For Vladimir Yacobchuk some inscriptions on a street wall in Saint-Petersburg became a reason to reflect on the fate of works of art in History. The anonymous author, working in street art style, reported that “Venus is a skank” and «Mona Lisa is sh...t». The artist couldn't simply walk past such street images and he took some photos, which he put it into graphic context with his own realization of the Mona Lisa and Venus images, so cruelly described by the anonymous artist.
These crude statements that question the reputation of these world-famous ladies, raise important issues. This is not just a redefining of the canons of beauty; the question is rather about an understanding of the ways of development of art. There are clearly echoes of the revolt of revolutionary modernists, who rejected the legacy of the classics, smashed the casts of antique statues and dumped Pushkin off the ship of modernity. And, of course, not without the influence of pop art, making objects of art from whatever. In this series the ancient statue is no different from Warhol’s soup cans.
Artem Magalashvili, from the text to the exhibition