Mixed media in neo-academic art objects

Chzhou Yui Lecturer, School of Arts, Chongqing Normal University 191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, room 6, office 51 zhouyu1@rambler.ru

Mixed media in the development of the Postmodern paradigm of art criticism analysis

At the end of the twentieth century, a trend of neo-academism developed in the art world of Russia, including in the form of the "New Academy of Fine Arts" founded by T. V. Novikov. In the activities of artists close to him, postmodern practices in terms of creative method and neoclassical conservatism simultaneously manifested themselves. It originated and evolved in the context of the complex dynamics of socio-political processes, the change of ideology, familiarization with the values of the Western world in the era of Perestroika. In the research of the creative heritage of neo-academicians, the idea of an axiological context prevails in the understanding and interpretation of this artistic trend; art critics and art historians focus on the analysis of this trend as a phenomenon of artistic life. Art historians A. L. Khlobystin, E. Y. Andreeva, critic D. Y. Golynko-Wolfson focused on the philosophical, semantic role of artists, their contribution to contemporary Russian art. So, A. L. Khlobystin noted that "after the cynicism of the 1980s, in the 1990s, "art" became interesting not as a comfort zone, but as a sphere of individual adventure, responsibility, mental and bodily risk. It became interesting not to slip away, hide and disguise (as if avoiding the totalitarianism of the act of "naming"), but, on the contrary, to "get into trouble" and "answer the call"" ^[1]. At the same time, one can note the lack of an art criticism analysis of the works and art objects themselves from the position of the postmodern paradigm, which has become a determining factor in the development of the artist's creative method and the artistic and stylistic features of art objects.

The history of the issue of studying the creativity of neo-academicians is traditionally associated with art criticism of the late twentieth century. The main empirical basis of this research should be considered the works of artists themselves, their exhibitions and promotions, and the theoretical foundation should include, for example, the theoretical developments of such outstanding theorists as Yu. Kristeva, J. Lacan, J. Lyotard, J. Derrida, M. Foucault, J. Baudrillard, B. V. Whipper, Y. M. Lotman, etc. The evolution of the aesthetic views of the co-founder of the "New Artists" (1982) and the "New Academy of Fine Arts" T. P. Novikov (NAII, 1991) is also important. The theorist and practitioner went from postmodern outrage and "artistic extremism" to the "new classics", conservatism and orthodox traditionalism, which reflects one of the most important trends in post-Soviet art in Russia, namely the search for one's own place in the wide field of Western and world art.

At the same time, in modern exhibition projects dedicated to the artistic heritage of neo-academicians, and in curatorial texts, the emphasis is on their unique creative method. The focus of attention includes the plastic features of art objects, often made in a mixed technique. The researchers also mention the meaning of the "included object", the meaning of the "thing" in the works of neo-academicians ^[2] and consider their works in the context of the paradigm of metamodernism, where the principle of reconstruction, representation of archiving, new sensitivity becomes an important component of the creative method ^[3]. It is necessary to note the peculiarities of the cultural and economic situation in Russia at the end of the twentieth century, namely the total deficit, the economic crisis, which to a certain extent became one of the factors of fascination with mixed techniques and the inclusion of various objects, the use of materials as means of expression of the work, semantic content.

B. R. Whipper investigated such techniques in relation to classical, established types of art, explaining their essence by an original combination of the principles of performing works of different types. However, it has not been supplemented taking into account certain characteristics of the practices of postmodernism and metamodernism, first of all, including through the prism of plastic art objects of neo-academicians. Mixed techniques as a creative method will determine the development of modern plastics, to which the term "art object" is often applied. There is no well-established definition of this term, since this phenomenon in the world of modern art is under development. It is the addition of existing scientific knowledge that is the value of the presented publication. Its purpose is to supplement the definition proposed by B. R. Whipper with the approaches that were proposed by neo-academic artists when creating art objects.

The term "mixed media" in the categories of contemporary art

The appearance of the term "mixed techniques", as a rule, is associated with the "Still Life with a wicker chair" of 1912 by P. Picasso — a collage including fabric, paper, ropes, which is also considered as the first work in mixed technique. However, it should be noted that the method of mixed techniques is not new for the development of art. Thus, B. V. Whipper, in his research points to the use of various techniques and materials in traditional forms of art, such as painting, sculpture and plastic. "A peculiar combination of the principles of sculpture and plastics is the Chinese technique of "kangshitsu": an empty wooden skeleton inside is lined with paper or a coarse cloth, on top of which a number of layers of varnish are placed, in which the surface of the statue is modeled — thus, both in the material and in the technique of its processing we see a combination of the principles of sculpture and plastics <...> The terms "sculpture" and "plastic" are often used in the same meaning as the name of a special kind of art, it should still emphasize the fundamental difference between the content of these two concepts (in their narrower sense). The sculptor processes solid materials (stone, wood); in front of him at the beginning of the work is a solid compact block, in which he seems to guess the outlines of the future statue. In his work, he goes from outside to inside, taking away (cutting off or cutting off) large or smaller excess parts. On the contrary, plastic works in soft materials, it sculpts, adds material, in a word, the process of its work goes from the inside out.... So, plastic is the art of adding material, sculpture is taking away" ^[6]. Thus, for a scientist, mixing techniques is a combination of performance principles taken from different types of art.

The use of mixed media as a creative method of both neo-academicians and contemporary artists has not been sufficiently investigated in the theory of art criticism. There is no unambiguous interpretation of this term today. Mixed media as an experimental field of artistic practices is under development, so universal criteria and classifications have not been developed. One can often find an interpretation of this concept as "mixed art" or "visual art" as "an extensive and inaccurate term for a wide category of arts, which includes collage, assemblage, an included object (assembly), including books, as well as a combination of graphics and painting, painting using different materials" ^[4]. Also, mixed media is understood as a characteristic of a work, in the creation of which various materials, foundations and, accordingly, artistic techniques themselves were used. A. D. Borovsky notes that "in a word, mixed media is a technique in art when it is not possible to achieve the desired effect by conventional means" ^{[5, p. 46]}.

It is possible to note different interpretations in relation to works in mixed media: from "unusual object" or "created object". Often an art object is attributed to descriptions of "manifestations in art", which, unlike other art forms, do not obey any exact rules. Spontaneity, impulsivity, freedom are their basis. N.A. Ses and A.N. Shchirova point out that "art objects are designed to evoke various emotional reactions of the viewer, make him think, look at something ordinary from a new angle, otherwise they are usually non-functional. An art object can be conditionally meaningless, unaesthetic, strange, but at the same time, creative and unusual. The imagination and skill of the artist allow you to create art objects using any objects and materials: glass, clay, paper, wood, metal, etc." ^[7]. In this case, the use of mixed techniques becomes one of the key expressive means in art practices related to the emotional sphere of the authors.

Today, the study of mixed techniques is attributed to the practices of postmodernism and metamodernism in art, for which it is characteristic, as Yu believes. Habbermas, "an appeal to camp and neoclassicism as the language of Western conservatism and postmodern figurative art" ^[8]. The postmodern paradigm of art is relevant not only in the comprehension of the work, but also in the search for a new creative language. Thus, the defining characteristics of creativity were the search for new meanings through the prism of the infinity of language games and intertextuality (Yu. Kristeva) or the "infinity of desire" (J. Lacan), as well as the infinity of the path of self-expression (J. Lyotard), the principle of deconstructivism or "gap" (J. Derrida). The gap is understood as the creation of a space for understanding, the expansion of interpretation, co-authorship, where a new one is formed at the junction of contrasts. The development of the author's language, the search for uniqueness, experiments take place in the field of dialogue and polylogue, synthesis and interaction, without forced imposition or blind dissolution (Yu. M. Lotman). Such approaches actualized and popularized the use of mixed techniques in the formation of a unique author's artistic language and the physiology of art. The generation of emotions for modern art has become an important factor in its existence, physiology determines the strength of emotion that the viewer receives from the dialogue with the work.

Thus, the technique of the included object, which often has a universal emotional marker and cultural code, provokes unconscious and violent generation of emotions. This process is connected with the understanding of the "thing" as a carrier of desire, which cannot be neglected (M. Foucault). At the same time , Zh . Baudrillard noted that the modern world loses its physical reality and is replaced by simulacra-ghosts, and it is things that allow us to preserve physical reality by "objectifying" the world, as if besieging it. The material, object principle of mixed techniques can be considered the basis of the physiology of modern art, which generates a stable physical and existential connection with the viewer.

T. P. Novikov's innovation in search of an artistic method relevant to the developing political and cultural situation

The founder of the "New Academy of Fine Arts" T. P. Novikov proposed "an incessant and unfixed performance of life, the "living" of art" ^{[9, p. 77]}. The works of artists of the neo-academic period, often created under his influence, "it is difficult to characterize as examples of "fine art". Rather, here we are signs, "icons" marking belonging to the tradition: rich fabrics, beads, retrophotographs of Apollo, Oscar Wilde, Orthodox saints, pioneers or architectural monuments sewn on the fabric. These signs acquire an additional aura from T. P. Novikov and turn into "sacred objects of religious worship" ^[2]. For example, the project "Neo-Academism is Sadomasochism" by Dmitry Mishenin (Doping Pong) and Andrey Chezhin (2000) is embodied by bodily practices, where architectural elements of the St. Petersburg Empire are interpreted.

Free handling of world and Russian templates, markers of culture and art, "sacrificing the artistic value of a work" to the symbolism of status power. The art objects of such authors as A. A. Vinogradov, T. P. Novikov, V. Y. Mamyshev-Monroe, A. N. Petrov present the means of kitsch irony, for example, such as the use of artifacts of mass culture, abundant gilding, photo collage. This helps to provoke the effect of lightness in the falsification of emotions. Interestingly, the most unusual "found objects" were interpreted by artists as "primary elements of form" and "as pictorial signs endowed with spiritual content, paintings as plastic formulas organized from such signs and embodying the relationship between the elements of the universe" ^[10].

T. P. Novikov in an interview described his creative method as an attempt to recreate images, which is closer to taxidermy than to conservation. This is not a museum storage of objects that were once created, but rather the preservation of the external image of art. In this light, the most important tasks of neo-academic "taxidermy" is the preservation of representations and visual presence of images of classical art at the expense of modernity. This approach is close to the essence of metamodernism, in which the dominant sensitivity of modernity as an era of identity politics crisis and a new demand for universalism returns interest to realism ^[2]. Undoubtedly, it is necessary to note here the understanding of the role of the artist in the era of postmodernism. Thus, R. Barth proclaimed the "death of the author", who from now on creates, not based on personal experience and knowledge, but only "fixes quotes and codes" accumulated by civilization. A.D. Borovsky writes the following: "The postmodern artist exists in a system of signs and, juggling them, does not try to establish a connection with reality in in principle" ^[5]. Such a popular principle of cultural appropriation as the use of real objects or their fragments in works, material symbols of epochs and cultures, as well as already existing works, became one of the main directions in the work of neo-academicians of the 1980s. So in the works of T. P. Novikov, the principle of "recomposition" similar to the principle of deconstructivism is solved by minimalist stencils and collages on textiles, for example "Narcissus" (1991), "Penguins" (1989), "Skier" (1991), etc. Collage technique, consisting of the interaction of photography and textiles, as the basis of the composition, forms the depth, physiology and emotionality of the work.

Another direction in the work of neo-academicians is the art of performance, also associated with the phenomenon of an art object in postmodernism. The artist himself considered this direction as a variant of the work and representation of art, when "my work of art is myself" ^[11]. Representatives of neo-academism created their own world of art, primarily by positioning and broadcasting a new aesthetic and artistic order. So T. P. Novikov, G. K. Guryanov, A. L. Khlobystin exaggerated the philosophy of dandyism as a revolt against everyday life, global unification, as a new romanticism and provocation. For example, a member of the "New Academy of Fine Arts" became a fashion designer K. Goncharov, who collaborated with Zh. Aguzarova, the Kino group and other representatives of the underground culture of those years. In the press, K. Goncharov received the title of "radical aesthete", and his ironic tension in performances to a certain extent transformed "classical culture, which was "boring", according to the predecessors of neo-academists, into a cheerful masquerade, continuing the tradition of the existence of urban eccentrics and originals" ^[12]. It is necessary to mention the work of V. Y. Mamyshev-Monroe, which is "photographic series, collages, scratching (a special technique for scratching photos), created to enhance expressiveness, painting, video — this is, in fact, fixing the incredible stay of himself — the "person playing" — in real time, and his images, this transforming reality into a life-long post-performance" ^[13].

Conclusions and generalizations

Thus, it can be concluded that the mixed techniques used to create art objects by neo-academicians are not only a combination of the principles of creating works of different types of fine art, but also the search for new forms, compositional solutions, a unique author's language and originality. First of all, the birth of such an approach influenced the formation of their propensity to appeal to the world of everyday life, sensuality and emotionality. In their work, they also embodied new meanings in art and were regarded as part of the artistic method. The peculiarity of this method was that the material was understood as a sign linking artists with tradition, including artistic; as an artifact of mass culture; as a means to recreate images of classical art. Moreover, the combination of different materials was used not only in the creation of art objects, but also in performances. In the latter, they played the same role and contributed to enhancing the expressiveness of the action taking place. It is worth noting that such approaches in the application of mixed techniques are relevant and in demand in the work of contemporary Russian artists, including those working in the context of metamodern ideas, such as the infinity of meanings, physiology and the new emotionality of art.