MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Anatoly Korolev.)
The decision by celebrated sculptor and President of the Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli to install a monument in Moscow to the poet Joseph Brodsky has finally exhausted the patience of Moscovites.
The website www.helptobrodsky.ru has launched a massive protest, collecting signatures for an appeal to the authorities and the sculptor himself to stop spoiling the capital's image with new masterpieces. As of August 11, the appeal has been signed by 13,341 people.
Since the Soviet Union's disintegration Tsereteli has made a brilliant career from being an all but unknown sculptor and artist to the No. 1 Maestro. Indeed, it is hard not to notice his colossal obelisk with the figure of Nike, the Goddess of Victory, on Poklonnaya Hill, or the enormous figure of Peter the Great standing on a ship's bows on an artificial island in the middle of the Moskva River, or a whole zoo of fairy tale beasts in the Alexandrov Gardens opposite the Kremlin wall...
It seems that the Maestro bows to the grandeur of his chosen subjects. Nike's figure is entrancingly sexy, and Peter the Great is so grandiose that the nearby Christ the Savior Cathedral looks more like his tobacco case.
Tsereteli is not the only sculptor who can create such masterpieces. But one has to be a genius to put them into the very center of Moscow, with its almost a thousand-year-long history.
Tsereteli is unmatched in orchestrating his success. He is truly unique in this achievement.
A new colossal sculpture - a monument to Charles de Gaulle in front of the Moscow's Kosmos Hotel - was unveiled recently at a ceremony attended by the presidents of Russia and France. Jacques Chirac concealed his emotions behind a broad smile, while the Muscovites immediately dubbed it the monument to Luis de Funes, a famous comedian who played Commissar Juves in the Fantomas series. Indeed, Tsereteli's creation has a comic tinge to it. But this monument to the great Frenchman is an awkward attempt at flattery.
Tsereteli has long branched out beyond Moscow and Russia. Last year he decided to bestow on New York City his masterpiece commemorating September 11: A huge wall pierced by a tear. But he didn't manage to convey the tragedy, and although the size of the monument is as astounding as ever, the Americans did not want to accept this present. The Mayor of New York City received a host of protest letters, the press joined in, and the decision to install the monument was delayed.
Muscovites have just followed suit.
