First off, for those of you who have been on another planet for the past 60 years, KGB is a Russian acronym for the gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti or Russian committee for State Security. Between 1954 and 1991, the KGB were the nations security agency.

The had influence all over the world, even in the USA. Networks of spies were lying undetected amongst everyday commuters on trains to work, in cars and in your office. After the Cold War of 1962, where the Russians were attempting to move missiles into Cuba (which would bring them to within firing range of the USA), the KGB struggled to regain it’s network of spies in America as they were now on red alert.

Pianist Peter Donohoe, who was the runner up of the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition which was held in Moscow, has picked up a book which looks very interesting indeed;

KGB – State within a State by Yevgenia Albats

In it Donohoe discovered that the KGB had been attempting to rig the entire competition from the start, by influencing the audience reaction and as a result the winner of his competition. Subsequently no first prize was awarded, and Peter shared the second place prize.

“I was told this book several years ago but I never got to read it until now. As a frightening picture of the past and possibly the present (even though it was written some years ago), it is a great book.” Said Donohoe

Here is a segment from the interlude;

It seems KGB members planted around the hall at the 7th Tchaikovsky Competiton in Moscow in 1982 – the one I went to – actually thought that large numbers of the audience were unpatriotic and anti-Soviet because they were extremely supportive of me. Maybe KGB thought I was in on it and that I was actually a Western agent masquerading as a wannabe pianist. I recall that later several people in the UK suggested that I might be a Soviet agent because I went to the USSR so often. I can only assume that the same type of absurdity took place when John Ogdon won the hearts of Russian music-lovers in 1962 – in fact, whenever a non-Russian did (John Lill, Terence Judd – spot the common thread), although I never heard anything specific that was similar about those times. Even the later episodes of Spooks seems more realistic.

I mean, really…. The real truth is, of course, that I was actually a double agent and entirely responsible for the end of the Cold War………

In fact, what I remember is that the Moscow audience was, as it has always been and still is, very partisan at the same time as being very supportive of many of us, including the Soviet entrants, and, above all else, the most demonstrative public of anywhere in the world. That it was being attributed to an anti-Soviet plot is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever come across. What were they thinking?

In London, the Erarta Galleries are currently displaying a fantastic new collection of paintings by the emerging Russian artist Aleksey Chizhov. The collection will be on display from today, Friday the 24^th of February 2012 through to Thursday the 5^th of April 2012.

The title given to the exhibition has been chosen as; “Les paradis naturels” (Natural Paradises), the collection invitie the onlooker to embark upon a deep  and emotional journey of self-growth, self-criticism, and  really does open your eyes to the wonder that is the modern day world.

Chizkov’s use of the opium poppy in his artwork to show the struggle, toil and turmoil people evidently face in today’s society. He works have a paradoxical feel to them which screams of a not too distant hallucinatory world. In Greek mythology, the poppy has been a symbolic figure. For example the Greek god of dreams, ‘Morpheus’ is seen sleeping underneath a poppy flower. This may suggest a correlation between the unconscious mind and the hallucinatory power of the opium poppy.
Jacques Lacan commented that the state of sleep is a continuous to-ing and fro-ing of the mind and body from a conscious, to a subconscious world. This can be clearly seen in Orpheus and Eurydice piece by Chizkov below;

Born in Leningrad, Russia in 1980, Aleksey Chizhov began to draw at the tender age of just 8 years old. He continued throught his adolescent years to exhibit hi drawings and artwork at childrens exhibitions until the age of 15. In 1997 he studied Literary Theory and Pyschology at Herzen University where he earned a Bachelor degree in 2001. In 2004 Aleksey went on to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

Erarta Galleries was originally established in Saint Petersburg, and has since expanded its vision of re-establishing and promoting the Russian contemporary art culture around the world. Currently displaying more than 2,000 pieces from over 140 different artists from various regions of Russia, this latest exhibit from Mr Chizkov is a fine addition to an ever growing collection of fine comtempary Russian artwork.
You can visit the gallery’s website at … http://www.erartagalleries.com

The world renowned abstract painter and artist Antoni Tapies (pronounced TAH-pee-ess) has died at the age of 88. The Spaniard was born in Barcelona on Dec. 13, 1923. At the tender age of just 17, Tapies suffered from tuberculosis and almost met death with a near-fateful heart attack.

During the 2 years he spent in the mountains where he gradually recovered back to full health redeemed his strength after the illness, he read a read deal and rediscovered his passion for art which was evident in his earlier teenage years.

In order to please his farther who was a lawyer, Antoni enrolled himself at the University of Barcelona, studying Law. At the same time he also studied drawing at the Valls Academy where, along with Joan Brossa, he founded a progressive arts magazine titled Dau al Set (“The Seven-Spotted Die”).

He married in 1954 to Teresa Barba Fàbregas, they went on to have 3 children, two boys, the first of which was his father’s namesake and Miguel followed by a girl, Clara.

Mr Tapies came to prominence in the late 40s with paintings which were greatly influenced by Surrealist painters such as Miró and Klee, a style which he duly abandoned by the mid-50′s as he ventured into to what would become his signature work: the built-up surfaces that were very often gouged, pitted and incised with symbols, letters and numbers.

His first show in the US came in 1953 at the Marshall Field Art Gallery in Chicago IL, and the Martha Jackson gallery in New York. In 1958 he was the Spanish representative in the Venice Biennale, along with his compatriot Eduardo Chillida. Four years later in 1962, he was presented with a solo gallery showing at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The Tàpies Foundation was officially opened in 1984, and was dedicated to the study of modern art. In 1990 its first museum was opened with almost 2,000 examples of his work. Age did not deter him n later life. In January 2010 he exhibited his work at the Toni Tàpies Gallery in Barcelona, owned by his son Antoni,

“My illusion is to have something to transmit,” he said when his museum opened in 1990. “If I can’t change the world, at least I want to change the way people look at it.”