Maxim Komar-Myshkin

Book excerpt: Vladimir's Night' is the chimerical final work by Maxim Komar-Myshkin, one of the most elusive and tragic figures in Israeli-Russian art. Part children's book, part gory political assault and part erotic farce involving elaborately detailed paintings that draw from the most disparate sources, the work is not only Komar-Myshkin's magnum opus, but an instrument of psycho-aesthetic retaliation against Vladimir Putin, whom the artist believed had a personal vendetta against him. Komar-Myshkin committed suicide in 2011, soon after completing the album. 0In her annotations, Rosa Chabanova explores the book's many layers, covering such wide-ranging topics as the financial schemes of Russian oligarchs, medieval literature, political assassinations and the massive immigration wave of Russians to Israel. In so doing, Chabanova unravels the haunting story of Komar-Myshkin and arrives at startling conclusions as to what actually transpired during Komar-Myshkin's final years. Maxim Komar-Myshkin was born in Moscow in 1978. He immigrated to Israel in 2004. There, he founded the Buried Alive group, a circle of artists, writers and filmmakers who vowed in their manifesto to operate as cultural zombies.