The power is in the word: how the most expensive Russian artist Eric Bulatov lived and saw

A reformer, one of the founders of social art and the most expensive Russian artist: on November 9, Eric Bulatov, the author of the paintings "I Live and See", "Glory of the CPSU", "Soviet Space", died at the age of 92. His work, in which poster art and elements of painting collided, changed the view of Soviet visual reality. About what Bulatov's method was, where you can see his paintings today and what he himself said in an interview with Izvestia in different years — in our material.

"I live in this place at this time and I promise not to lie"

Eric Bulatov was not a dissident in the literal sense of the word — he did not fight the system, but was rather a researcher.

— The artist is not so much a participant as a witness of the most important events. That's why he's kind of on the side, away from the flow of life — it rushes by," he said in one of his many conversations with Izvestia.

This is one of his most iconic works, "I Live and See." It is based on a phrase by the poet Vsevolod Nekrasov.

— This formula is my credo. The whole Nekrasov phrase sounds like this: "Although I do not want and do not seek, I live and see." That is, I'm not looking for something on purpose, I'm not trying to find something terrible or beautiful, anti-Soviet or vice versa. But I live in this place at this time and I pledge not to lie, not to turn away from what is happening around me," the master explained in an interview with our editorial staff in 2007.

Eric Bulatov was born in Sverdlovsk in 1933. The graduate of the Surikov Institute earned money for decades by illustrating children's books, while at the same time he was looking for his own creative method. His first exhibitions in the USSR took place in the 1960s, but he soon gained greater recognition abroad. In 1988, he had a solo exhibition at the Zurich Museum of Fine Arts, followed by the Georges Pompidou Center. As a result, he moved to New York in 1989, and a few years later settled in Paris, although he never considered himself a migrant.

"My brain is shaped by Russian culture, and I owe it entirely to it," Bulatov confessed.

In his work, he made a unique artistic move — he combined the aesthetics of Socialist realism, taking as a basis Soviet poster art, with its ideological slogans, with painting. One of the most striking examples is the painting "Glory of the CPSU", where red letters contrast and conflict with the blue sky.

— The painting "Glory of the CPSU" appeared in 1975, and professionally it is more important to me than "I live and see." In "Glory of the CPSU" there are two characters, two worlds: the sky with clouds and these words written in big red letters. It is very important to me that the letters and clouds are not depicted in the same plane, but diverge. Such a stereo effect arises in the viewer's mind – the sky goes far away from these words. And this is the meaning of the painting: the sky is a space of freedom, where the red letters "Glory to the CPSU" do not let us in," Bulatov said.

In 2008, this work went under the hammer at a Phillips auction in London for a record $2.1 million. His other painting, Soviet Space (1977) with Brezhnev— was sold abroad for $1.6 million.

— At one time, I was asked about the "Soviet Space": "Why aren't you a Stalin Prize winner, a People's Artist of the USSR? Why is this painting banned?" There is an element of provocation in my works. There is no political criticism in the paintings — only the need to show the abnormality of the life that was perceived by our consciousness as normal. So that the viewer from the outside can see this situation and perceive it as his own life. Sometimes they try to present me as a political artist, but this is not true," the master said.

"In the West, an artist decorates life, but in Russia, he helps to live"

In his work, the artist reflected not only on the present, but also on the future. One of his later works is "Our Time has Come."

— It shows the underground passage of the Kursk railway station, the stairs that people climb. I wanted to say that we are living in a time of transition. We know where we're coming from, but we don't know where," Bulatov described in a conversation with Izvestia in 2011.

Art and culture, he believed, have a special meaning for the Russian public — not the same as for a Frenchman, a German or an American.

— The difference between Russian and other artists should be viewed through the viewer's lens, taking into account his need for art. In Russia, this need is great. In the West, an artist decorates life, but in Russia, he helps to live," he shared in another interview.

Today Bulatov's works are kept in the main museums of the world, including in Russia. In the State Tretyakov Gallery, for example, the canvas "Clouds grow" is presented, where he uses a recognizable technique — the inscription on top of the clouds. It is in the permanent exhibition "Art of the twentieth century". In 2017, it was reported that the institution, in addition, was presented with the work "Painting and the audience." There is no usual method here, but the author also plays with space, depicting museum visitors against the background of the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People."

One of his iconic works in the collection of the State Russian Museum is "Melting Clouds". Here, too, he abandons textual commentary and depicts a forest landscape against a blue sky.

Eric Bulatov's personal exhibitions were held at the Multimedia Art Museum, the pop/of/art Gallery, the Garage Museum of Modern Art and other institutions.

In 2019, far from the last conversation with Izvestia, then timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the artist, Bulatov was asked about his plans for the future. He replied that he lived from painting to painting and hoped all his life that something else would open up to him. "I still need five years," the master estimated then, but he was allowed a little more. He left, leaving not just a collection of works, but a toolkit for understanding how our perception of reality works.

Eric Bulatov's farewell will take place in Paris, and the funeral will take place in Moscow, which, by his own admission, he never stopped missing.