Untitled
Artist
Evgeny Rukhin
Russian, 1943–1976
Date1975
MediumOil, synthetic polymer, varnish on canvas
Dimensions39 1/4 x 38 in. (99.7 x 96.5 cm)
Frame: 40 x 38 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (101.6 x 98.4 x 3.2 cm)
Frame: 40 x 38 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (101.6 x 98.4 x 3.2 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Sarah P. Burke
Object numberG.76.8.1
On View
Not on viewIn 1963 Evgeny Rukhin, then a twenty-year-old geology student, saw a traveling exhibition of contemporary American paintings. Inspired by the Pop Art he saw in the show and regarding his lack of training as an advantage, he evolved his own working method. He would build the surfaces up and then attack them. "Right from the beginning," Rukhin said, "I was interested in the expression and life of the canvas's surface."
Merely by being abstract, Rukhin's paintings aroused the ire of the Soviets, who demanded Socialist Realism. But Rukhin did not stop at pure abstraction. A driving force in the dissident art movement, he added social commentary to his work. Stenciled onto this canvas is an admonition urging tenants to pay their back-due rent. Such a notice commonly appeared in apartment buildings, whose occupants were invariably behind in their rent, often because the state was behind in paying their salaries. Intentionally upside down and smeared, the notice is one any Russian could easily decipher. The painting's punctured surface may be meant to recall the wall of a dilapidated apartment building; the blurry bureaucratese exposes the absurdities of life in Communist Russia.
ProvenanceCreated Leningrad, 1975; collection of the artist; Sarah P. Burke, San Antonio, TX; given anonymously to NCMA, 1976.
Published ReferencesEugene Rukhin: A Contemporary Russian Artist (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1975), cat. no. 46, illus. (b-w), also illus. (color) cover.
John McPhee, "The Ransom of Russian Art," The New Yorker (October 17, 1994), reference to NCMA 1975 exhibition 98, references to Rukhin on 81, 86-88, 90, 97-98, 101-103. (The entire article is in the 'artist file' in the reference library.)
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Eugene Rukhin, A Contemporary Russian Artist," August 10-September 14, 1975, cat. no. 46, illus. (b-w), also illus. (color) cover.
Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection, "Eugene Rukhin," December 5-January 11, 1976.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Recent Acquisitions," September 25-October 23, 1977.
New York, NY, Terry Dintenfass, Inc., November 4-December 2, 1977.
Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, "Dissident Painters," January 18-February 26, 1978.
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