Lena Hades

L. Hades, 2013.

Химера загадочной русской души

Portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche

Eagle and snake. From Lena Hades’ cycle Thus spake Zarathustra. 1997, 137x177cm.

Lena Hades (Template:Lang-ru; official name Lena Alekseevna Hades or Heidiz, Template:Lang-ru) (born October 2, 1959) is a Russian artist, writer and art theorist of Jewish origin.

Biography

A Russian artist, writer and art theoretician. Lena Hades was born in Siberia, while her father was on a business trip, on the day of the full solar eclipse on October 2, 1959. Her father worked as an communication engineer, her mother was a doctor. At the age of 35 the future artist’s father got ill with multiple sclerosis and died being 51. Lena, his daughter, took care of the father herself till the day of his death, January 17, 1985. Memories about her father and his tragic life had a great impact on the artist. It is the father’s disease that triggered her interest in the concept of death, and also in the philosophical problems of existence – the main topics of her creative works. Lena Hades graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical University in1982 (Faculty of Physics and Mathematics), and she also completed higher foreign language courses (Spanish, Italian, Polish, French, German, English), and worked as a translator for many years. Being 35, she decided to become an artist, and in 1995 she left for Germany. In Cologne she created her first works and sold her first painting gaining the first fee. In 1995-1997 she made over 30 paintings, devoted to “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Nietzsche. These works are visual metaphors, but not mere illustrations. The series of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” paintings is unique, as there is no more powerful, picturesque, clear and accurate representation of aphoristic expressions in the world than this one. In1997 the oil painting and graphic cycle "Also Sprach Zarathustra" was exhibited in the Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences In 2004 the Russian Academy of Sciences published a bilingual edition of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”by Nietzsche–in Russian and German. The cover and the jacket of the book are decorated with two paintings by Lena Hades. The book also contains twenty other works from this cycle. Paintings by this artist are in collections of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Igor Markin Museum of contemporary art, the Pushkin Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery etc. The works of the above series were also exhibited at the First Moscow Biennale of contemporary art in 2005, in the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1997 and in the State Kashyrka Gallery in 1998. She is living and working in Moscow.

Famous works

Lena Hades is known worldwide not only for her painting and graphic cycle "Also Sprach Zarathustra", but also for two other paintings of hers, which Russian nationalists deem Russophobian. Therefore, in March 2008 the group of Russian nationalists (over300 people) took legal action against the artist, since in their opinion these two paintings provoke "racial and nationalistic hostility and hatred". The first work is called “Welcome to Russia” (1999). It was purchased by Igor Markin Museum of Contemporary Art, the name of the other painting is “The Chimera of the mysterious Russian soul” (1996). It was exhibited only once, at the Second Moscow Biennale of contemporary art in 2005. Russian nationalists were offended by the fact that the artist depicted the Russian soul as a horrible monster with a bottle of vodka in the hand, an accordion, a book by Dostoyevsky and with a satellite. The nationalists decided that this was a parody to the state emblem of Russia and the offence of the very country and its people. Painting called “Welcome to Russia” shows a real unadorned Russian character, as both too aggressive and very god-fearing. The nationalists decided that this truth was offensive. .

Political pressing

In June 2010 Lena Hades was summoned to testify on the above two paintings to Basmannaya prosecutor's office, Moscow, she was threatened to be tried and heavily fined, since she could have been accused of hatred and hostility propaganda.

July 6, 2012, Lena Hades announced a hanger strike supporting the Pussy Riot band. She demanded to free those members of the punk band in custody. The hunger strike lasted 25 days and entailed serious health problems. and resulted in severe health problems.During the hunger strike and before that the artist created the series of portraits of Pussy Riot. Several sites mention the politic pressure on Hades.

Autobiographic series

A complete contrast to the above works is the autobiographical series "the girl with bows, the woman that mows. the dance" which are personal revelations of the artist herself. It is here that the bright image of the girl reveals a polysemantic world of the name hades, the English spelling of the name of Hades, the antique god (Aides, Αιδης) who is the master of the dead. But the hell of Hades is not associated either with the antique or the Christian world, it is sooner connected with that of Nietzsche’s one: "even god possesses his hell – which is his love to people". "The girl with bows, the woman that mows. the dance" becomes the culmination of the series. "The dance" around pagan bonfires - the right became owned to communicate equally with the beyond. The initiation with fire that transforms and tempers the spirit is completed. There is no more fright. The terror of death has been overcome and it gives an ability to possess the sacred theme that suggested trepidation in the past. Lena Hades assimilates with stalker where the boundaries of two worlds meet each other.

Books

• Nietzsche F. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Moscow, Institut of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences, 2004. ISBN 5-9540-0019-0
• Giametta, Sossio (2006). Commento allo Zarathustra. Milan: Bruno Mondadori. ISBN 88-424-9804-1.
• Nietzsche F. Morgenröte. Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile / translated from German by Vadim Bakusev. — Мoscow: Akademicheskij Projekt, 2007. — ISBN 978-5-8291-0942-4
• 미래를 창조하는 나 - 차라투스트라는 이렇게 말했다 (고전읽기 (in Korean). Seoul: Mirae N Culture Group. 2009. ISBN 978-89-378-4498-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Hades, Lena (2010). Chimeras by Hades: incite. London: Alexander Kerensky Museum Publishing. ISBN 978-1-906408-07-7.

Press about Lena Hades

• Krainova, Natalya (22 June 2010). "Artist Investigated in Test of Extremism Law". The Moscow Times.
• "Artist Lena Hades Accused of Russophobia". Russia-InfoCentre. 22 June 2010.
• "Art and soul on trial". Moskovskiye Novosti. 1 July 2010.
• "Art and soul on trial". Moskovskiye Novosti. 28 June 2010.
• "Yyllands-Posten, 'Farlig Kunst?'". 11 July 2010.
• Griffin, Rose (6 Dec 2010). "The art of revolution". The Moscow News.
• Griffin, Rosemary (2 Dec 2010). "The Art of War". Russia Profile.
• "Facing five years in jail, the artist who fried eggs and hotdogs on flame of World War II monument". Daily Mail. 19 Apr 2011.
• "Anarchist Art Gang Angers Russian Authorities With Provocative Antistate Antics". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 6 Apr 2011.
• "Kiev: Emprisonnée pour avoir cuit un œuf sur la flamme éternelle". Eparsa (in French). 19 Apr 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Tortora, Francesco (19 Apr 2011). "Frigge le uova sul monumento ai caduti". Corriere Della Sera (in Italian).
• Lyalenkova, Tamara (7 May 2008). "Художник Елена Хейдиз и ее цикл "Химеры", возмутивший шовинистов". Radio Liberty (in Russian). {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Fanailova, Elena (7 June 2009). "Художники строем не ходят". Radio Liberty (in Russian). {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Lyalenkova, Tamara (20 August 2008). "Искусство и экстремизм". Radio Liberty (in Russian). {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

External links

• Lena Hades' works
• Lena Hades' blog in LiveJournal