Slava Mogutin

Slava Mogutin (full name Yaroslav Yurievich Mogutin, b. April 12, 1974, Kemerovo) is a New York-based Russian artist and author, who works across different media, including photography, video, text, installation, sculpture, and painting.

Life in Russia

Born in Siberia, in the industrial city of Kemerovo, to the family of a little known Soviet poet, Mogutin moved to Moscow as a teenager to separate himself from the elders. He soon began working as a journalist for the first independent Russian publishers, newspapers and radio stations. By the age of 21, he had gained both critical acclaim and official condemnation for his outspoken queer writings and activism. Accused of "open and deliberate contempt for generally accepted moral norms"; "malicious hooliganism with exceptional cynicism and extreme insolence"; "inflaming social, national, and religious division"; "propaganda of brutal violence, psychic pathology, and sexual perversions" – he became the target of two highly publicized criminal cases, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to 7 years. The criminal cases were initiated after his publications in Novy Vzglyad – scandalous political independent newspaper, headed at the time by Yevgeny Dodolev. In Novy Vzglyad, Mogutin met Eduard Limonov, who eventually became his spiritual mentor.

Exile in New York

Forced to leave Russia, Mogutin was granted political asylum in the US with the support of Amnesty International and PEN American Center. Upon his arrival in New York City, he shifted his focus to visual art and became an active member of the downtown art scene. Since 1999, his photography has been exhibited internationally and featured in a wide range of publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, i-D, Visionaire, L'Uomo Vogue, Secret Behavior, and BUTT.

With Allen Ginsberg

Mogutin is the author of two hardcover monographs of photography – Lost Boys^[1] and NYC Go-Go^[2] – and seven books of writings published in Russian. He is the winner of the Andrei Belyi Prize for Literature (2000).^[3] His poetry, fiction, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies in 6 languages. He has translated into Russian Allen Ginsberg's poetry, William S. Burroughs' essays and Dennis Cooper's fiction. He appeared as an actor in Bruce LaBruce's agitprop porn movie Skin Flick (1999) and Laura Colella's independent feature Stay Until Tomorrow (2004).^[4]

SUPERM

In 2004, together with his partner-collaborator Brian Kenny, he co-founded SUPERM, a multimedia art team responsible for site-specific gallery and museum shows in New York City, Los Angeles, Moscow, Berlin, London, Oslo, Bergen, Haifa, and León, Spain.^[5]

Contemporary Exhibitions

On August 2, 2013, Mogutin debuted "In The Name of Love," at iMOCA in Indianapolis. It was curated by the Madrid-born culture writer and editor, Karla D. Romero. It was a collaborative exhibition of individual pieces by Mogutin and others from SUPERM.

On November 21, 2014, Mogutin and Kenny opened "AMORESUPERM" at LaFresh Gallery in Madrid, run by Argentine-born LGBT icon, es:Topacio Fresh.

Works

• Mogutin, Slava (2006). Lost Boys. Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse. ISBN 9781576873304. ^[1][6]
  • Mogutin, Slava (2006). Lost Boys limited edition. Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse. ISBN 9781576873458. 
• Mogutin, Slava (2008). NYC Go-Go. New York: PowerHouse. ISBN 9781576874431. ^[2][7]

References

External links

• Official website
• Slava Mogutin's blog
• Slava Mogutin on YouTube
• Slava Mogutin's unofficial site (in Russian)
• Environmental Pictures in Visura Magazine
• Artist profile in Fotograf Magazine

Interviews

• 3:AM magazine
• The Stranger
• Index magazine