Deborah Treisman

It's caricature.

It's probably not particularly deep.

It's an act of dissidence and protest.

But it's probably not great art, right?

I mean, I think as with Ai Weiwei, it's that the purpose is sending a message.

And Boris Ivanovich's drawings were published basically as political cartoons in Stern, you know, in a newspaper.

It's not publishing artworks for their beauty.

It's publishing political cartoons.

So for me, there's just a radical switch that's flipped for him in terms of what kind of art he's making at the end.

And these masterpieces, not driven by opinion, not driven by ideas, really, but driven by observation, by appreciation, by affection.

It's a different kind of art for me.

I mean he loves looking at these decrepit old ladies.

He loves to see – and the way they're described even, her hands that are kind of clenched like claws, always holding a cup, look like they're holding a cup.

I mean, particularly in the uterus moment.

But what he's seeing is life.

He's seeing humanity.

He's not seeing politics.

Yeah.

I think what happens when Boris Ivanovich gets to the village is…

He's coming from a place that feels sterile, right?