Moscow

My last visit to Moscow was short. I remember poverty, shops with almost nothing on their shelves. The soldiers clothes were worn. I think that things look better now. I do not think that people are trendy in Moscow, a lot of the clothing seems dated. But the clothes are clean and neat. There are up market shops and at least some rich Moscovites are dressing it up.

The thing is that Moscow is not going to win any awards for charm. A lot of it was built to be imposing both pre communist in the Imperialistic era, during the communist era, things were built big. There is a sense of solidity here, but little sense of style. The most characteristic Russian motif is the domes of the Russian orthodox Church. But in Moscow, a good part of the time you will be walking pas solid, large buildings that have an air of decay around them. Most of the buildings were built in a age past, and except for a building like the Gum, which has been renovated by the super rich for the super rich, and they show it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the Moscovites, although outwardly having the appearance of being more market driven, actually still have a communist mentality of doing as little as possible. In a kebab shop, they refused to sell me half a roast spring chicken with salad because the salad was for the wrapped kebab. I had to let go of the spring chicken and get the wrap. In my hotel, there is no kettle for hot water, you get it from a common dispenser in the corridor. And for laundry, you take your dirty clothes to the office on the 26 floor, pay first and collect the laundry from the laundry office the next day. I get the feeling that people are not thinking of service for the guest, but how to make their lives easier.

What helped a lot on this visit to Moscow was having a friend in the city. Irina, who was on the Anders Peterson course with me a few years back works here. On the first day, she took me for a Russian brunch at this place called the Ginza Project. It was a quaint looking house, decorated to look like an old Russian house. The food was good too. Then she told me that the Moscow Photo Biennale was on. I was in luck as she took be to a joint exhibition of Paolo Roversi and Peter Lindbergh, two of my fav photographers! Roversi's work was from his book Studio and Lindbergh's work was based on his fashion work themed 'Invasion'. I had seen this work in a Stern portfolio before. But see the prints was a real treat. Tonight, Irina treated me to a sumptuous meal at the Pushkin restaurant. It was the best meal I had in Moscow. For starters I had Russian salad, a salad with different types of pate made from duck, mushrooms and lamb. For the main course I had roast lamb with cherry sauce. Yummy!  I should be cultured and say that in spite of its uninviting air, Moscow is worth coming back for its wonderful Museum. However, I would say that it is worth coming back for a meal at the Pushkin Restaurant!! I promised to buy Irina a chili crab dinner if she visits Singapore.

I visited the Red Square which is imposing. I think my first visit there, I only went to the Gum which was empty at the time. This time I visited St Basil's church, with its iconic domes. It was an interesting experience, going to a Christian church, but with a completely different lineage from the Roman Catholic/protestant one. I know that there are some doctrinal differences but I cannot remember what. Still, iconography was very graphic. A lot of the work was very illustrative of the bible stories and decorative at the same time. I had a great time taking pictures of paintings and wall motifs. I also went back to the Gum, which although full of international brand shops, had lost much of any character. This worldwide presence of Aussino, Apple, Armani etc brings a certain instant level of recognizable affluence to international cities, but also robs cities of their individuality.



What was a lot of fun was spending time, on just one metro ticket, looking at the artwork in the Moscow metro. A lot of the work have the same theme of Russians fighting their wars, growing crops, being strong and healthy. A lot of the Moscow metro was apparently built on volunteer labour, how about that? Although in the modern era we are aware of the political propaganda of the communist era, there is a certain charm to the images of strength, nation and family that the images portray. I know it is propaganda, but they are not bad ideals to strive for. Who does not want security, a happy family and health? I have put the pictures from the Metro in a slideshow of its own.

Today, I went to the Pushkin museum of fine art. There are like four wings and I went to the main museum which houses the classical art collection. There is some fine work there which unfortunately gets repetitive after a while. How many variations of the annunciation and nativity scenes can one take? Or sensual bacchanalian scenes hinting at the sexuality of the painters who cannot paint explicit porn. I got a bit of museum fatigue from this museum.

However, I also went to the Gallery of European & American Art of the 19th-20th Centuries. What happened is that the communist took over the collections of a couple of rich art loving merchants. This must have pained those guys dearly. But I must admit they had great taste. There are wonderful pieces of work by Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Picasso and others. I rented the audio guide which really kept me going. I hear that there are more works at the Hermitage in St Petersburgh. I am looking forward to that.

So Moscow as a city does not rate that highly, but there are definitely things worth seeing here. But it is an expensive city. This does not sit well with me because it is expensive because certain services exist. It is not because these services are excellent.