Fashion designer Gosha Rubchinskiy and artist
Erik Bulatov are wearing matching typographic tops
bearing the words ‘friend’ and ‘enemy’. There is,
though, little sign of enmity as they pose for pictures,
happily chattering away in Russian. We are in Bulatov’s
Paris studio, a duplex with wooden beams a step away
from the Marais. Also present is fellow Russian artist
Andrei Molodkin (better known to streetwear fans for
his 2003 one-of collaboration with Supreme – a T-shirt
featuring Donald Trump’s likeness – which sold on
eBay last year for $23,000), who has volunteered to
translate for Bulatov. At 84, Bulatov brims with energy,
rummaging among piles of canvasses to show us his
latest works. It’s not hard to see why Rubchinskiy was
drawn to him. A photographer who has made ilms and
produced books, Rubchinskiy is as much multimedia
artist as he is straight forward fashion designer.
They irst met two years ago at The Foundry, an art
space near Toulouse run by London-based foundation
A/political. ‘I had long known Erik’s work and I loved
his graphics,’ recalls Rubchinskiy, who started dreaming
up a collaboration straight away. ‘It all came together
last season when I visited the Boris Yeltsin Presidential
Center in Yekaterinburg as a potential venue for my
A/W18 show, and discovered a huge painting by Erik.’
Bulatov happily accepted the invitation to work
together, creating a tricolour motif reading ‘Friend
Suddenly Enemy’ that was printed on T-shirts, shirts,
jumpers and an oversized backpack and presented at
the Yeltsin Center in January. ‘It was pure joy to see a
new generation take interest in my work, and to be
given a brand new outlet to explore,’ says Bulatov,
who is best known for large canvasses of text painted
over landscapes. It was only recently – in collaboration
with A/political – that he started exploring sculpture.
His irst work in the medium, Forward, was installed
outside Tate Modern in 2017, its title rendered in bright
red, 10ft-tall steel letters coiled in a circle.
‘My work has always been about the relationship
between words and space,’ he explains. ‘It was important
to me to connect with my viewers in a real space, so
they could physically interact with my work. That
sculpture opened up a new world of opportunities,
which I was able to explore further thanks to Gosha’s
collection. Fashion is essentially a lat canvas that
takes on a new life when worn. Then the wearer fully
appropriates my artwork, making it his own.’ »∑ 111
MASTER TYPE
In our special look at post-Soviet
Europe’s creative pioneers,
men of letters Gosha Rubchinskiy
and Erik Bulatov combine forces
to make a bold statementPHOTOGRAPHY: THOMAS GOLDBLUM
WRITER: MARTA REPRESA