ICUL CTION
C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t R e v i e w
Dalia Smayze
L eonid Dutov
Lives and works in Moskow , Russia
An artist ' s statement
Y
ou have made a video and the video gives a message . This message is clear . Do you like
the message ? Is it a beautiful message ? Or is it a dark message ? A horrible message ? You see it can be anything - it doesn ' t have to be good . Even a dark or horrible message can be beautiful - in a way . What the film is really trying to do is to engage with the viewer - to get the viewer to face something - to feel something - which they may or may not like . Here - look at this - feel this - how do you feel about feeling this ? How do you feel about watching this ? Does it make you feel good ? Did you realise it ' s art ? It has a message . It tells you something ... can you accept its message or do you prefer to ignore it , to deny it , to ...
So the only way you can know what I feel or think is by writing what you feel or think - because the more you learn about your own contradictory , different feelings and reactions to this film , the more you ' ll be able to tune into and know my own . It ' s work . We prefer not to look to deeply , to feel too deeply . We prefer to tell ourself that we understand its message , perhaps better than other people do - yet what is there to understand ? What is the deeper isness of this video - beneath the surface layer of " art "? So yes , it ' s interesting to know what I think - but to know it you need to strip away the barriers to knowing - which are barriers we put in place to avoid knowing our Self .
Leonid Dutov
16