‘Russian Happiness’. A Mythologeme of Contemporary Art

One of the most important meta-themes of modern Russian art is connected with a deep and long-term problem, still relevant today — the problem of ‘Russian happiness’. Nikolai Chernyshevsky, in his 1853 dissertation, proposed a very ambiguous formula for this difficult happiness, namely, “still, it is better to live than not to live”. Such semantic aspects of ‘Russian happiness’ were developed in the Russian literature of the 19th — 20th centuries in a variety of versions and brilliant examples, from A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol to modern prose writers and poets. There are different levels and construction options of this mythologeme. The simplest option is ‘uncomplicated happiness’. The works of A.A. Lyubavin, Z.K. Tsereteli, A.M. Birshtein and others are made in the spirit of a certain ‘role-play’ aimed at consoling and calming the modern restless person. Other masters, e.g. Pavel Nikonov, Viktor Kalinin, and Oleg Lang, show ‘Russian happiness’ as the fullness of dramatic existence combined with sorrowful, ironic, and other pressing questions about the world. The key works of modern art deal specifically with the difficult, painful, strange, amusing and often absurd Russian happiness. The experience of the artistic culture of Russia, especially in the last two-plus centuries of its development, finds expression and renewal in the works of contemporary masters.