SATIRICAL IMAGES LEAD TO CONFISCATION OF SHOW BY MOSCOW POLICE
MATTHEW BOWN TEMPORARILY DETAINED
MARAT GELMAN, BLUE NOSES' MOSCOW GALLERIST, BEATEN, HOSPITALISED; GALLERY SMASHED
FOR IMAGES OF BLUE NOSES' WORKS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXHIBITION PLEASE READ THE ARTISTS' PAGE
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At 11 am on Friday 20th October 2006, in Moscow, Matthew Bown, owner of the London-based Matthew Bown Gallery, was removed from flight SU 241 bound for London and detained by Russian authorities for questioning.
Bown was held in connection with his attempt to export artworks by the Russian art collective Blue Noses. The artworks in question include photographic images depicting presidents Putin and Bush cavorting with Osama Bin Laden, and of a suicide bomber in a burqa flashing her (or his?) underwear. The works in question are intended for exhibition at the Matthew Bown gallery from 9th November 2006.
After his removal from the flight, Bown was questioned by police over a period of approximately nine hours. He eventually flew out of Moscow at 20.45 on SU 247. The eleven works by Blue Noses he was transporting were not allowed to leave the country and are currently held by the Moscow police at Sheremetevo II airport. A selection of the confiscated works is shown on this page: click images to enlarge.
When Matthew Bown asked the reason for his interrogation and the confiscation of the artworks, he was told by a police officer that the Blue Noses' works "contain representations of heads of state and this could not pass unnoticed." This was a reference to the four works entitled Mask Show depicting Bush, Putin and Bin Laden. The officers were also concerned about the possibly inflammatory nature of an image of a suicide bomber entitled The Girl Has A Date.
At present it seems that these artworks by Blue Noses will not be allowed out of Russia. Police at Sheremetevo II airport said to Matthew Bown that in all likelihood the case would be investigated further and, following such investigation, the confiscated artworks would be handed over to Gelman Gallery, which represents Blue Noses in Russia.
The detention and confiscation have attracted attention in the Russian media. Radio station Ekho Moskvy broadcast a phone conversation with Matthew Bown. Blue Noses' Russian gallerist Marat Gelman has commented on the incident to grani.ru (Russian language) and in other media outlets.
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Around midday on Saturday 21st October 2006,Gelman Gallery, situated at Malaya Polyanka 7/7, was invaded by six men who destroyed artworks and computers and beat gallerist Marat Gelman. Gelman was hospitalised with severe bruising and swelling to the face and other parts of the body and a suspected fracture. On the evening of 21st October, Gelman left hospital and returned home.
The previous day, and on the morning of the beating, Gelman had been running an energetic media campaign highlighting the confiscation of Blue Noses' artworks at Sheremetevo II airport.
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On the morning of Tuesday 24th October Matthew Bown in London spoke by telephone with Marat Gelman in Moscow. Gelman was still in pain from the attack on him the previous Saturday. He informed Bown that the prosecutor's office had stated it required ten days to investigate the artworks detained at Sheremetevo, making it unlikely they could arrive in London in time for the planned opening. Bown and Gelman are discussing alternative plans for the Blue Noses' show.
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Blue Noses are known for their satirical and provocative videos, photographs and performances which parody and critique Russia's past and its present day capitalist boom. Their targets include political leaders, sexual and political correctness, and the platitudes of art history. Using low-tech methods they ape the look of high-tec. Blue Noses' intentions have always been to create work that can be understood and engaged with outside the restrictive realm of contemporary art; a populist approach for 'pioneers and
pensioners'. Their energy, black humour, irreverence and sense of the grotesque distill the spirit of Russian art (and life) today.
21st October 2006; updated 22nd October 2006, 24th October 2006.
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