A vandal destroyed “This is my body” in the “Art-Moscow” exhibition

At 2 p.m., May 26 a long-haired and bearded man destroyed Alexander Kosolapov’s work “This is my body” (2002, 70x100 cm, silkscreen, paper, 75 copies). It happened on the stand of Julia and Marat Geldman silkscreen studio in the “Art-Moscow” exhibition. The man tore it in two, broke glass and cut himself. The malefactor, who presented himself as a servant of God Leonid, didn’t left hold of the picture with God even in the police department of Yakimanka district.

Policemen found a hammer and a balloon with black paint during the personal search. Except for these instruments for fight against blasphemy, Leonid Nepomniashchi had a certificate of insanity and was released soon.

“Destruction of my work is of no importance for me”, the artist Alexander Kosolapov said. “I create in the social space and I want to feel interactive contact with the spectator that looks at my picture”. If the picture is destroyed, then the contact exists. The society reacts on my work in such a way, and my aim as an artist is attained. As for the content of my work, it is devoted to the problem of consumerist society and is in no case intended to insult believers’ feelings.

The artist is not going to claim damages from the man who had destroyed his creation, as the picture is the property of Gelman’s gallery while only owners have the right to claim damages.

Representatives of the company-organizer of the “Expo-part” show expressed regret that not all the visitors of “Art-Moscow” were able to perceive works of modern art adequately. Though the following note of warning was almost everywhere: “The territory of art. No censorship. It is unadvised for the people with hypersusceptibility.”

Based on GiF.Ru