Spying on oneself

You could hardly see any works created by Kyiv’s noted architect and cartoonist Viktor Kudin-unless you peeped through small holes in the plywood columns. There were several holes that allowed visitors to take a glance at several works. The organizers say this is a kind of “show design... where the sarcasm of works is reflected in the irony of architectural design.” In fact, there is little irony in the design itself, which occupied one-third of the exhibition floor and took a whole week to assemble. The irony is in our having to peep, bending and squatting.

“Dealing with cartoons is a very personal affair. Many people who explore them prefer to conceal their emotions. But this way no one can tell which cartoons attract their attention. That is why they can more freedom in perceiving the work and will receive more emotions,” explains Viktor Kudin, adding, “cartoons have to do with architecture; working on both is much the same; a cartoonist thinks up things and comes up with images that are products of his imagination: new contents, subjects, ideas.”

Together with the cartoonist Anatolii Kazansky, whose sketches The Day has been publishing for over a de­cade now, and several other artists Kudin organized the creative club Arkhigum in 1983 and has been its president ever since. As many other young, gifted, and ambitious creative individuals, the club members wanted to make a name for themselves. And they did. Although Kazansky died a long time ago, his sketches remained topical five and ten years after his departure. They still are. Incidentally, an album of his sketches appeared in print in August 2006. Viktor Kosobukin still calls Anatolii his best friend.

Simultaneously with the launch of the exhibit, Kudin presented his album entitled Car­toon-karykatura [the latter word is the Ukrainian equivalent of cartoon-Ed.]. He said that “this album is the first attempt to sum up [the club’s] creative heritage and put together what was once scattered across the world as parts of separate exhibits and publications. The album includes works of art that are currently concealed in plywood at the salon Format Dio Concert Store. These sketches are not too amusing, rather burlesque. The artist says this is not the main thing.

“A cartoon doesn’t necessarily have to be funny, although this is what most people expect it to be. It is something different; something turned inside out and upside down that reveals a topic in a person that cannot be communicated in any other way,” says Viktor Kudin.

His works are very philosophical and address general human themes, which makes them topical despite the passage of time: for example, a man holding an umbrella with a huge drop of concrete hanging over it or a grotesque human figure with several pairs of eyes and tongues. Or a man visiting a physician with a bandaged foot, with the physician showing chicken legs under his desk (physician, heal thyself?). Or an executioner shaking hands with his ax.

Many of his characters are hanged people: one is hanging on a rope with his wife mending his socks; a girl moistens a postage stamp on the tongue of another one; in yet another cartoon a church bell takes the place of a hanged man. (Are these me­ta­phors of a creative crisis?)

As any artist, Kudin has paid attention to the erotic theme: a half-naked woman in bed with a pillow studded with medals; a picture on the wall with a pair of beautiful eyes surrounded by small figures of men and women in Kama Sutra positions.

Mykhailo Prudnyk, the editor of the journal Perets, said about Kudin: “I have known Viktor for a long time. He has done cartooning for the past 20 years. It was then that he and his colleagues wanted to form a separate group as young independent artists. I remember them displaying their works on Andriivsky uzviz in the early 1990s. Those works were filled with joy and optimism.

“Together with Kazansky, these young artists were uninhibited and recognized no restrictions imposed by the [communist] party. They were our hopefuls in the realm of cartooning and our hopes were justified.

“Looking at Viktor’s works, you instantly realize that he is an artist of the highest caliber. I don’t believe an artist can be described as being European or otherwise. If he has talent, he is acknowledged everywhere. I am happy for Viktor: he has scaled such heights that we can be proud of him.”

Prudnyk also mentioned our late cartoonist Kazansky: “I can only marvel at his creative legacy. His sketches are so very topical; they are philosophical, just like Viktor’s, and this philosophy is immune to the passage of time, authorities, and governments.”