Every artist has his own work, which he considers to be the most
considerable no matter how others understand it.
The desire to create something exclusive lives in every man.
Women do not need that, because any woman is able to have a baby
which is the most important in her life. Hence, a man has a
tendency to create perpetuum mobile or the absolute, and they
choose either the complicated or simple way. A complicated one
is the way of cognition and creating of something exclusive,
even if at the moment of creating it breaks all known decrees of
nature. And a simple one - the most common - is the way of
destruction. As a rule, this way is used by persons with
absolutely defective state of mind.
The occasion of creating is generally banal, like everything in
this world - the proof to himself and others that I CAN DO IT!
The proof of his POWER, that is with help of this illusion to
slip through eternity or at least less remote future.
But to make this attempt work it is necessary to have a victim;
and the victim is the creator himself.
On 1 st July 1996 to my lodging, which I proudly called a
studio, came a man, Amiran Guntaishvili and said, “I need an
artist who will be able to design two books, and one of them is
called Kaif and another Oblom”.
Of course, I laughed, because the combination of such words,
especially for a Russian man, means nothing serious. But… we
were acquainted with for a long time, and the past gave me cause
for perceiving him as a very serious man and a businessman.
Particularly, I was glad for him as the man who was able to
write books, what was bolt from the blue for me. We were talking
for a long time. It wasn’t even a conversation but a joint
flight to the mere mutual fantasy. The more we talked the more I
understood that it was the question of a unique work of art.
As an artist I could choose two ways:
One way was simply to paint the author’s idea; to paint and
forget.
The second one was to turn this idea into the unique work of
art, being unprecedented in its apparent simplicity so far.
I chose the second way, perfectly realizing, what I risked and
made a sacrifice. In itself the idea of Amiran Guntaishvili was
not new, and there had been made some attempts to accomplish it.
However, the previous authors’ mistake was the following: they
presented volumetric idea unambiguously, i.e. on the same plane
or interpretation, presenting and considering a detail as the
whole.
AMIRAN’S IDEA
One day in Amiran’s presence a man simply said, “Oh! I wish
someone would give me a million dollars just for the hell of it!”
As it was said in the presence of a great number of people,
everybody laughed except Amiran who thought and said, “They
won’t give it to you for the hell of it, but they will give it
to you for NOTHING!”
The idea was born in a split second, “All one needs to do is to
create nothing and insert it into the book “Kaif”, that is to
make a book’s plaster cast or a notebook, to write on the cover
page a pen-name - Homo sapiens, the title Kaif and to sell it
for one million dollars”.
What is the value of this book? Its value is that a purchaser
buys not a book or a notebook but his own pleasure obtained by
his own intellect from the idea, i.e. his own Kaif or Nothing.
Due to this very reason the author of the idea does not have any
right to introduce his content, because no one but a buyer can
know what his Kaifis.
Thus a buyer turns into the latest genius, because he becomes a
genius not only with the help of his own intellect but also for
money, and this gives the appearance of a genius. Also this book
can be perceived as whatever one wishes and to see in it any
content in any language and one copy only.
But they won’t understand, will they?
Then it is necessary to create one more book “Oblom”, which will
be the author’s idea book, Amiran’s one, under the pseudonym
Ubralo Adamiani, which in Georgian language stands for a Simple
Man. The author of this book has an exclusive right to introduce
his content and to present it to the purchaser of the book Kaif
as a frustrated Oblom of the author’s idea, if such a purchase
takes place.
If the purchase doesn’t occur, the idea’s author at any time can
write his Oblom in the book Oblom, publish it in 100,000 copies
and get his million.
I was delighted with Amiran’s idea and instantly understood how
many-sided it is in its seeming simplicity and infinitely
substantial. I agreed to make it at once.
On 15 th November 1996 at 4 p.m. local time Amiran and I were
sitting in the unassuming cafe. Before us on the table there was
the first in the world absolutely empty and totally simple
object of luxury or “Immaterialized Nothing”, the resume of XX
century; the last book of XX century and simultaneously the
first book of XXI century; the last book of 2nd millennium and
simultaneously the first book of 3d millennium; the first in the
world dilogy in which nothing is written; the first in the world
object which reads the spectator wishing to read the content of
the books where nothing is written; the first in the world
object assigned for multi-millionaires valued at $ 1 000 000 000
( book photos at
http://www.donvalerigrig.com/kaif_and_oblom.html ).
On it there were lying the keys to Amiran’s old car. We were
drinking champagne silently. I felt warm, nice and unbearably
sad.