Russian collector Igor Markin has some choice words about the artistic state of affairs in Moscow following the city council’s refusal to grant planning permission for a statue in memory of Boris Yeltsin. Dmitry Kavarga’s design of black twisted metal won a contest launched by Art4.ru, Markin’s contemporary-art museum. The artist described it as “symbolizing the breakdown and destruction of the Yeltsin years,” prompting the family of the late Russian president to complain. The Moscow State Duma’s Monument Commission dismissed suggestions that it had bowed to political pressure, invoking a bylaw forbidding memorials to people “for at least 10 years after their death.” Markin is furious, growling, “As long as the city continues to commission disgusting monuments, we will continue to find ourselves in visual hell.”

"Rebel Yeltsin" originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's July 2008 Table of Contents.