St. Petersburg artists sue Sergei Bugaev (Afrika)

[Fed]

"In the Dzerzhinsky district court consolidated the two cases in which the four artists - Oleg Zaika , Evgeny Kozlov Oleg Maslov and Inal Savchenko - require the artist and the collector Sergei Bugaev ( Africa ) to return to them 25 paintings created in the 1980s .

           According to the applicants , things were so . From May 15 to June 7 this year at the Museum of Fine Arts Academy , an exhibition " ACCA : the latest generation of the Leningrad avant-garde ", organized by Sergei Bugaev . It found 6 Four artists of his works, which have long thought lost. And then came the exhibition catalog , where the authors saw 19 more pictures. All 25 owned by Sergei Bugaev . The plaintiffs demand them back.

As the " City 812 " lawyer Andrei Vasilyev (his office specializes in the protection of intellectual property) , which represents the interests of the applicants , no matter when they were created paintings and when they were lost by the authors . By law, since the artists have learned exactly where things are , they have three years to file a claim. They made it a lot faster.

Museum -respondent is as legally not yet been located disputed paintings . If the court found out that after the close of the show , they were returned Bugaev , a claim to the museum will disappear .

Sources claim that this story is not as simple as it looks at first glance , " take - bring back ." Let's start with the fact that in 1991, Timur Novikov and Sergei Bugaev donated to the Russian museum about 100 works of the " New Artists" , by that time had ceased to exist. There were also works of those who are now suing Bugaev . Before you bring in a picture of inventories, museum workers have invited artists to those confirmed authorship , date of creation of refined paintings, their titles .
However, it can be assumed that the four applicants were not involved in this work.

In 2005, the Tretyakov Gallery as a special project of the 1st Moscow Biennale was an exhibition of " accomplices" , where the collection was composed by Sergei Bugaev section on "New artists ". In the catalog of the exhibition is the work claimants, although there is no direct evidence of the fact that they come from the collection Bugaev.

In 2010, the belt held a large exhibition of the "New Artists" , which was conceived back in 1991. It was called " Brushstroke ". The texts explicitly states that collected Bugaev "New Artists" and gave part of his collection to the Russian Museum . The album , released for the exhibition , for example, we find: Oleg Maslov , " hand holding a cigarette ," 1980 . Collection Sergei Bugaev. Or Eugene Kozlov . Portrait of George Guryanova . Collection Sergei Bugaev. The latter work is reproduced in the exhibition catalog , " ACCA : the latest generation of the Leningrad avant-garde ."

In general, not very clear why artists are not laid claim to their works before.

Of course, in both cases, the four artists in the show could not go, do not read books about their work and do not know. However, sources associated with the art market claim to authorship does not automatically recognize the right of ownership. Let's say that there is no documentary evidence Bugaev rights to 25 films. But artists have to prove that these pictures belong just to them, not someone else. Then require the testimony of witnesses who will be able to clarify the circumstances in which this or that picture came to Bugaev .

Observers put forward two versions of the origin of the conflict. The first is called , home . Former friends and associates of the group " New Artists" had a fight on their own personal reasons , and now the artists are not too successful in commercial terms , have decided to annoy Bugaev , who promoted and entree into government offices .

The second version - a purely commercial . Experts refrain from estimates a cost of 25 paintings. In Russia there is no art market with stable prices for contemporary art. But it is possible that there was a specific order dealer and his promises can recoup the considerable legal costs.
In any case, observers see this as a precedent-setting litigation . If the court decides to return the paintings to artists, it will close to the public private collections of contemporary art , and all art .

Almost all the meetings of contemporary artists , especially in St. Petersburg, created through donations or minimum wage " in the pocket ». No securities have been made. Exceptions - corporate collections and collections oligarchs.

One of the collectors of the Leningrad underground informed " City 812 ", which in the 1960s - 1970s, artists could fit into complacency or neglect to give them things failed , and after a couple of days to reclaim . In such cases, the paintings or drawings are usually returned .

But what a collector wants to risk showing publicly their treasures , if the exhibition can reach the author , his heirs , other candidates and demand picture back .

Museums have long been alert. When purchasing goods or receiving them as a gift , they need to confirm the origin of the document . Now, in order to avoid scandals museums will require provenance , ie Proof of origin , and to display temporary exhibitions . "


Oleg Zaika , Evgeny Kozlov Oleg Maslov and Inal Savchenko trying to discredit the contemporary art market in Russia .
Especially collectors will think 100 times before buying their works, if there is no desire to see a couple of years of bailiffs .