ART

The Lionel Hampton School of Music
so designated in 1987 in honor of the eminent American jazz musician, is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music. Established as a department in 1893, it was elevated to school status in 1969.
The courses and curricula in music seek to prepare elementary, secondary, and college teachers of music; to train professional musicians; to enrich the cultural environment for students and provide liberal-arts instruction; and to engage in research in music performance and teaching for the general benefit of the public and the discipline of music.

Students in this school learn by performing, listening, analyzing, and creating music. Emphasis is on the understanding of musical styles and techniques of all eras, including contemporary music. Musical studies balance the aesthetic and the practical, with ample opportunity for exploration and self-reliance.

The Central House of Artists on Krymsky Val is one half of a giant rectangle that I always think of as a tea warehouse because of the Lipton sign on top. The other half is the New Tretyakov gallery housing the 20th-century collection of painting. It is the Central House that is playing host to the Moscow Art Fair representing Moscow's galleries and dealers but including St. Petersburg, and also a selection from abroad such as Paris, Basel and Dusseldorf.
As I was taking a catalogue from the press room, I was interrupted by howling from a local "happening," in other words when a group of shall we say performance artists create a situation for our bemusement - I think that's the politest way I can put it. This being an art fair, we should expect this sort of thing as well as the artists themselves: a man with zig-zags drawn on his face, his hair dyed pink and shaved on one side. Other interesting characters were the girls working for the Snow in London stand whose job it was to run around wearing Union Jacks and little else.
Traditional appreciation of the female form was still in evidence in the art, even though it had for the most part been given a modern gloss: Using cutouts from Penthouse or Playboy still qualifies as such even if they are arranged in some kind of postmodernist collage. Just because the naked women have been bleached white photographically and have had their heads shaved doesn't mean they're not nude. I say all this not as criticism of modern forms but as an upholder of those more traditional tastes. I like nudes, I even like the giant bikini-clad muscle girl painted bestriding a traditional Russian landscape and titled Motherland (F. Bogdalov, One Work gallery, Moscow). I do think it's a mistake to see a deeper meaning there, though, than merely that of playing with images. If you have lots of old magazines, it's fun sometimes to cut out photos and other bits and rearrange them together. If someone then pays you $10,000 for it, then so much the better!

Continuing the theme, if you like your fruit set on idyllic balconies with naked flesh, then you can do no better than Alexander Yakut's black-and-white photography courtesy of the aptly named Narcissus gallery, which is itself sponsored by an Italian restaurant. So-mething to think about the next time you bite into an apple. Mind you, if you prefer blood and gore with your women, I would suggest Howtan's Scream of War or Cutting Out, courtesy of the Stella Art Gallery. They reminded me of something and for a while I couldn't place it, then I remembered the newspaper kiosk I walk past every morning. What is that paper called that writes about crime?! Mr. Yakut also has his own gallery stand where you can see some of the more iconographic ima-ges (using artspeak - what I mean is an image that is familiar to everybody, like an icon), e.g., Alexei Belyayev-Gintovt's The Star I, II and

III - a picture of the Red Star atop the Kremlin towers but from three slightly different angles. There is also Grozny, a single painting with three images, the central one being Ivan the Terrible - his Russian title being Ivan Grozny, and either side pictures of Grozny the city as it is now, in ruins.

I was impressed with Georgy Gurianov's pencil drawings on acrylic, an example of photo-realism from D137 - a St Petersburg gallery. Others too had obviously felt the same, as I could see a couple of those little red stickers already stuck on meaning they had been sold. Another stand that had been doing well was the Krokin Gallery's Black and White Project. Batynkov's pictures made me think of ants in a landscape.

There is a rising tide these days of what I would call texture specialists - pictures of something, not clearly defi-ned, but with a very detailed treatment of the surface. These are made easier by advances in computer programs like Photoshop that allow you to scan a picture and then take any part of it and change it at will. Like with any craft, it is possible to admire those who are good at it, and an example from the fair might be Dmitry Kavar-ga's Destruction of Integrity at the Sam Brook Gallery. It is vaguely reminiscent of intes-tinal lining and I think using the chaos theory approach of the closer you look, the more details you see.

All the above were on the second floor; the third has installations. I'm not a great fan, but I liked the decorative effect of a vast floor of plaster camel heads. Also, look out for the Finnish painter Stiino Saaristo's paintings of giant men and women playing with Barbies - interesting.

Overall, you must remember that these galleries have a certain target audience in mind, so don't let the prices shock you: YOU wouldn't pay that much, but you can bet someone will. Also, on balance I think it's an industry employing more women than men, certainly at the front line sales point. There are still far more pictures of women than men; this is traditional, but it also reflects the buyers' tastes.

Moscow Farmers' Market
The Farmers' Market has become a popular Moscow tradition since it was first established in 1977. The Saturday morning event celebrates local farmers, artists, craftspeople and musicians by providing them with an opportunity to interact directly with the community and its visitors. Highlights include fresh produce, meat, delicious Moscowmade baked goods, healthy nursery plants, beautiful flowers and quality handmade crafts. The market is located downtown in Friendship Square next to the Moscow Hotel. It is held each Saturday, May through October, from 8:00 a.m. - noon. Local musicians perform from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. each week. Click here for 2004 music schedule!

Fresh Aire Concert Series
Local musicians are featured at MAC's free outdoor summer concert series. A variety of programs including classical, jazz, blue grass, Celtic and folk music are presented every Thursday evening from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. in East City Park. Music lovers are encouraged to bring a blanket and a picnic dinner. Click here for 2004 concert schedule!

Moscow Arts Commission Band
The MAC Band organizes in late spring and rehearses and performs once a week during the summer at venues such as the Farmers' Market and Fresh Aire Concert Series. Participation is open to musicians of all ages. Click here for more information.

Moscow Arts Commission Youth Choir
This delightful choir is open to all children in grades 3 - 6. The young singers perform for special community events, for area nursing Moscows and schools. The highlight of the year is participation in a holiday concert with the University of Idaho Jazz Choir. Auditions are held twice during the school year. Click here for more information.

Young People's Arts Festival
Twice a year, MAC organizes a full day of creative workshops for elementary school children in grades 1 - 6. Local artists in the visual, performing and literary arts teach a variety of classes that range from dance and drama to painting and woodworking. Click here for more information.

A.R.T. Education
MAC is consistently involved in innovative arts education partnerships with entities such as the Moscow School District and the University of Idaho. Our goal is to help provide additional exposure to the arts to teachers and students and to see that it maintains a meaningful presence in the curriculum.

Third Street Gallery
The Third Street Gallery is located on the second and third floors of Moscow's beautifully renovated and historic City Hall. MAC exhibits the works of local and regional artists for the enjoyment of residents and visitors to the communit. Moscow City Hall is located at 206 East Third Street. Gallery hours are 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Click here for gallery schedule. Click here for more information.

Mayor's Awards in the Arts
Awards are presented biennially by the Mayor to area individuals for their contributions to excellence in the arts; including those in the business, community and education sectors. Nominations are accepted in the spring of the award year.

Tretyakov Art Gallery II
The permanent exhibition"Art of the XXth Century" displays a rich collection of Russian paintings. From Abstraction to Soviet Propaganda paintings, you can see here world wide known Masterpieces as the 'White square on white' by the suprematist Kasimir Malevich, or the warm 'Improvisations' by the expressionist abstract Wassily Kandinsky.
As you visit the different halls of the gallery, you walk through colors, and at the same time through the century.

Pushkin Fine Art Museum (Pushkinskiy musey)
The richest Western art and antiquities collection in Moscow. On the first floor there are famous European sculptures. On the second floor is one of the best collection of impressionists: Cezanne, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Deren, Marke, Vlamink. There are always only a few people in the museum.
The collection is so complete because hundreds of pieces of art were taken from Germany by the Red Army after WW2. After several world debates concerning their restitution the Russian Duma officialy registered the pieces of art as 'property of the Russian State'.
In the beginning of the 90s Brener, a Russian contemporary artist (the one who painted "$" sign on Malevich's picture in Amsterdam -see on the right column) went to the second floor, stood in front of Van Gogh's paintings, looked at them for some time and then defecated - to express how much touched he was by the master's art.
Address: Volhonka street #12, tel. (095) 203-9578. Area: Arbat & Kropotkinskaya, metro Kropotkinskaya (red). Open: tue-sun 10.00-18.30

Art academy of Russia
Prechistenka street,21 phone:201-37-04 Opens every day from 12 to 20, except Monday, Tuesday.
Central house of painter
Krymskii val, 10 phone:238-13-78
Culture foundation of Russia
Karla Marksa street, 15a Opens every day from 12 to 18, except Monday.
"Moskovskaya galereya"
Kuzneckii most street, 20 phone:928-18-44 Opens every day from 12 to 19, except Tuesday.
Moscow house of painter
Kuzneckii most street, 11 phone:925-42-64 Opens every day from 12 to 19, except Tuesday.
Painters union of Russia
Tverskaya street,25 phone:299-22-89 Opens every day from 13 to 20, except Monday.
Palace of youth
Komsomolxskii distict, 28 phone:245-84-39 Opens every day from 12 to 20, except Monday.
Photocenter
Gogolevskii avenue,8 phone:290-41-88 Opens every day from 12 to 18, except Monday, Tuesday.
A.S.Pushkin museum
Volhonka street, 12; phone:203-69-74, 203-95-78 Opens every day from 10 to 18, except Monday.
Ridehall
Manejnaya square phone:202-93-04 Opens every day from 11 to 17, except Tuesday.
Tretyakov's gallery
Tretyakov's state gallery Lavrushinskii lane,10; phone:231-13-62 Opens every day from 10 to 19, except Monday.