Retro-Soviet art

When visiting the former Soviet Union, specifically St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd), "if you are really interested in art and have limited time, I'd go for the Museum of Russian Art, Государственный Русский музей. The Hermitage is European art, but the other is Russian art, and much of it you've probably never seen, not even in art books or classes. There was a huge display of Soviet era art [summer of 2006], both the public and the underground." Me blogging about Russia. Neo-Neocon thinks this Obama poster is retro-Soviet; some of her readers say it is Che-lite, others Yugoslav partisan. It makes me nostalgic for my early career years in Soviet studies, shuffling the PL480 novels about machine-tractor station romances and 5-year plans.

"Art has a duty to speak out fiercely and courageously against oppression, exploitation, lies and hypocrisy in all their manifestations. It must point to the possibility of a better life and a better world. It matters not that the message lacks clarity, that it is incomplete and imperfect, and that it deals only with this or that particular. Art is not politics or science. It has its own identity and speaks with its own voice. While adopting a passionate stance on the great issues facing humanity, it must ever remain true to itself." In defence of Marxism.

Oh yeah! Slogans and Shibboleth. I'm picking up my poster right now to go march in the streets.