* Artist's Work Destroyed by Russian Orthodox Churchgoers

Russian-born artist, Alexander Kosolapov, has lived and worked in New York City since 1975 where he has been influenced by Andy Warhol's work. These three pieces are among some of Kosolapov's work that indignant Russian Orthodox churchgoers either damaged, destroyed, or removed from exhibits.



Russian lawsuit testing limits of free expression

by Erika Niedowski,
Sun Foreign Reporter

March 23, 2007

MOSCOW: "Oleg Kassin objected to them all: the portrait of a robed Jesus Christ, his face replaced by a Mickey Mouse head, among his disciples; an icon of a halo-adorned Virgin Mary done in dots made to look like caviar; the photo of a crouched woman in a brassiere, thong and high-heeled boots with her rear to the camera [at the Andrei Sakharov Museum].

"So he and the Russian Orthodox church group to which he belongs went to court this week, claiming not just questionable artistic taste, but an outright crime.

"For the second time in recent years, an exhibit at the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center has become the object of a legal fight here and a touchstone for debate on the right to - and limits of - free expression in Russia, which, as it turns out, often comes at a cost."
...

"The problem is, they don't want to discuss it," he [the museum's curator, Yerofeyev] said of the Tretyakov's leadership. "They simply say it's forbidden. Maybe they are right; some things should be forbidden. But there should be arguments, professional ones."

The Russian Orthodox church group charges the museum with inciting religious and ethnic hatred. The first time this happened was in March 2005:

Beware of Religion: a Rebirth of Militant Atheism in Moscow

Russian Orthodox Church
by Dmitry Ageev
March 23, 2005

"The exhibition «Beware of religion!» opened in the exhibition hall of the Andrei Sakharov museum in Moscow on January 14, 2003, where a group of artists presented works that were meant to «draw attention to the hypocritical role of religion in the contemporary world». Among these works were: an imitation of a large icon of Christ with a road sign instead of a face; an imitation of an icon of Christ with openings for the face and hands, through which visitors were invited to place their corresponding body parts and be photographed; a billboard with a Coca-Cola logo, depiction of Christ and the inscription «This is My Blood»; a cross covered with garlands of sausages; ... " Read more

While some people may have found the "Caution! Religion" exhibition offensive, Amnesty International does not believe that any of the exhibits portrayed on the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre's website amounted to an incitement to violence. Moreover, the use in this case of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code – which is in the section of the criminal code listing crimes against the state – is wholly disproportionate.

Dr. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов) (May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989) was an eminent Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union and was the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2005 the Russian Orthodox church wrote, "The exhibition’s organizers who shamed the name of A. Sakharov, himself the grandson of an Orthodox priest, should be severely punished."

The real shame is that we are not surprised at the destruction of an artist's work by Christians.

As to how Dr. Sakharov might respond, "... religion did not play an important role in his life, though he did believe that a non-scientific "guiding principle" governed the universe and human life."* As a champion for human rights and civil liberties I think that Dr. Sakharov would agree with Amnesty International.

* Drell, Sidney D., and Sergei P. Kapitsa (eds.), Sakharov Remembered, pp. 3, 92. New York: Springer, 1991.