Where does a fine line between politically engaged art and that coming from the artist's heart and reflecting his soul, lie? Moscow celebrates the work of a famous Russian Soviet-time artist Alexander Daineka featuring his painting, sculptures and mosaics - all depicting people making their contibution to the promotion of socilaism as a political philosophy. They are either joyfully playing sports (sports and public activity promotion), enjoying themselves on a sea resort (to support good state of health), or selflessly doing socially useful work (no comment). In case a disaster, such as war, occured people were facing them surprisingly imperturbably, humbly and courageously. Public's impressions from the exhibition vary waving on the scale between "sickly-sweet and improbable" to "admirable and inspiring". But to make bold judgements and not to sound as bold as brass, one needs to spend hours and hours in libraries and archives, thoroughly researching the period, the artist's biography and creative activity. Daineka himself said that he wanted his creations to stay positive, no matter what. And he is definitely worth looking at and admiring as the author of fantastically beautiful mosaics made especially for the Moscow metro station Mayakovskaya. see below


another pic from the exhibition

By the way, the show is called “To Work, To Build And Not To Whine”. Very inspiring and timely