#5 – Pen & Ink original drawings, based on the Russian novel “Kotlovan” by Andrei Platonov.
Dated 1977
20″ x 34″
Zhdan did not belong to the Union of Artists so he had none of the perks that membership afforded “official” artists like an apartment and salary. He lived off the proceeds of hushed private sales. Entering his studio was a revelation. The walls were filled with extraordinary oil paintings and I wished that I could study with him. I wanted to buy two of them but knew that if I tried to smuggle them out they would be confiscated at Soviet customs. So I purchased these drawings which I could hide within my own art supplies.