Art of Revolution

WE approached the Art of Revolution exhibition staged at the Undercroft in Norwich by the artist Gennadiy Ivanov, who orginates from Belarus and has lived in England for 15 years, in September with some trepidation. We had already been warned by a student that some of the exhibits were confusing so far as the images of so many sailors and clowns didn’t seem to immediately correspond with is commonly expected at an event commemorating 100-years of the Russian revolution.

It was an eclectic mix and I felt it was a powerful exhibition, which was in the end extended until the 14^th, October.
I thought at first that the many portraits of sailors may have had something to do with the Kronstadt rebellion* in 1921, but was then reminded of the film Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein which was about a rebellion in 1905. But the clown image I was told by Ivanov that the word 'Guevara' in Che Guevara means ‘clown’ in the country of Guevara’s birth.

For me perhaps the most powerful oil painting and image in the show was Gennadiy Ivanov’s ‘Sailor’s Hands’. The hands grasping desperately onto what may be a red flag are almost transparent.

In the blurb in the booklet that accompanies the exhibition the nature of the colour red is describe thus:

''In many cultures Red means passion and love. In Tibetan philosophy it signifies connection with the Universe. In the Russian language ‘red’ often means 'beautiful’. ‘Beauty Will Save the World' (Dostoevsky). Artists are responsible for bringing creativity to the world, not only to bring Beauty to it – but to Save it''

Mr Ivanov told the Eastern Daily Press:

‘The inspiration for the show for the show came from the 100the anniversary of the Russian Revolution but that the exhibition also explored revolution in the broadest possible terms…. It is an exhibition about different types of revolutions which have happened in 100 years like digital revolution, like art revolution, movie, fashion, design, industrial revolution, sexual revolution, so we have a very wide theme.’

 

* The Kronstadt rebellion was a major unsuccessful uprising against the Bolsheviks in March 1921, during the later years of the Russian Civil War. Led by Stepan Petrichenko[1] and consisting of Russian sailors, soldiers, and civilians, the rebellion was one of the reasons for Vladimir Lenin's and the Communist Party's decision to loosen its control of the Russian economy by implementing the New Economic Policy (NEP).[2][3]