Irina Tarkhanova: “I am interested in island life, parallel to the mainstream. – What do you consider to be the most important thing in your life?

“Barberry” is a tiny publishing house, young and at the beginning of its journey. All projects here are live and are carried out jointly with the publisher, book artist Irina Tarkhanova.

For Tarkhanova, “Barberry” is a provocation of action, reflection, a reason to get closer to art and cultural traditions, an attempt to do this without shouting and fuss. Art is now becoming a tour operator, a currency, a show, an art market. And here we can say that “Barberry” is an anti-globalist from culture and art. Art is losing its sacredness, losing its humanistic codes, losing its reverence and emotional freshness. It is this freshness, the underdeveloped fabric of the picture and text, that the publishing house is trying to restore at a new modern level of dialogue with the reader, looking for it in the ideology of the publications and in the methods of presentation. That is why Alice Poret’s book “Notes. Drawings. Memories" with its play of a handwritten sketch, a historical anecdote and a small parable has become the personification of "Barberry" at the moment. The unexpected popularity of this book is a testament to the publisher's accuracy.

About Alisa Poret in the publishing house:

— We have published the first, one of three handwritten notebooks by the artist Alisa Poret. Connoisseurs of the Russian avant-garde and bibliophiles had been eagerly awaiting these notebooks for almost half a century and no longer hoped to see them. It is no secret that not all collectors strive to publish their treasures. The penultimate owner of the notebooks was no exception. Therefore, when my friends and fans of the publishing house advised me to contact the heirs of Vladimir Glotser and Alisa Poret, I immediately took advantage of this opportunity. For their part, the heirs kindly provided “Barberry” with the opportunity for its first publication, for which I am incredibly grateful to them. Here I must say that individual excerpts from the notebooks were repeatedly published in different publications, but they were not published in full and only in texts without illustrations. The title of the first book, which included the entire first notebook: Alisa Poret. “Drawings. Notes. Memories” only brings it closer to its content, since the genre is too unusual.

Alisa Poret is interesting to many more as a person, and for bibliophiles - as a star of the Leningrad bohemia of the era of Kharms and the Oberiuts. A man of brilliant mind and European upbringing, the daughter of a Frenchman and a Swede, this beauty and socialite At the end of her life, she talentedly and wittily wrote down short stories from her life in thick notebooks with colored ballpoint pens. She illustrated the short stories as funny, angry, tender, and sometimes quite dramatic as children's picture books. The notebook was originally conceived as a hand-drawn object with texts, was made for several years in the mid-1960s and may well be considered an object of conceptual art, anticipating large number similar books in the future and returning to the first avant-garde experiences of the 20s.

About the structure of the book

Alice Poret's book shines with the very fact of its appearance in the world and a new trend. This is fundamental. The archive, notes, skillful handwriting, boldly drawn with a ballpoint pen, are published as art - entirely in color. They are on designer English papers, all this is precious and for the first time. Ildar Galeev, a brilliant Moscow gallerist, will soon open the Poret exhibition with a fundamental catalogue. There will be all the facts, memories of contemporaries on coated paper and beautiful reproductions from museums with sizes and techniques from art historians. But we can bet that not a single gallery owner or museum would dare publish a book designed in such a printing manner. Many people told me that publishing like this is crazy. And here I would like to say that “Barberry” is conceived as a conversation at the level of an artistic gesture and there will be no harsh kilometers of comments. "Barberry" is different. Ildar and I will complement each other with our work and we are happy about that. Valery Shubinsky wrote a brilliant essay about Alice Poret, calling it “The Marquise’s First Notebook.” Valery does not like Alisa and is strict with her. Valery loves Kharms and stands by him. This is his author’s position, this is his hero, and the more interesting his word is. At the end we added to the book short biography and comments. For this genre, and the book can be considered a set of reproductions stitched into a book, it is quite enough.

About the preparation of the manuscript

Alice Poret's first notebook seemed to be specially conceived for our book. On the right is a picture, on the left is a blank page. These blank pages turned out to be a place for broadcasting calligraphic notes that are difficult for many readers to understand. The most difficult thing was to translate the handwritten text into book text. And here once again I had to be convinced of the incredible stylistic cut of Poret’s literary opuses. Not a single word, not a single preposition could be missed or confused - the sense of the whole immediately disintegrated, the dazzling wit disintegrated and the meanings faded. We tried to strictly observe all allocations. But it was not possible to fully convey the effect of “colored text”.

About the continuation of the project

Alice Poret's second book will consist of fragments from the second and third notebooks. The first notebook is indivisible in every word and picture. This single organism. The second and third notebooks are different. There, Alisa Ivanovna Poret appears in a different light, where the difficult moments of her life and the drama of everyday life are manifested in other forms of text and illustrations than in the first notebook. The second book will additionally include a large block of archival photographs, many of which have not been previously published. For Alice Poret and the people in her circle, the sense of life as a continuous game and life as an artifact was an integral part of existence. This game was reflected in bright photo sessions, famous “movies”, which were staged like living pictures by a large company of artists, poets, and actors. Among them were Daniil Kharms, Tatyana Glebova, Pyotr Snopkov, Kirill Struve, and then Lydia and Yuri Shchuko, Nikolai Radlov, Boris Maisel and, of course, Alisa Poret herself. Now it is difficult to imagine, looking at this captured cheerful home theater, that at the same time tragic events were happening in life. Many of the characters died in the late thirties and early forties. The publishing house "Barberry" will provide the opportunity to get acquainted with this unique photo archive for the first time. The book will be preceded by an article by the famous Moscow writer, poet Maria Stepanova.

...And about other projects

It's no secret that the modern “reading book” is now leaking into electronic ink, iPad, iPhone and other androids. The book becomes an object of cultural tradition, a precious gift, a personal pleasure. Therefore, we focus primarily on the quality of publications and a variety of prints. At the same time, we will think about how to make products accessible to everyone. And if a person cannot buy our book, he will be able to buy a high-quality picture signed by the author, a postcard. As for our publishing policy, we give preference to living author's materials - diaries, notes, various kinds of manuscripts, archival photo sessions, games. Now we are preparing for the release of the first book from the multi-volume diary publication “Travels with Sirovsky”, the book series for children “Artists about Artists”, the book by the poet Tatyana Shcherbina “Colored Lattices” from her handwritten samizdat of the 1980s, and we will continue the “Children’s Books” project. Children's books are drawings with notes of stories for them, which are sometimes made by the parents themselves, since children compose, but do not yet know how to write. And this is only a small part of our plans. But in a nutshell, let me repeat what I already said once: barberry is a thorny shrub with delicate leaves and pretty red berries. Grows between garden and forest. After all, all the most interesting things happen on this border.

Irina Tarkhanova. Photo: Alexander Lepeshkin

The mini-festival “Russian Theme” of the publishing house “Barberry” began in the “Rose of Azora” gallery. “Barberry” evenings - starting from 18:00 until the last visitor - will be held until August 26, they are dedicated to the latest news from the publishing house, specially created for publishing books by artists.

The founder of the publishing house Irina Tarkhanova and her distinguished guests will present “Poor Books” by Irina Zatulovskaya (August 25) and “Across Russia with Sirovsky,” the third volume of Valery Sirovsky’s travel diaries (August 26), as well as a collection of letters from Vladimir Sterligov “White Thunder of Winter” ( August 23) and “Idle Speculation” by Konstantin Pobedin (August 24).

Before this cascade of presentations, we talked with Irina Tarkhanova about where she came up with the emblem of her publishing house, why books written on the “islands” are so dear to her, and how the publication of museum catalogs differs from the release of archival rarities.

Which book has been published that is most important to you?

They are all my children, they all have their own characters, they are all dear to me in different ways, as they are different discoveries of my life. Real mothers should know their children better than those around them and lovingly guide them through life, with all their shortcomings. But, of course, the youngest is the most beloved: new children are always better than old ones.

- this is “White Thunder of Winter”, love correspondence and poems by the artist Vladimir Sterligov during the first years of World War II.

Sterligov immediately captivated me with his literary gift. The rhythmic prose he wrote in is from my youth. My passion for Andrei Bely remains ex-husband Lesha Tarkhanova. In my library there are lifetime editions of “Silver Dove”, “Moscow” and “Petersburg”. Sterligov fits perfectly on this ground. With his ocean of feelings after Karlag (Karaganda forced labor camp - TANR), when, it would seem, only scorched earth should have remained in the soul. At the university we took Zabolotsky’s post-camp edifying poetry. It was horror, although his “Columns” is still one of his favorites. This is why I especially love Leonid Aronzon: he wrote a thesis on Zabolotsky. So everything came full circle in this publication, especially since Sterligov’s personality stunned me.

He wanted to be a writer in the early 1920s, but became interested in Malevich and became his student. Little of his paintings have survived. In 1939, Sterligov returned from Karlag, completely reset. Friends gave him a drape coat. This was all his property.

He was in Leningrad illegally: he had “minus six cities” in his passport. But he came back to life when he fell in love. I felt alive again. This is such a miracle! The book was composed of letters to his beloved Irina Potapova. Sterligov's wife went missing in the camp, as did Potapova's husband... The threat of a new arrest constantly hangs over the artist and his muse - and here is this love, which gave them the opportunity to escape.

How did you get his letters?

From Irina Sterligova. Back in the 1990s, she accidentally discovered them in the Roman archive of Andrei Shishkin, a professor at the University of Solerno and director of the Vyacheslav Ivanov Center in Rome. In a shoebox on a shelf in his house. Ira Sterligova is the main specialist in applied art of the Middle Ages and Byzantine art in Russia and, as it happens, Sterligov’s heir (her husband was the artist’s nephew). That is why Andrei Shishkin became the compiler of this poignant book.

You published Sterligov, since letters, diaries, memoirs and biographical papers are the specialty of “Barberry”, did I define it correctly?

Diaries, letters and documentation related to the lives of artists, because “Barberry” is a publishing house created by an artist and, above all, about artists.

Lisa Plavinskaya (an artist, art critic and gallerist; Lisa is a universal artistic personality and a great friend of “Barberry”; we are currently working on an important project with her) once formulated this and even wanted to create a publishing company intended only for artists. These are not “artists’ books,” but publishing houses created by artists. Feel the difference. This is completely different. So far we firmly adhere to this idea, and only one book (The Damned Tuscans by Curzio Malaparte) is an exception. But Malaparte was also translated from Italian by the artist Valery Sirovsky. And this is especially interesting to me.

Tell us how Sirovsky came to you. For me, his books - the biographical story and - became the most iconic books of "Barberry".

At first, his calligraphy for the memoirs “Thank you to Comrade Stalin...” did not make much of an impression on me. Valery was then simply looking for a book designer to publish his notebooks and notebooks.

There are artists who are working on their philosophy and place within the art market, and there are those who paint as they breathe, simply record life as they sing. They rejoice in their discoveries without thinking about anything. They have a different field of action - the field of so-called “naive art”. But it is naive only from the point of view of the seller, curator, manager, art historian.

The question is: who is more important to us - the zemstvo doctor or the luminary of medical science?

Zemstvo doctors are much more interesting to me. I also find it interesting when luminaries pretend to be zemstvo doctors. It’s even more interesting this way, and that’s exactly what Sirovsky is like. It’s important to me when I don’t understand how it’s made, what it’s made of, why...

Irina, if these are books by artists, what is more important in them - the text or the visual component? After all, you make one-off releases, changing the technology each time in order to convey the features of fragile genres as authentically as possible.

These are not just books about artists. These are the thoughts of an artist who publishes books, you know? Studying this material, I realized that it was precisely such marginal characters, with their parallel islands, that I should work with. This is my path and my niche.

Here is the poet Tatyana Shcherbina writing down her poems, stories and essays in calligraphy. Here the artist Vladimir Sterligov wrote letters in rhythmic prose. The translator made brilliant architectural sketches, and the artist Alisa Poret came up with absurdist jokes with pictures.

I'm concerned about recoding, the field of the unexpected. I'm interested in island life, parallel to the mainstream, when streams, millions of views, million-dollar hits and superheroes are not important. For me, Sterligov is a superhero. A little-known poor artist who wrote brilliant letters to the Beautiful Lady. In turn, this Lady wrote piercing memoirs about the blockade, outstanding in their own way.

Why is it important to look outside the mainstream now?

We are surrounded by stamps. In the era of instant dissemination of information, they are multiplying at a dizzying speed. I don’t really want to participate in all this.

Who is your reader?

People who can think. Stop and think, notice the movement of a cloud, a change in the wind, the gaze of a child who, in fact, has long been much more mature than this adult. People who are capable of surprise. They eat and write letters of gratitude. When they write: “I read, laughed and cried!” - I don’t need more. This is the main reward. How many people can cry over the pages of books?

Readers of the catalogs and luxury books I design never thank me. Because there I am in the general flow. And here we are all resisting this flow together, you know?

How! On the one hand, you publish one-piece, almost handwritten books, on the other, as a designer you create monumental catalogs of the most prestigious exhibitions. For example, paintings from the Vatican Pinacoteca in the State Tretyakov Gallery or “Palladio in Russia” for the Venetian Correr Museum. Tell us about this side of your activity. What is the most important thing in a museum catalogue?

A museum catalog is always the result of the work of a large team. And this is also interesting. The designer works here as a mediator: he must catch the museum flow, pass it through himself and not die.

The designer of museum publications has completely different tasks. The catalog is a guide to history, museum work, ambitions, fashion and style. The designer here is no longer a demiurge - but I love working with authors! In this matter, I am a midwife, helping to give birth to what has been born by many wonderful, smart, talented people. I don't think I make brilliant catalogs, but I try to combine the work of many others. A difficult task, since everyone still has to be happy. I can’t be a bastard, push my ideas, make trouble, see only my own. I do not establish myself as an artist in catalogues.

What are the circulation sizes at Barbaris?

From 50 to 1 thousand copies. This is a lot for my books. Our champion is “One Hundred Poems” by Leonid Aronzon, a generally recognized genius of the twentieth century. Its circulation has long exceeded 1 thousand copies.

Alisa Poret is another of my extravagant and impeccable favorites. I’m sure many will love Sterligov too. Very little is known about him as an artist. And especially as a writer and poet. And, for example, Daniil Kharms valued him very highly.

Why “Barberry” after all?

For me, this plant is a symbol of freedom. In 1989 I went on my first European tour. Czech Republic. There, in the Tatras, covered with snow, against the backdrop of delicious smells from coffee shops and cozy shops, red barberry berries lay scattered everywhere. Then, in November 1989, there was terrible devastation, dirt and darkness in Moscow. I'm not even talking about smells. Everything is bad. And in the Czech Republic - blue sky, clean snow, aromas of prosperity, half-timbered cozy houses, and these red berries of freedom.

Barberry is beautiful, strong and extremely cute. It grows between the garden and the forest, but at the same time it is unfairly little used in naming. Although many people love this name because of the candies.

Poster by Maria Permyakova:

Poster by Ksenia Protsenko:

Poster by Maria Kosareva:

Design space Tarkhanova-Yakubson

Sergey Serov

The plastic basis of graphic design works is the interaction of black and white, form and counter-form, figure and background. One of these components is visible to everyone, because the idea is usually conveyed with the help of black, a “figure”. Anyone can see it and read the contents of the message. Another component - white background– as a rule, they only see graphs. Accurately place the “figure” on white sheet Only a professional can turn a sign, letter, or line into a work of graphic design. And this precision of seeing the invisible, working with “air” is the most intimate part of the profession.

For the general public, graphic design is a type of graphics fine arts. For professionals, this is not fine art, but expressive, architectural art. White space architecture.

The genre composition of graphic design is extremely wide: fonts and signs, corporate styles and packaging, outdoor and urban advertising... Recently, television and computer graphics, multimedia and web design have been added to them... But the paradigmatic core of the profession still remains typography - the queen of graphic design. And typography essentially works with one single color – white. In the end, the designer can get a ready-made sign, a font, an ornament, an illustration drawn by another artist, and a photograph taken by a photographer... But there will still be a need for a specialist who can expressively place this in the empty space of a white sheet of paper.

The typology of the types and forms of typographic space is limitless: it is inside and between letters, between lines and illustrations, inside and around the typesetting bar... As the classic of 20th century book design Jan Tschichold said, typographic art “is largely in the choice of spaces.”

They say that there is no word for “snow” in the languages ​​of the northern peoples. But there are several dozen special words to denote “melting snow,” “sparkling in the sun,” or “suitable for sled sliding.” This always happens with the most important concepts. So in graphic design there are many terms to denote emptiness: “leading”, “clearance”, “space”, “tracking”, “kerning”, “aprosh”, “spacing”, “veneer”, “corridor”, “hole” ", "paragraph", "indent", "retract", "descent", "padding", "blind line", "margins", "modular grid", "axis"... It's all about him - about secret space professionals.

Are there many people working in graphic design today who feel this space? Those who understand and love typography? Those who are able to elevate the “art of gaps” to the level of modern visual culture?

Alas, their circle is narrow. And they are terribly far away... The wild market has brought down the criteria of professionalism. And the level of skill remains today only thanks to the dedicated efforts of enthusiasts.

Irina Tarkhanova-Yakubson is one of those who, despite everything, continues to defend the honor and dignity of graphic design as a high art.

I first heard this name in the late 80s, when we were in the Advertising magazine. Theory, practice" was organized All-Union competition font. Her project “Rakurs” received an award there. This was her first work in type. Since then I have been closely following her work.

She is successfully involved in book design, magazine design, and everything that a modern graphic designer does. Her special passion is conceptual calendars built entirely on the basis of typographic imagery. She brought such a precise sense of rhythm and proportions to her work with the printing space of books, magazines, and calendars that her name became one of the most noticeable in Russian graphic design.

And here we are sitting in the cozy editorial office of the art magazine “Pinakothek” on Patriarch’s Ponds, talking about her creative path. What interests me most are the origins of her talent, which is so rare today, and the enthusiasm on which her active artistic activity rests. Her teachers, friends, cultural environment...

– In 1982 I graduated from MArchI. From the very beginning I wanted to study books. But it seemed to me that the Architectural Institute would provide a broader art education. In fact, I was not mistaken, although I finally realized this later. I didn’t immediately understand that a book page is a space, and not a place that is filled with pictures. And then suddenly I saw - this is the same room, the same house, which needs to be filled with small stools or large cabinets, to feel what height, width, depth there is... I felt the empty space of a book sheet like the air we breathe .

Architectural education provides unique things for an artistic person - a sense of space, scale, rhythm.

While still a student, she began collaborating with publishing houses, drawing illustrations...

– In MArchI the drawing is very constructive...

- Yes, constructive. True, I was lucky with Sergei Vasilyevich Tikhonov. This was an unrivaled luminary of drawing. He weaved the air with lines. When he drew, it seemed as if he was not touching the paper. He just thinks deeply, and this philosophy magically appears on paper, like in a decal. Watching him draw was a joy...

At the same time, I realized that constructive drawing is very special type drawing, that it is not enough, you need to somehow improve.

And so, in my third year, I came to Viktor Isaevich Tauber, a wonderful book illustrator. All the children had his books “White and Rosette”, “Puss in Boots”...

Viktor Isaevich had a Yuon school, where the main thing was air, modeling from light and shadow. And of course, Tauber was a fantastically educated man. He had an excellent understanding of classical music, he had a huge library, a collection of reproductions, which he had been collecting since the thirties. His company since his youth has been the poets Arseny Tarkovsky, Willy Levik, Arkady Steinberg. They were friends all their lives. Well, I got a little over it.

– So it was also personal growth?

- Undoubtedly. Viktor Isaevich influenced me a lot. We listened to classical music. He talked about Akhmatova, Chukovsky, Marshak, Favorsky, Yudina, Fainberg, with whom he personally communicated. He told me what to read, what to see in museums. That’s when I first learned about samizdat.

Then all this moved on with Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Gannushkin, whom I met in 1982. He was also a music lover; we also read, watched, and talked together. From the first day, he warned that we would not talk about the font, about the letters. Over a cup of tea - about the shape of the door handle, about Chaliapin's dog... But I came to the workshop and saw how brushes, feathers, pencils lay, how he sharpens them. He said: “Irisha, there is only one thing that does not take any time - discipline.” It all worked fantastically. I breathed and absorbed this air.

As for professional work, I laid out a huge number of sketches on the floor. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich looked thoughtfully, selected a small squiggle and said sympathetically: “Save it. You have to grow from it." Then I figured it out myself.

He always said: “If Ivan Fedorovich Rerberg were alive, I would still go to him.” That's how I am. I would still be studying.

– Come to us at VASHD, now to teach his grandson, he is in his third year.

- Yes, Misha Gannushkin... Okay. I was already getting ready myself. But I don’t have a rigid methodology or teaching concept. My books are made differently every time. There is no one line. I cannot teach factory studies. Meanwhile, I can do what I love with my students. I have already figured out how to convey my thoughts through paper, so that they design, analyze, cut, glue, delving into various styles, textures, compositions. Provoking them to action, forgetting about fear. After all, students are very afraid to invent, they resort to various tricks and tricks... But here, it seems, there is no need to invent, repeat to yourself the work of the great maestro using paper technique... That is, move through paper, through needlework, through your eyes. And through the ears, if you want... The paper rustles, breaks, creaks...

– It is well known that paper provides tactile and visual sensations. But the fact that it really does sound differently, rustles, rustles - few people pay attention to this...

–Working with paper is a great thrill. At MArchI, I loved gluing and cutting models, making decoupages, and clausure assignments. And Evgeniy Aleksandrovich was very sensitive to paper. One day he gave me a sheet of cast torchon so that I could make a composition. I didn't succeed. He saw and shouted: “I’m afraid, I’m afraid! Oh-oh-oh! I was afraid of paper!” The work was sluggish. The fear of the royal paper won. But Evgeniy Aleksandrovich was very sensitive to my hobby and generally glorified architectural education in every possible way, considering it the best. Apparently this was due to the fact that his teacher, Ivan Fedorovich Rerberg, was an architect by training and designed the best Soviet academic publications on architecture.

Then, a little later, the late Yuri Kurbatov, the chief artist of the Decorative Arts magazine, helped me a lot. A very powerful and talented master. He taught how to create spreads, taught how to work with illustrations in a magazine, freedom within technological limits, laconicism, and unpredictable moves. I also consider him my teacher.

- When was this?

– In "DI"? In 1986. Then there was “Rakurs”, a magazine within a magazine. The first magazine on nonconformist art that we did with Lesha Tarkhanov. Then I cut out a display font from an eraser, which I called “Foreshortening”.

– But Kurbatov is the Anikst-Troyanker line...

– Yes, these were two different lines. Gannushkin grew up from a drawing, academic direction. And “Misha and Arkasha,” as he called them, had a tough, minimalist, Bauhaus design. The classics believed that a hand-made book should be preserved. And their direction developed constructive phototypesetting fonts and actually moved towards the computer.

But what I can definitely say is that I recognize Gannushkin’s spine from the thousands of books on the shelf, but Anikst’s – I don’t.

Now I understand that both directions were very important. We must preserve what is unique, alive, and move to the West, towards a technical, modern book.

– Which sourdough starter is stronger?

– Of course, Gannushkinskaya. In 1987, at the Moscow exhibition, I exhibited a type calligraphic composition. I made the book “The Tales of Uncle Remus” in a completely hand-drawn design. I still try to write, draw, and do things with my hands.

– But your books and calendars are not Gannushkin. This is computer architecture, right?

- Yes, a computer. But I try to go towards something lively and warm in computer graphics, and go back to handicrafts. For twenty years now there has been a model of a toy book, a spatially fundamentally new model. There is neither the strength nor the time to do it yet.

– We must together with the students...

–It is through this that I hope to return to spatial modeling at a new level, having understood a lot about the book.

- We talked about teachers, now let's talk about those who are nearby...

– In the early 90s, I met the late Shura Belosludtsev. Then I made calligraphic compositions from my rubber stamps, which I cut out for “Rakurs”. These were both free compositions and strict fonts... The IMA-Press publishing house then released my calendar with rubber prints. Shura was the art director of the publishing house, and I met his circle of friends - Sasha Gelman, Andrei Logvin, Yuri Surkov, Lyosha Veselovsky.

Of course, we all breathed then common air. Of course, they looked towards the active West. In Russia, almost everything is secondary. Everything is destructured. There is no design environment as such, and there cannot be one. This country doesn't need it yet. I think a bunch of designers need it. And the rest don't care. So we get stuck in the swamp. We pull out one leg - the other falls through.

In general, it’s very difficult, especially with books. Because books require calm historical layers, a gentle, not rough environment... A book is generally a mystical product. A mushroom that grows from cultural mold, from wise paper nature... Therefore, we can moan about Dutch books for as long as we like, but this is unattainable. In Frankfurt, I was not lazy, I went through all the stands with books on art... The best was a tiny Dutch stand with volumes created by literally angels. It's hard to explain. The book is a multi-layered, supracultural and very democratic product. She must be mysteriously free.

In Russia, you can be a demiurge in some strictly limited, your own field... Here is calligraphy, here are calendars, corporate identity, or even a television studio, if the customer is intimidated, in the stomach of the designer. That is why Chaika, Surik, Huron, Logvin, Erken Kagarov, Elena Kitaeva, Yuri Gulitov exist. But such situations are rare. I consider this group, which formed in the early 90s, to be mine. You can add a dozen more names. But this is very little! New names emerge, young ones, but they are immediately swallowed up by the toothy maw of the advertising business. They start earning money, and very decent ones, without understanding anything yet. I simply sent my son to study in Holland, because here he had already begun to earn a lot of money here, without having yet received a proper education.

I miss a design guild that would organize conferences and international round tables. After all, there are so many interesting problems... I want live communication, professional heat exchange, blood flow. Well, the young people would take a closer look and be drawn to it. After all, it’s not just money... Authorities, academics of design, who spontaneously staked out their positions during the life of the super-magazine “Greatis”, at the dawn of Russian romantic capitalism, must now be “legalized”. We need to more actively develop creative incentives in the professional community, live in it, argue, swear, discuss exhibitions, books, magazines.

The design in Russia is a field covered with rose petals, and under them a swamp. Nobody needs anything. What you are doing, Sergey, no one else in the country is doing except you. Nobody is structuring Russian design...

– So what did you want to say about Dutch books?

– Well, this is at the level of the highest yoga school. Meditation plus breathing. Higher Typographic School of Breathing. Supercultural layer. People worked concentratedly for centuries, systematically, calmly. They didn't shoot at each other for a long time. That's all. And we achieved this impeccable transparency, clarity, and conciseness. The tram ticket in the tiny city of Utrecht is a work of design. What can I say? There is total ubiquitous design. Both substantive and graphic. Easy, convenient, harmonious. Send all design students to Holland. Just as they used to send Russian painters to Italy for internships, now Russian designers are sent to Holland. Without this, education does not count.

– Country – Holland. What's your favorite city?

- Jerusalem! At first it seemed to me that the city had been turned inside out. Some kind of anti-architecture. Window embrasures turned towards you. Cave style. And then I realized what treasures were hidden in these caves.

Different Jews bring their culture from all parts globe. Ethiopian Jews, Moroccan, Argentine, French, Chinese, Russian... Each brings their own, most essential, bright.

Then there are different religions and religious denominations, each with its own layers, traditions, foundations. A very lively city, young and ancient at the same time.

– What about Moscow and St. Petersburg? You now live and work between two cities.…

– Moscow, of course, is also a living city. Babylon. Only nomadic, not established. Everything is on suitcases. Either he’s on his way, or he’s already arrived. Today we filled these suitcases with something. They threw it away tomorrow. Then they decided to burn the tents too. Then they found old suitcases and began filling them again with whatever they could find. And they built ugly tents and covered them with more beautiful carpets. And so on endlessly. And it’s all so fierce, selfless... My eyes hurt from the ugliness.

And in St. Petersburg I think well, I breathe well as an artist, as an architect. I rest my eye in St. Petersburg. After all, so much luxurious, very high-quality architecture was built in just two hundred years! So I walk and stare at all this beauty. I rejoice and enjoy.

– What fonts are your favorite?

– I work with what I have. Baskerville proven, Franklin, Ofitsina, Univers, Meta new, sometimes Caslon, Dido... I would only work with Pragmatika if it had 12 fat content. This would be my headset.

– Do you have a feeling of a historical milestone, the end of the book?

– World design is certainly moving in the direction of the computer, the creation of parallel space, a giant virtual fairy tale, penetration into the next dimension... But I think there will be other times and other books. For example, in Israel, plastic books are now very popular, which children bathe in the bathtub. There will probably be books with sensory pages or just simulacra - you can fantasize endlessly.

After all, the book appeared with people who truly realized themselves on Mount Sinai, and will disappear if a person refuses this. For me, a book is the most mysterious object in the objective world.

All the same, books are published in gigantic editions. Check out what's happening at the Frankfurt Book Fair! Every day there is a demonstration, shoulder to shoulder, gigantic crowds. There is no sunset visible. The most powerful industry and a lot of small stands with hand-made books, with artist’s books, lithographic, silk-screen printing, etching, simply drawn... The book will develop in different materials. It depends on the imagination of the people who will work on it.

For example, I find it interesting to animate a computer. This is a completely unexplored field - a sensitive neutrino world. He's alive. I feel it all the time. He helps, grumbles, resists...

- If you look back at creative path, about what can you say: “This is mine”?

– First of all, calendars. There I feel in splendid isolation. I feel good there and not cramped. Now I’m preparing another calendar exhibition in Italy. Italians accept my work very well. There is no need to explain to them that my calendars are architecture. They don't ask where Monday is and where Saturday is. I found my architectonics in calendars. I found my rhythms and my space. At some point I realized that the calendar is horizontally and vertically developing structures. The horizontal rhythmically repeats: Monday, Monday, January, January, midnight, midnight. At the same time, there is a vertical, modular divisions: day, week, month, year. And from a shapeless pile of numbers I invent and build my architectons.

As for books, the situation here is more complicated, since I make books with authors. In book design, I consider myself a medium, not a demiurge. All my books are portraits of the authors. That's how it works. Mystical story. I often sign designs together with the authors. I consider only the primer to be copyrighted. It seems to me that I was able to say something fundamentally new in it. But this was initially a brilliant philological project by Masha Golovanivskaya.

Magazines and magazine design are a little different. This is a collective portrait of the editorial staff. I can ridiculously accurately identify editorial illnesses by looking at the pages of magazines. Like a palmist.

– What do you consider the most important thing in your life?

– Incredible luck in meeting, communicating, and making friends with people of art. With people who can powerfully express their thoughts, feelings, emotions. With specialists of the highest class in various fields of culture. They taught me to understand cinema, literature, ballet, music, photography, architecture. This is my home, my environment, my air. I feel part of this artistic community.

If I were the head of education, I would ban many subjects in schools, and introduce the most important one - “General Rhythm”. To teach at once - poetry, solfeggio, calligraphy... The basics of classical dance and the basics of film editing... Drawing and choral singing... Because everything is saturated with everything. By focusing only on one area of ​​knowledge and skill, we risk becoming artisans, but not artists. And we only run fast like ostriches, but we don’t fly. And they must feel the single rhythm that permeates everything in the world, notice it, see it, understand the joy of creation, hearing, sound...

Well, bring something of your own. Be generous...