On cats, dogs, and others

Artists Viktor Bogorad and Vyacheslav Shylov (St. Petersburg) work in the genre of caricature. The Day’s readers have not infrequently seen their deep and topical works on our pages. Now both cartoonists are busy with a new project, an album Je Suis Dog, Je Suis Cat. The edition is supposed to include 150 black-and-white works (75 by each author). The book will be reversible, with drawings of dogs on one side and cats, on the other. The artists have promised to transfer a part of the proceeds from every ordered copy to the account of Polyanka, a shelter for strays, and Vita Center for Animal Rights. We tried to figure out if an individual’s treatment of animals reflects his attitude towards people, and discussed the fates of political cartoon in Russia in our interview with Viktor Bogorad, whom The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna met some time ago on Facebook. Now he has been our author for some two odd years.

What prompted the idea of such an album? Do you have any pets at home?

“No, I don’t for family reasons. But Vyacheslav has always had pets, that is why he has loads of related memories. The idea of the album is also basically his. As we have drawings of cats and dogs, we thought, well, why not make them into a collection and help the shelter and the animal rights center. We have been to the shelter where really great people work who truly care for animals. Although sometimes it is very hard, indeed.”

An individual’s treatment of the animal world is believed to speak volumes about himself and his culture. Do you agree?

“It is true. If someone tortures animals, he will do the same to other people. Unfortunately, in Russia the treatment of animals is much worse than in the West. I have never seen stray dogs in Europe, they do not hang around in packs like ours do. A pet always means additional responsibility. Our people take a cat or a dog, then realize it is too much trouble, and then simply throw it out onto the street. Stray cats and dogs are an indicator of the culture of a city – or, conversely, of its barbarism.”

You have long worked as a team with Shylov, and once you also teamed up with Leonid Melnik to create the cartoonist group Nuance.

“This group still exists, but after Leonid’s death we haven’t hold a single exhibit in three years. Actually, Nuance is a unique phenomenon, apart from the three Kukryniksy [a trio of Soviet graphic artists Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiriy Krylov, and Nikolay Sokolov. – Author]. Yet, unlike Kukryniksy, we do not create our cartoons together. We have teamed up due to a number of very successful joint exhibits, both in Russia and abroad. We realized that, despite our individual career paths, we share the same views on caricature. The result is three cartoonists in one package, so to speak.”

You raise money for your projects by means of crowdfunding. Does it work?

“We decided to try if it works or not. So far, in the first week, we have raised 16 percent of the necessary amount. All in all, we have two and a half months. It is important to raise at least something more than the half, then the project could succeed. The readers will know that a part of their money will go to charity, and on the other hand, they will get (or so I hope) a funny book. Also, we have a range of offers for philanthropists like cartoon portraits. Some of the works and cards we give away as presents. This is also a way of getting people interested. However, there are people who just give money without asking for anything in return.”

As far as I have understood, the name of the project refers to the famous #JeSuisCharlie, as well as the more recent #JeSuisParis and #JeSuisVolnovakha?

“This phrase has become an internet meme. What it implies is ‘I am the same.’ We mean a certain approach, a demonstration of solidarity. It is clear that this meme appeared after the terrorist attack against the office of Charlie Hebdo, but in our book there are no political drawings. There you will find funny (and sometimes, maybe, sad) pictures of cats and dogs.”

THE INSCRIPTION READS: “BAD NEWS MEANS A BAD DOG!” / Sketch by Vyacheslav SHYLOV

Do you agree that all people fall under two categories, Cat People and Dog People?

“Some love dogs, the others love cats. It is probably related to personalities, both of the pets and their owners. Dogs are devoted, they are friends, they are always seeking contact. Cats are on their own. Personally I like both.”

Two years ago in an interview to The Day (see the article “Caricature is a free opinion which scares the regime very much” in No.13 of February 25, 2014) you said that there was no political cartoon in Russia. Has the situation changed?

“Nothing has changed or rather the situation has become even worse. Political cartoon is the artist’s free opinion on political events, on the developments in society, in the country. There is also propagandist cartoon, and it does not always reflect the artist’s personal views. First and foremost, it is the view of the customer, which in Russia means state. There is no free caricature in Russia. For 17 years I published political-themed cartoons in the English-speaking newspaper The Moscow Times. There also worked Americans, Britons, French, but it turned out that the key problem was the owner’s nationality: he was not Russian. Last year, Russia passed a law prohibiting foreign nationals to own more than 20 percent of the stocks of newspapers. The Moscow Times changed hands and got a Russian owner. At the same time I was informed that my cartoons would not appear in the paper anymore. The Moscow Times used to be a critical periodical and published quite interesting materials. Now it is, to put it mildly, neutral, more on the loyalist side. Something like this happened to Novye Izvestia after the paper version was closed down last month. Mikhail Zlatkovsky worked there, one of Russia’s best cartoonists. As the paper was not a propagandist or loyalist mouthpiece, problems with donors began. They had got a hint what they should not be doing.”

Given that cartoon is disappearing from Russian printed mass media, can we consider online media and social networks as their alternative? Your Facebook page is very popular, for example. Or is it something totally different?

“Yelkin is the artist who left RIA Novosti after the change of owner, and is now working for internet media. And he is quite popular. That is why, yes, the internet has to some degree replaced newspaper cartoons. The caricature moved to the internet because papers can be controlled, but not the internet so far, thanks goodness. Although there have been some attempts. Caricature always grows in a free environment.”

Is the Ukrainian theme present in today’s Russian cartoon in general and in your works in particular?

“In my works it certainly is. At the same time it must be said that the majority of Russian cartoonists are trying to avoid Ukrainian themes. Firstly, because in this context the propagandist cartoons prevail. And it turns out that you take part in a propagandist campaign against Ukraine, albeit as an opponent of that propaganda. Secondly, it is fraught with consequences. Now several trials are in progress of people who were careless enough to express their opinion on that matter or simply repost information on the internet. Some even are tried for poems about Ukraine. Bringing up these issues is like tightrope dancing. For instance, candid cartoons by a good Kyiv-based artist Oleh Smal cause a stormy reaction in my country.

“Since the beginning of this year I have stopped working for Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti (‘St. Petersburg News’), where I had worked for quite a while. All because the office learned about the prize I received in Ukraine, and got terrified. I suspect that they never saw the winning drawing, although it was published in The Moscow Times. They asked me to resign of my own accord, which I did with great pleasure.”

Your works attract attention with their non-literalness: they induce contemplation. They always are independent artistic objects, rather than just illustrations. What do you think makes a good cartoon?

“A good cartoon has many layers, it carries various senses. I am always fascinated with people’s interpretations of my drawings in social networks. A good cartoon is thought-provoking, it prompts to create your own interpretation, which was not pre-programmed by the artist beforehand. You put a sand grain in, and it gets covered with crystals. The crystals of various interpretations of the sense. A good cartoon always gives food for thought. First a viewer will smile, maybe even burst out laughing. But then, he will start thinking.”