The Daily Book of Art

DAY 58

UNEXPECTED ART FORMS

Bleed

RUSSIAN GRAFFITI

“Russia cannot be understood by means of logic; she is not to be measured with the same stick used for others...”

—Fyodor Tyutchev, 1866

 

Nowhere is the reality of the “” (enigmatic Russian soul) more clear than in this most raw, ribald expression of Russia’s soul—her 21st-century graffiti. While lewd, simplistic “tags” are as common here as in any country, much of Russia’s graffiti takes on a more metaphysical tone.

 

Take, for example, the poetic ingenuity of this three-word epithet: ...