Mikhaïl Baryshnikov revient en courant, ayant honte de son acte en 1974, 2021

Polina Egorushkina  

Mikhail Baryshnikov comes running back, ashamed of his act in 1974.
Series of works "I will sue you before divine justice"
Sketch of a subway mosaic.

Political watercolor, collage on paper, 100 x 100 cm, natural stone mosaic: agate, quartz, magnesite, dolerite, 36 x 120 cm.

This series, launched in 2021, is an imaginary government commission that continues the Soviet tradition of decorating metro lobbies with propaganda images.

The Moscow metro is famous for the fact that all the successes of the Soviet state were reflected in the decoration of the station interiors. It was a showcase of the Soviet way of life. In this project, the artist proposes to continue decorating stations with scenes from the life of modern Russia, distorting reality in the interests of the authorities.

The graphics on paper are sketches for murals in the subway, and the title of the work is a mosaic in the style of Soviet slogans.

Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (born 1948) is a Soviet and American ballet dancer, choreographer, actor, collector, photographer, public figure. The most famous “defector”, having moved from the USSR to the USA.

In 1974, while on tour with the Bolshoi Theater troupe in Canada, having received an invitation from his old acquaintance to join the American Ballet Theater troupe, he became a “defector”. When Baryshnikov left the theater, a crowd of spectators was waiting for him. He signed several programs, and then apologized and said that he needed to step away for a minute, and walked along the street. From the car in which the KGB agents were waiting for him, they shouted: “Where are you going?” ? And then Baryshnikov ran.

He repented of Polina’s work and runs back, sarcasm over propaganda assurances of how wonderful it is to live in Russia now, in contrast to the dangerous, decaying West.