People choice

The cycle consists of paintings created on the basis of sociological surveys, and is divided into two groups - the “most desirable picture” for any nation, and the most “unwanted”. The series is a kind of absurd embodiment of the slogan “ Art belongs to the people !” ^[3] , is intended to “bring art and people closer” ^[2] .

The project was invented by the authors in the mid-nineties. Then the emigrant artists conducted a survey among Russians and Americans on the topic “What picture does the majority of the population want to see?” ^[4] Based on it, two diptychs were created: an ideal and terrible picture according to two nations. In subsequent years, the project expanded and encompassed new nations and even individual cities. “It turned out that the tastes of all mankind are about the same: everywhere they love landscapes with kids and animals and hate abstraction” ^[5] . (The data of the survey in Russia a few years later were confirmed by a similar poll by VTsIOM ^[6] and other polls ^[7] ).

Surveys, sometimes “very expensive” ^[8] , were ordered by real sociological services; The bulk of the work was carried out in 1993-97 with the help of the American DIA (The Nation Institute and The Dia Foundation), a long-term partner of the co-authors, with the help of hired local firms. The questionnaire consisted of more than 40 questions ^[9] , designed to determine the tastes of citizens. Surveys are massive, respondents can choose the genre, color and size of the work. According to the authors, this is “co-authorship with thousands and thousands of people, this was co-authorship with the masses” ^[10] . To create “Russian” paintings, 1001 people were interviewed ^{[1] [11]} , Komar in an interview talks about these two paintings: “Once we performed in collaboration with the entire Russian people” ^[12] .

Examples of questions:

• What colors do you prefer to see on the canvas?
• Is it desirable to have people or animals (and if so, which ones: wild or domestic?)
• Preferred picture size? Moreover, the form of the question does not sound “in centimeters”, but by comparison with the usual objects: a refrigerator, a TV, a transistor, a book. The answer to the last question is always about the same: people prefer a picture the size of a TV and don’t want a picture the size of a book.

In 2010, Komar said that after the end of the survey, the paintings are based on the data obtained by the artist of the specified region chosen by the co-authors, since he better understands his countrymen from Komar ^[8] (it is not clear, this is a special case or applies to previous years).

The paintings were traditionally exhibited by the authors, surrounded by science-like diagrams and graphs of opinion polls, tables showing the dynamics of public requests filled out by anonymous questionnaires ^[13] . The expositions unfold “before the public a full report on the work done with questionnaires, the percentage distribution of answers, and numerous graphs. Packs of sociological research are the foundation of a new art, which finally belongs completely to the people ” ^[2] . In addition to the original paintings, the missing ones could be replaced by their silkscreen copies ^[14] .

The composition of the cycle

• Denmark
• Iceland
• Italy
• Kenya
• China
• Germany
• Holland
• Norway
• Portugal
• Russia (1994). The most beloved picture of the Russian people “The Vision of Christ to the Bear” (the size of a TV), the most unloved is the abstraction “Blue triangles on a red background” (almost human size) ^[2] . A good picture is the size of a TV, made in bluish-green tones. Two types of forest are depicted (coniferous and deciduous), a child and a woman at work, a bear and Jesus Christ. Bad is an abstraction with triangles in orange, gray and brown colors, the size of a refrigerator.
• USA (1994)
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• Finland
• France
• Switzerland
• “Cyberspace Choice” - A Web-Based Survey ^[12]

From an interview with V. Komar: “... a survey on the Internet. Some differences were obtained from what people say in other places - the picture should be realistic, but with some elements, we would say, post-expressionism, but this must be seen. In general, the answers of Cyberspace residents differed in the direction of a greater degree of doubt in everything: for example, to the question “Which picture do you like best, abstract or figurative?” Answered “it depends on the specific case”. But most of all there, like everywhere else in the world, we love the blue color. Even in China, this turned out to be so. In China, however, there are features: in second place is white, not green, as in most European countries (although in Portugal, oddly enough, the second most favorite color is black). The most favorite painting in China is also, like everywhere, a landscape, but the size of a wall. Apparently, the Great Chinese. So far we have found only one country in the world where the mass audience calls abstract the most beloved picture: this is Holland. Moreover, the size of this beloved abstract painting is from a book. In America, this is the most unloved size. Holland is the only country where the elite taste has become widespread ” ^[12] .

• Additionally: Perm and St. Petersburg (2010). Petersburg paintings were painted by the artist Irina Drozd ^[8] . The project was presented by one Komar (creative tandem broke up in 2006).

Songs

The project was also attended by composer Dave Soldier ( Dave Soldier ), compiled a survey in which 500 people took part. Based on the responses of the respondents, Dave Peider and Nina Mankin wrote two songs: “The Most Wanted Song” and “ The Most Unwanted Song ” ^[15] .

Already not as part of the project, but as an independent event in Australia in 2002, the ballet "Australia's Most Wanted: Ballet for A Contemporary Democracy" was created, inspired by the idea of ​​the project Komar and Melamid. It was created by the Chunky Move troupe based on a survey of 2800 respondents about their preferences in modern dance ^[16] .

The meeting date that the project started in 1995 is erroneous: the presentation of the project took place in August 1994 at the Moscow Center for Contemporary Art ^[17] “by the efforts of the Gelman Gallery” ^[14] . The results of the survey earlier (July 8) were published in the newspaper Kommersant ^{[18] [19]} . The project, according to the publication, was simultaneously carried out in Germany and the USA ^[14] .

The project was to be exhibited at the XLVII Venice Biennale in 1997 in the Russian pavilion, which was officially announced ^[20] , and it was selected from 5 projects submitted to the competition ^[21] . But then the Ministry of Culture eventually rejected it ^[22] . It is indicated that due to the lack of money from the ministry: “... Russia's unwillingness to support Komar and Melamid will be noticed. And it is interpreted precisely as unwillingness, and not impossibility. Lack of money is a serious pretext, but still only a pretext ” ^[23] . Then it was assumed that it would be shown in the Russian pavilion with money from the New York DIA-foundation (the American partner of the project), and the American curator would do it, but there were no funds. The NCCA was unable to defend its decision on sponsorship ^[24] . At the Biennale, the authors planned to show pictures in the form of projections and statistical graphs of preferences ^[12] . As a result, the project moved from the Russian pavilion to the main exhibition of the Biennale ^[21] .

The creative tandem Komar & Melamid collapsed in 2006 (they started working separately from about 2003), however, after that, pictures of the project appeared (at the request of Gelman).

One of the authors of the project, Vitaly Komar, describes it as follows: “... together with Russia, we mastered democracy - using an American sociological tool. And they saw the terrible face of democracy in art, the face of a new dictator - the majority. As a result, as we wanted, several new questions arose. Are we for democracy? And if so, why do we want to be an elite? In words, everyone proclaims democracy, but any art is terribly totalitarian ” ^[25] .

After meeting with the project in 1994, Catherine Degot wrote: “The new idea of ​​Komar and Melamid is a brilliant invention, as evidenced by its instant and triumphant spread around the world. Over the past few years, artists have been searching for a fairly universal theme for themselves and, it seems, have found it. Only deconstruction of political correctness would be more timely - we must think that this is yet to come ” ^[14] . In 1997, she writes about the project: “The art of Komar and Melamid cannot suit the authorities and those who want to be loyal to her, primarily because artists make the object of their ruthless and ironic art their loyal thinking” ^[23] , the project “ witty not only in the narrow sense (it is homerically ridiculous), but also in the broad: the idea of ​​the authors is brilliantly simple and more than relevant for modern culture, obsessed with all kinds of statistics, mass character and democracy ” ^[20] .

Reviews of the project continue to appear over the next decades and with other critics.

Nikolai Molok and Fyodor Romer: “Komar & Melamid decided to continue experiments on approaching the broad masses. They started the campaign “People’s Choice” - an international project of abuse of shrines (in this case, democratic values). At the same time, it was an ironic remark to contemporary artists, democratic in words, but extremely arrogant in practice. “Art belongs to the people!” - said the “democrats” Komar & Melamid and painted “beloved” and “unloved” pictures of the American (Russian, Chinese, Ukrainian, African - hereinafter everywhere) people according to strict opinion polls. The resulting idiotic masterpieces (in the Russian version, Christ, sitting on a pebble, is adjacent to a brown bear and pioneers digging the earth, for which the picture was nicknamed “The Appearance of Christ to the Bear”) is for a long time turned away from democratic rhetoric in art ” ^[26] .

Faina Balakhovskaya : “Komar and Melamid made the project simple, like the truth. After spending tens of years crossing socialist realism and pop art, in 1995 they realized: art, like any other product, must first of all satisfy the aspirations of the consumer. (...) As a result, it turned out that representatives of various nations (for some reason, with the exception of the Dutch) like landscapes with figures most of all. The largest "large" paintings were ordered in China, while our compatriots prefer a modest "television" size. Similarly, almost everyone abhors abstractions - albeit different: the Russians hate black triangles on a red background, and the inhabitants of Iceland - dark squares. To make sure that everything is honest, without fraud, is easy - the results of opinion polls are attached to the paintings. It's funny, but no one has confessed his love for the images of naked women ” ^[27] .

From other characteristics: “It looks like a sentence to the vanguard, and as a slap in the face of public taste at the same time” ^[5] . "The Apotheosis of Artistic Self-Irony" ^[28] . “This is about the folk taste, about the gap between the mass and elitist tastes, about how scary the actual art is far from the people, about aesthetic education” ^[29] . “... Masterpieces are full of idiocy (...) When people, out of habit, begin to resent, they can be shown the results of a survey, clearly demonstrating that art now belongs to them” ^[30] . The American version of Forbes magazine in 2013 on the American diptych: “If this is the most desired American picture, then imagine what laws, according to the president and congress, should be (...) This series of paintings is a reminder that Komar and Melamid - the most necessary artists for America ” ^[31] . The NY Times devoted an extensive article to the project ^[32] ; they recall it in 2017 ^[33] .

• 1994, August, Center for Contemporary Art (Moscow)
• 1994, September, Marat Gelman Gallery (Moscow)
• 1997, Venice Biennale
• 2007, Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val; in the framework of the II Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art
• 2010, New Museum (Petersburg). Within the framework of the festival "Cultural Alliance Perm - St. Petersburg"
• Alternative Museum, New York; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC; Kiev State Museum, Ukraine; Municipal Museum, Reikjavik; Kunsthal, Rotterdam; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Istanbul Biennale, Turkey; ARS, Helsinki; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museum of Modern Art, Cologne ^{[34] [35]}

• Komar, Vitaly. Painting by Numbers: Komar and Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1997 ^[36]
• Painting by Numbers: Komar & Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art, University Press of California, 1998, ed. JoAnn Wypijewski. ISBN 978-0-520-21861-1 .
• Sylvia Hochfield. Vox Populi // ARTnews, December 1994. P.28
• (excerpts from the social survey for the project) // The New York Magazine, 02.20.94. P.37
• Richatd B. Woodward. The Perfect Painting // Art in America
• Richard Vine. Numbers Racket // Art in America.

• Project on the DIA Foundation website (including survey statistics)
• Photo paintings in museum halls
• The Most Unwanted Song on YouTube; Most wanted