Kitchen Suprematism • Blue Noses

Blue Noses (the Siberian duo Vyacheslav Mizin and Alexander Shaburov) are known for their satirical and provocative videos, photographs and performances which parody and critique Russia's past and its present day capitalist boom.
In the series Kitchen Suprematism, abstract compositions of iconic importance to Russian art historians are reduced to humble arrangements of cold meats, cheese and bread.
Blue Noses emerged from a loose association of artists active in Siberia in the 1990s. Shaburov's conviction that art should flow from the everyday was expressed in works such as My daily route from home to the bus-stop: photographs every 15 paces (1987); in his hosting of the TV show Guess The Melody, where he mouthed words silently and viewers had to guess the song (1993); and his receipt of a Soros Foundation grant to produce the project Tooth Repair, documenting a trip to the dentist (1996). On the eve of the new millennium (31 December 1999), in an attempt to avoid the promised year-zero computer apocalypse, Mizin, Shaburov and friends shut themselves in a bomb-shelter in Novosibirsk and made a series of videos in which they wore blue bottle-tops on their noses. The epithet Blue Noses was coined and stuck to Mizin and Shaburov; they finally gave up trying to shake off the brand in 2003, when they arrived at a hotel to find that they were booked in with the surname Blyunosez.

Blue Noses have represented Rusasia at the Venice Biennale.


More works by Blue Noses at Mathew Bown Gallery


update: (since nobody reads comments) Thomas points to the fact that the russian custom seized 11 pieces of art by Blue Noses, mainly from their "Mask Show" series.
snippet from a NYT-article:

MOSCOW, Oct. 21 — A group of men burst into a contemporary art gallery here Saturday, destroying work by an ethnic Georgian artist and beating up the owner, Marat Guelman. Mr. Guelman is well known both for his display of politically inspired and irreverent art and, most recently, his public attacks on neofascists for their dislike of non-Russians and of Western influence on Russian society.

Mr. Guelman said the attack was carried out by 10 men who looked like skinheads. The attack was the latest incident to raise troubling questions about xenophobia and freedom of expression in Russia.

On Friday, Russian officials seized 11 pieces of art that Mr. Guelman had exhibited. The art was on consignment to a London gallery owner, Matthew Bown, who was taking the pieces out of the country when he was detained at Sheremetyevo-2 airport on Friday.

The photo collages that were seized included one depicting President Vladimir Putin, President Bush and Osama bin Laden lounging in boxer shorts and another of a veiled suicide bomber with her skirt held up to reveal racy lingerie.

Mr. Bown was allowed to leave for London, but the artwork was not released.

It is unclear whether the seizure of the artwork on Friday and the attack on the gallery were related, coincidence or driven by news about the airport seizure on the radio and the Internet. Mr. Guelman has made a fair number of enemies this year because of his public criticism of neofascists and nationalists.

He is now on a list of “enemies of Russia” that is being circulated on the Internet by Russian neofascists:

full article here (may require registration)
also posted on artists unite

Art Angst seems to be a widespread phenomena these days

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