American and Russian Artists Call On to Protect the Earth! #GRAFFITI OF MY CITY
Every resident of my neighbourhood likes fancy graffiti in Malyy Avenue V. O. (St. Petersburg, Russia) but not everyone knows its history. This is not Buddha, as many think, and not even the queen of magic mushrooms as I thought.
It turns out the mural was created 31 years ago by American and Russian artists within a Soviet-American project "All for One Earth". The mural's name is "Water is Life" and the main character is Mother Earth. Some sources call it the oldest graffiti in St. Petersburg.
- The address: Gavanskaya Street, 47, St. Petersburg, Russia
- The location on Yandex.Map: https://yandex.ru/maps/-/CCUY4ORFSB
- The authors of the mural: Susan Cervantes, Luis Cervantes, Carlos Loarca, and Nicolai Bogomolov - from here.
The Time of Hopes
It was 1990, the Cold War was practically finished and many hoped for a world of common prosperity and freedom, a world without wars. The joint art project between Russians and Americans was a reflection of those hopes. Former enemies became allies in the united struggle for a better future for Mother Earth.
The style of the mural was heavily influenced by Mexican art since, as the city administration's website states, the American painters were of Hispanic origin and were followers of Diego Rivera, an outstanding Mexican artist and a Communist visited the USSR several times.
There are also Russian details on the painting...
Write in the comments what details seem to be Russian in your opinion. :)
Hey, Baby!
As a bonus, another curious artefact of the time: Russian rock legends and an American person Joanna Stingray (whoever she was) sing together:
Everyone wants to wake up the world
Everybody wants to set it free
You and me together forever
Hey, baby, it’s not always what you see.
Lyrics by Joanna Stingray
Thank you for watching and reading!
About the post
All photos were taken by me.
This #steemexclusive #steemgraffity story has been written for #GRAFFITI OF MY CITY Contest by @slon21veka. The terms of the competition ask participants to summon 3 persons from 3 different countries. My choice is:
@ronthroop from the shores of Lake Ontario, @rasel72 from Bangladesh, @skywaystelios from Greece.
Guys, if you want, you can join the GRAFFITI OF MY CITY contest within Steem-BRU (BY-RU-UA) Community. :) Thank you for visiting my post! :)
This is a great story! Love the connections between painting and music. I worked with four Russian painters in 2016. We skyped painting models in the studio. I received a grant from New York State and they shipped their work to my city and we exhibited it. A great turnout, and many paintings sold.
Olga Knaus and Andrew Makarov are still painting in Saint Petersburg. I told Olga about steemit. You can look them up on Instagram.
I am very honored that you summoned me. Thank you!
I shall walk about town this evening to see what I can find.
I had a solo show for Olga (Lena Ulanova) in my home. A great painter!
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/296189099
I hope this works:
Я где-то видел эту картину
Прохладный! Она участвовала в нескольких групповых выставках в Санкт-Петербурге и Москве, и, конечно же, у sh есть присутствие в сети ВКонтакте, Facebook и Instagram. Настоящее имя - Ольга Кнаус.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your story.
My father is a painter so I lived the life among oil paints and canvases in childhood. :)
The world gets more open every year. We meet people not only from neighbouring countries but from far away too.
I spent several years travelling / living mostly in Asia and met many people from different countries at numerous hostels I stayed in India, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Some of them visited me in St. Petersburg and some became my friends.
I shall walk about town this evening to see what I can find.
Why not ? :)
Once you see nice graffiti in your city, you will know what to do :)
I remember those last days of the cold war when there was encouragement for Russian and Western youth to become friends.
I am an admirer of Diego Rivera, and in fact, he is my favorite Mexican artist. His wife, Frieda Kahlo, gets all the attention, but Rivera was the genius.
I have travelled to places JUST to see a Diego Rivera mural. The best one, in my opinion, are the collection in Detroit. Unfortunately, they are in peril due to the extreme economic devastation effecting that region.
As always, images never live up to reality, but they are online: Detroit Murals
I checked the link - incredible art.
Factory scenes are beautiful but depressing. Anti-utopian. All these people crowded among machines ... So much energy in them, that I can smell the hunger and humiliation they had experienced in their lives. Guys in gas masks... A tough time.
...And romantic feelings that couple had towards Bolsheviks... who created "industry" of the destruction of millions of people :( I must read a book or something once to make all this clear to myself.
peril
I hope the commercial price of this art will keep it safe from dereliction and destruction.
There is a lot of symbolism in the Diego Rivera's paintings. The hope was the exploitation of the factories would end when the workers would seize control of the means of production. The ideal is that the factory workers would have control over the product of their labour and be able to re-invest that labour and product into a better more just society.
That was the plan, anyway.
One of the most interesting things about these murals is that they were commissioned by Edsel Ford.
In Mexico City, there is Rivera's "Man at the Crossroads", which depicts the possibilities the 'New Man' can achieve is he is no longer alienated from the fruits of his labour.
This fresco is safe at the Palacio de Bellas Artes museum.
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gumr51" title="User:Gumr51">Gumr51</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
A person of great fantasy. Beautiful.
Well, I do think it is safe to say that there was no 'New Man', no matter how much it was hoped for.
Сильнейший пост! Спасибо!
Спасибо! :--)
First of all, I would like to thank you for choosing me from Bangladesh. But I do not understand your whole point in the right way. Please explain to me. Then I can be aware of the matter.
Hey! Nothing serious. If you see cute graffiti in your city, you can take a photo and join a contest in this community https://steemit.com/trending/hive-171319. Search for fresh Contest from @slon21veka! #GRAFFITI OF MY CITY in there.
But up to you. :)
Thank you so much for your unformatt.❤️
@tatdt, have a look. have you been there?
Yes, I remember that graffiti, but for some reason I thought it was lost. Great job and story!
Thank you! :-)
ps. испытваю досаду, глядя на курацию. где, где кур-01, или даже буминг, когда авторы приносят такой контент на платформу...
Спасибыч ) Я слышал, что кур-6 посещает посты с тегом Russia... Мою кладбищенскую историю на английском посещал :) Может, и сюда заглянет - вдруг понравится. В World of XPILAR я бы еще надеялся на буминги и интерес лидеров сообщества. Но я хотел попробовать что-то новое ... и попробовал ) World of XPILAR, конечно, supportive, мне посчастливилось там оказаться так скоро. Если бы в 2019 попал, то и не бросал бы стимит.
кур-6 посещает, не сомневайтесь. но сколько тут русских пользователей и постов - а сколько маны для апа. на всех не хватает. кур-6 совмещен с украиной, беларусей, италией и турцией (!) - каждой стране по одному дню вроде выделяется, я так слышал. поэтому, раз в недельку апнуть могут один пост, и вся радость. остальное удовольствие приходится искать на стороне.
"Если бы в 2019 попал" - я аккурат в 2019 попал, успел конечно кое-что. но лучше бы на два года раньше. :=) но с другой стороны, тогда у меня не было столько времени постить, и не было еще фулл-фрейм камеры и тех объективов, к-е я прикупил в последние 2-3 года. хотя, это взаимосвязано - стал постить стал больше снимать и обрабатывать. раньше я в рав вообще не снимал, практически никогда.
не всё так просто и оптимистично на стимите, ой, не всё. я буду рад вам делегировать на хайве на старте, и советов дам. но писать об этом удобнее все ж таки в дискорде, или в почте, а не в публичных комментах.
сколько тут русских пользователей и постов - а сколько маны для апа -
Я вчера открыл - в ущерб сну, как и положено - что сила голоса заметно падает, когда голосуешь больше 10 раз в день. В этом свете все становится понятнее... ..
но с другой стороны
Да, все сложилось так, как могло сложиться. Могло и должно...)
Потянуло в философию)
не всё так просто на стимите
Да, конечно. Я со своим ограниченным знанием тоже заметил уже. С удовольствием обсудил бы. Я завел дискорд - без него стимит не мыслим, как я вижу )
datych#1841
мыслим вполне. но с ним опыт взаимодействия безусловно богаче, многое происходит (во всяком случае, на хайве) в кулуарах. а без него "неполный эффект", верхушка айсберга. я кстати, сегодня делегировал 50 в твою сторону. надеюсь, чутка поможет.
Спасибо, что порадовали!) Хорошего вечера!)
Very interesting story. This is a truly beautiful symbol of reconciliation. I read about the Cold War and even wrote an essay on the subject. Somehow I found the site https://papersowl.com/examples/cold-war/ and learned how the Cold War changed and shaped the American economy, society and politics. I am glad that the former enemies have become allies.