1 of 2, left part of a diptyc."BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE ART HISTORY". MANIPULATED ART HISTORY TEXTS AND IMAGES, OIL PAINT ON CANVAS. 82"x82" 2012. BORIS ZOUBKOUS . THIS WORK IS FROM "HAPPY ART HISTORY!" THEME.
"HAPPY ART HISTORY!" Life is a conspiracy of the alarm clocks. Metaphysical alarm clocks. No major moves
of the gnosiological tectonic plates are possible before the time is right. The
phenomenon of Culture (material, spiritual, cognitive, linguistic ) accepts new forms of expressions (or any forms of expressions for that matter) only when the
horizontal (material) plane of the historical developement meets its vertical
(spiritual, mental, genius) plane. The sparks that are produced by the clash of these
metaphysical crossing planes are the punctuation marks of the time itself. The
amplitude of the human awakeness is documented in Art and Literature. If we look
inside the transparent parenthesis of the Art History, we can enjoy a little show: out
of all the cultivators of Art and Beauty (for a moment we will imagine them as naive
children actors in a School Drama), one participant stands out.
Among the simplehearted cheers of the relatives of the children actors and the kind audience, mesmerized by the goofy cuteness of the act, suddenly our eyes meet
the cold steel of the unblinking stare of the big shot theatrical critic from the capital
city, who accidently walked in on the little unprofessional show.
Critic Death in the Kindergarten tragicomedy. In the case of Art, that critic is the Art
History.Theone that speaks with the epitaphic weight and cosmic accent, - Deus ex
machina inthe global amature hide and seek game show, Alpha of Diagnostics and
Omega ofSentencing for the artists. How one artist can withstand the tremendous
ruthless pressure of the Art Historical traditions, demands, expectations of its strict system of coordinates? Good question. In my humble artistic practice I've tried to
associate myself (artist) with the Art History itself as a metaphysical entity, as in a
joke (or nota joke) about job interview in a Big Law Firm, where prospective
employees were shown a picture of the mutilated shark victims, armed shark
hunters and sharks, all swimming together, and the correct answer to the
interviewer's question "Who do you associate yourself with on this picture?" was:
"With the sharks." Low and behold, I've tried to dissolve myself in the Art History
philosophically and metaphysically, becoming one with it in order to be able to to try
to find Art History in me and me in the Art History, - akin the true story about a French writer Guy de Maupassant, who could not stand the look of the EiffelTower, which was the the tallest structure in the world at that moment, and was seen from
any spot in Paris, but Maupassant would spend hours every evening in Eiffel
Tower's restaurant and even would write his books there, and when asked "Why do you spend so much time in the Eiffel Tower if you hate it so much?", the writer
answered : "Because it is the only place in Paris from which I don't see the Eiffel
Tower." Thus my self inflicted Art History syndrome ensued. Thus "Happy Art
History!" theme started. I 've opened the brackets of chronological (recorded)Art
History from Cave Art to the imaginary first Art Gallery that will be opened on the other planet. I formulated as the organising principle of my Art Historical approach
the unseeming tandem of symbiotic mutualism of the two Slavic Artists
Malevichand Warhol, two most significant and influential artists of the 20th century.
Malevich took Art to the fantastic, uber beyond the earthly boundaries, lofty abyss of the timeless, other world dimension, and another Slavic genius Warhol documented Art as a commodity item, price tagged, mass produced, gift wrapped, advertised,
hyped and ready for the mass consumption by the elite masses. One artist is
mister Deep Beyond, the other one is mister Deeply Superficial. Interdependent
co-evolution. The enigma of theSlavic soul. Cheers!
Drunk with the spiritual euphoria, my legs wobbly from the epiphanic bravura,
I trudged through the nooks and crannies of the Art History, gleaning the primordial
impulses of the CaveArt, Children Art, ritualistic art practices, shadows of the
smoke in the mirrors of the conceptual art (shiny detail: while I was at it, I lost my
teeth to poverty, I worn the falling apart fake leather boots for several years, while
teaching Art to psychiatric patients, criminals, in elderly homes, to deaf and blind,
in New York public schools, dumping couple hundred of my art works on the street
due to the unresolved financial and social obstacles of being an immigrant artist,
living in a monastery for two years and painting icons, some of which were
canonised by the official Church. The enigma of the Russian immigrant artist in
theWest. Cheers!).
Overdosed on the Art History vaccine, I've discovered some Jungian archetypes in
Art: 1)Desire to create (most artists on the planet are children,-overlooked Art
Historical fact, it is much later when many of them grow up to be all calculating
unimaginative a-holes.
2)Desire to copy, fake, buy or steal something famous.
3) Desire to be famous .Overthe years of the conceptual dissolving myself in the Art
History and the Art History dissolving in me, I worked out several principal points
for the creation of the"Happy Art History!" body of work:1)Art History is a first and
final commissioner and customer of the artist.2)Art History is a merciless elite
scientific puzzle, where artist should find or createa personal nook or niche.
3)Heart Art History, or Art History will Middle Finger You.
4)All famous artists started as unknown.
5)The work of Art is priceless, but you need to sell it for as much as possible.
6)(optional) if you are an artist from Siberia, make a t-shirt with the big statement:
"YES, IT IS COLD IN SIBERIA." to prevent the inevitable question.
7)"Unknown Artist" can be the the term applied to the Creator, or insometranslations g. o. d. 8) Happy Art History! Boris Zoubkous. New York. 2012
Boris Zoubkous
160 Havemeyer Street Apt # 3
Brooklyn
11211
New York, NY
New York
North America
