a few years ago an artist friend of mine moved to Oregon from Los Angeles slightly against her will and best judgment. after several gloomy months she developed a severe small-town depression and started admiring the local gourds. not wanting to be a crafts-fair artist she starting painting the gourds rather than ON them, but this soon turned into a really big worry: what, then, is the difference between painting a gourd and painting on a gourd? really.
and so, here’s the rice farmer’s answer to Rykovanov’s portrait of Pushkin en riz.