Cadavre Exquis and Dodici Suicide
2014
Exhibition at the Thomas Brambilla Gallery, Bergamo
How did you come up with the idea of "Exquisite Corpse and Twelve Suicides" commissioned by Thomas Brambilla's gallery?
The name of this work is a quote from Dmitry Pimenov's novel «Муть», who, in my opinion, is the most radical and experimental poet in contemporary Russian literature. We have been friends for a long time, and / was astonished by this juxtaposition of surrealism and Christianity, the notion of Christ and the corpse. Since then I have wanted to transform this line into an image. Last year when I saw «The Last Supper» by Leonardo da Vinchi in Milan, I realized that I should use its composition as the basis for my work. That's why I placed the halos exactly where are the heads of the apostles in the fresco painting. And the invitation to arrange a personal exhibition at Thomas Brambilla's gallery brought this project to life.
How are the surrealistic Cadavre Exquis, as an artistic method, and « The Last Supper» by Leonardo Da Vinci, related in your installation?
If we recall what exactly Leonardo depicted in the fresco, the connection between the surrealist game and the episode of "The Last Supper" becomes more clear. Leonardo conveyed a precise moment of incomprehension and astonishment that appeared after apostles had heard the Christ's fateful words: "One of you will betray me".
Also the Cadavre Exquis is based on a principle of notknowing what your game partner wrote. So the drama of fresco painting and the surrealist game are both built on purposefully organised unawareness.
In comparison with other halos, the golden circle with torn center illustrates Judas and creates a visual and audio disbalance. What meaning do you attach to this image?
I can say that this is the humorous element of the work. There is a Russian idiom "short circuit" that conveys the meaning of misapprehension and confusion. Such a short circuit can appear in electrical flux as a spark, basically an error. It represents a metaphor for a person who constantly does everything in a wrong way, repeating the same mistake all over again. The spark in a torn circle also creates a visual balance with slowly melting butter on the wall.
The melted butter in the halos of other apostles conveys the dramatic spirituality mentioned in the title. Why did you prefer the word "suicide" over "suffering" in a Christian-themed work?
Of course, slowly melting butter rather symbolizes the suffering. Suicide is something that happens in one-time. I believe that the explicit atheistic meaning of the exhibition's title makes the work more complicated, paradoxical and scandalous at some point. That is because the religious viewpoint does not allow perceiving the Christ as a mortal man who would leave a rotten corpse after his death.
