Culver City,
California
x
Maker: Sergei A. Sukharev
If, If Not
Date Made: 1992
Country: Soviet Union
Measurements: 81 cm x 55 cm; 31 7/8 in x 21 5/8 in
In the foreground of the picture plane, a fantastical image of a man and his house appear in midair. The man is wearing only one boot and is shackled to the house by a short metal chain. He has a ragged appearance, and his hat is curved to resemble a pipe, with a bit of string unraveling at the top to suggest smoke. A cat stands alert on the roof of his house, which has the word “Fazenda” across the side in Latin letters, a word borrowed from Latin American soap operas for a large Portuguese estate that in Russian equates to “dacha” or country house. The house does not have a front door, but instead a large circular opening, suggesting an oversized dog or birdhouse rather than a house for humans. The fact that the man is chained to this structure recalls the bureaucracy of the Soviet housing projects, where the government forced citizens into communal apartments, quantifying their privacy by square foot and forever tying their life decisions to their homes. Snow covers the scenery. In the background, there is a small village of houses and a well. Several objects, including an ax, a black pot, and a pair of socks hang from the large hole. The shadows under the house and the man do not match up exactly to their counterparts. The dark sky is lit with a yellow light on the horizon, and startlingly contains a UFO that is emitting several rays of blue light. The smoke from each house and the diverse objects in midair are all being drawn towards the right hand corner of the picture. Across the bottom of the painting is written in Russian, “Drawing from nature Sukhareva Serezhi 37 years Moscow,” a farcical statement considering the fantastic nature of the composition. Along the upper edge of the sheet is the proverb, “If ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’ were pots and pans, there would be no need for tinker’s hands,” which expresses the futility of wishing for useless things.
Accession Number: 2009.053.019
Item Name: Painting
Credit Line: The Ferris Russian Collection, Donated by Tom and Jeri Ferris
Collection/Series: The Ferris Russian Collection, Donated by Tom and Jeri Ferris