument to Timiryazev, a great scientist. That was an extraordinary sculptural portrait installed by Nikitsky gate in Moscow. He also created Funeral of the Leader, which could be quite typical, but offered great implications. One more personality is Nikolai Andreev whose remarkable exhibition was featured by Tretyakov Gallery not long ago.
I can not say I am pleased with the modern sculpture art. I do follow the achievements of a few true professionals whom I value high, including some of my apprentices. One of those is undoubtedly a genius. To be frank, I had never expected to ever meet a genius in my lifetime. But after all, I prefer not to judge or criticize my colleagues.
– Referring to such a specific issue as approval of sculptures to be located in public areas, what do you think a sculptors’ guild or some other association could do?
– There are unions of artists. They are several, unlike in the USSR where there was a single unified national Union of Artists with unions of artists of each union republics being its integral parts. These days it is a total mess and sophistry, and just as in case of a variety of the unions of writers, we see the Russian Union of Artists and the Creative Union of Artists of Russia. Quite possibly, there are various associations as well.
The unions take care of providing studios, some of those are owned by the Arts Fund. Still, as I see it, sculptures do not feel any adequate and systemic patronage.
– Offsite sculpture exhibitions are even less frequent than paintings or graphics exhibitions. What is the way to improve the situation?
– That is a very laborious undertaking, just like taking a theater for a tour.
– Who should take the lead in arranging such exhibitions? Culture Ministry, maybe?
– Hardly so. I have a friend, a writer, he is an Englishman and lives in the UK. He once told me a secret of his promotion. He will never start writing a book and more so negotiating with a publisher until he has an agent and a promoter for the new book. Something similar should probably be happening to sculptors and other personalities of arts.
By Alexei Golyakov