Gelding caricatures latest. “The preservation of caricature as a genre does not depend on the artists

Polit.ru opens a series of interviews with masters of political caricature. Our first interlocutor was Alexey Merinov, the chief cartoonist of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper for three decades, with a story about why the genre of caricature is being abandoned by the media today and what censorship looks like today for a contemporary artist in the mass media.

Alexey, I’ll start with a trivial question. You've been doing caricatures for thirty years now, right?

The first publication was in the year 80, in my opinion. In the Odintsovo newspaper "New Frontiers". I collaborated with her. In 1983, I was published by Literaturka; at that time, this was considered “advanced training.” Moreover, I had already forgotten when I took the pictures there. And suddenly - bam! In 1983 I got into the “Cartoonists Club” at MK, and from then on it went.

Today I don’t know many active cartoonists. It’s you, well, Yolkin, maybe I’ll remember one more if I get stressed... The club you’re talking about has been gone for a long time. Does this mean that caricature is a dying genre today?

Why? There are St. Petersburg residents: Bogorad, Shilov. Andrey Bilzho draws. Mikhail Zlatkovsky. I named those whose drawings I see often. Konstantin Kukso in "Power". My old friend Lesha Yorsh draws, and not just caricatures. I apologize to anyone I missed. The Internet is full of all sorts of pictures. Another thing is that caricature is leaving the official paper media. But here, I think, it’s not the artists’ fault.

Alexey, you mainly make, with very rare exceptions, political cartoons. The cartoon I follow is also mostly political. Is there another cartoon left today?

And also “economic”, “social” and God knows what else. I work for a daily newspaper, therefore politics prevails.

By the way, there is just not so much of it in officialdom. That’s why I said that she was leaving those classic media. Editors don’t want to get hit on the ears for some kind of “slanderous distortions” and mockery of the authorities. Not all, but many don't want to. And there are plenty of “general” drawings on an abstract topic. This is normal, by the way. What is abnormal is that there is not enough “spite of the day”.

By the way, I always wanted to ask, whose pictures are you drawing? Is it possible that tomorrow you will take them and want to publish them in another newspaper?

I have a contract with MK. I have no right to be published in other newspapers, first of all. This is fine. As for the rest of the media, the editor is also a person. And some one-time promotions happen periodically. Just to my beautiful and rare surname the name is added " Malaya Rodina". Copyright, as they say. And for me, MK itself is enough to the very last. Much more - 30 years in the newspaper.

Then I once read about myself, my beloved, a certain dialogue on the Internet. The girl posted my picture on her page. Her boyfriend was sincerely surprised, saying, is he still alive? It seems like yes, still alive.

(Most of Alexey Merinov’s works can be freely viewed online on the website of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper ( http://www.mk.ru/merinov/) - "Polit.ru")

Now I would like to move on to a topic that directly concerns this very “ears-to-ears” thing. Have you ever encountered any form of censorship in your more than 30 years of work experience?

Until 1991, we officially had a lithography department or whatever it was called. Nice ladies were sitting there. I brought them the drawings selected for printing. They laughed and said:

Are you crazy? I’ll definitely tell you at home, lift the family’s spirits... and they gave them back to me.

And now we have no censorship. There is editing. In all my years, I have accumulated ten to twenty pictures of “no-go” pictures. True, some lie there, lie there, and then suddenly come to life and are printed. Others are uploaded to my editor's mobile phone. He shows them to his friends. So, they still breathe somehow, and I’m not offended. Some jumped out on the Ekho Moskvy website. I posted some on social networks.

"1984". Cartoon: Alexey Merinov (from what was not published)

I understand the management. I have my rectangle in the newspaper, and, basically, there is no grass growing around it. And he gets "stripes" for all of them.

A couple of times, by the way, I drew on emotions, they “didn’t put me in the room”... I cooled down after a while and realized that it wasn’t even worth showing on the Internet. Something, of course, is already outdated. When Medvedev joyfully told the whole world that he and Putin had the same blood type, I drew them as mosquitoes sucking each other’s blood. Well, the picture didn't work. Now this is, of course, "for family album“But that’s what’s good about a newspaper - tomorrow will be a new day, there will be “food.” And it’s not my thing to suffer over the past. It’s a sin to complain. I only have three books in line. And that’s not counting the main, newspaper business.

So you also have such a thing as self-censorship?

What do we call self-censorship? You can draw a few folk Russian letters on the forehead of the “hero”, naturally they won’t print you, and you will take the pose of a fighter against injustice. I don't draw like that anymore.

I have said a hundred times that the problem is not what to draw or what to draw about. The problem is HOW to do it. And, by the way, many people take the pictures literally. I had a drawing where the boss, standing behind the podium, shed tears in a stormy stream. A whole sea of ​​tears in which people were drowning. This is about Krymsk. But! Not about the tragedy itself, but about the lies of government officials that flooded the country. It seemed to me that this was understandable. No, it turned out that someone thought that I just drew a “blackie”. Well, here I am already powerless. You need to be able to “read” a caricature. The language of signs and hints is often used there. Not everyone succeeds. On the other hand, maybe I couldn’t explain it either. Happens.

What books are we talking about? Albums of your cartoons or what?

With my books strange story. I absolutely cannot work with writers. Most of them already know what and how to illustrate. And for me, in turn, it’s boring to draw, say, citizen Ivanov coming out of the entrance. I involuntarily want to immediately depict citizen Petrov entering this entrance. But with all sorts of documents, with seemingly dry texts, on the contrary, it works out wonderfully. I have already drawn the same Criminal Code three times. The tax office managed to get it done. Now there is a proposal to illustrate the Civil Code. For now I'm quiet and looking closely.

Interesting. There is one more big question. It's called "Internet". When you started, this phenomenon did not exist, but now you have been living in the new information era for more than 10 years. How has the global network affected your creativity How did it influence your fame? And one more, apparently completely separate question, how has the Internet influenced caricature in general in Russia and in the world? Is it even possible to talk about such influence?

Anything new becomes familiar over time. Sometimes it gets boring. Although it’s almost impossible without the Internet. I haven’t had a drink for six months now, and so far I’ve only been able to cope without the Internet for a couple of weeks.

Regarding the profession, yes, of course, this is still an uncensored space. Once you get into it, you become desperately brave. Seeing all these “photographs” of politicians, merciless remarks, pictures, and the like, at first you quietly come into a state of amazement. And then you still become yourself.

"Tsar Boots". Cartoon: Alexey Merinov (from what was not published)

I passed the “stage of courage and exploits” long ago. During the collapse of the USSR and subsequent events. And how many leaders, presidents, and leaders of their assistants I redrawn... I can’t even count. Now I’m more interested in a few other things: how to reveal the topic more precisely. How to avoid “head-on images” and draw in such a way that no one has any doubt about what or who it is about. In the end, the same fables, written who knows when, are still remembered and quoted. Although, I want to emphasize, sometimes it’s the other way around - right on the forehead.

And fame for an artist, in my subjective opinion, is, first of all, when your drawings are in demand. Although, of course, a person is weak, and you should not refuse a glass that is offered to you “for national glory.” Oh yes, I forgot, I don’t drink...

But in general, did the network influence the cartoon? I can specify the question, all these photoshoppers, demotivators - aren’t they a new caricature that is displacing yours, Yolkin’s and Bilzho’s drawings from the media? Well, really, why are they there if the whole Internet is already filled with laughing pictures, no?

Nope. This is not new. This is, as it was said before - " folk art masses." It was always there. On the walls of caves, in popular prints, and on fences (exclusively as convenient platform for the image, there is no swearing meaning), and in jokes. Photoshop today. Tomorrow, with the advent of new technologies, something else will appear. But this runs parallel to that authentic caricature. And because it is often an impersonal thing. Here, under the picture are the author’s first and last name. This is a piece of work. This is his, the author’s, view, his position, what else is there.

Only a ban can defeat a caricature, like all satire (oh, I don’t like that word). Including on the Internet. Like the rest of everything alive, “disheveled”, not lined up in rows and ranks. Previously I was sure that this was impossible. Now, looking at Roskomnadzor’s games, I don’t think so anymore.

Although, there was samizdat under the communists.

Do you have your own version of why cartoons are leaving the media? After all, for some reason the cartoonist club "MK" ceased to exist? There must be an explanation for this?

Zhen, the club ceased to exist for absolutely no political reasons. Everyone grew up and fled to various media. Then the same club was in the newspaper “Top Secret”, but it didn’t last long there either... and as for why the caricature is leaving the media - I’m telling you, the editors don’t want to get hit on the ears.

How is caricature developing today? Where are the cartooning competitions? Prizes? Special courses in art institutions? Do they exist? Do you communicate with your fellow workers? Are you discussing this? What are you even discussing?

I in the most perfect way“bogged down” in newspaper affairs. For the lazy and impatient person that I am, this is just the perfect niche. I once worked in the theater and took part in productions. Six months on one project! Now it seems fantastic. And here failures are experienced easier and faster. I don’t even remember when I participated in any competitions. Yes, and we have few of them in our country. Once upon a time, in the 90s, there was a wonderful festival of satire and humor. "Golden Ostap" Went to glorious city St. Petersburg. There was also a separate nomination for caricature. Gradually he somehow faded. What we have now, to our shame, we don’t even know. I'm afraid I won't be lying too much if I say that we are not among the leaders in the number of such holidays. Once a year on April 1, artists exhibit in their professional holiday"But, since my birthday is at the end of March, I must honestly admit that I am a rare guest at this holiday...

I rarely communicate with colleagues. Mainly with the "old guard". Sometimes we correspond with the wonderful Seryozha Tyunin.

Somehow it turned out that I am not friends on a professional basis. Among the musicians, let’s say, there are more friends. There is another category - football fans. But this is periodic, drama for the family. Let's not talk about sad things.

What in current situation, in your personal opinion, is there a cartoon waiting for the next 10-15 years? Even greater decline?

Ten years?! Yes, I can’t know what tomorrow holds. And not just a caricature. In our era of stability, anything can happen. Any time. Filmmakers have already been told bright path. Sometimes our musicians also come to the outback on tour, and then suddenly concert hall The day before I contracted mumps on my own.

True, ours is a little different. I haven’t seen any ceremonial pictures glorifying power. Yes, this will be some other genre. And the preservation of caricature as a genre does not depend on the artists. More precisely, not only from them. With all due respect to virtual reality, I remain a supporter of “paper” media. That’s why the editors are working together here. In the end, they decide what readers will see and what will disappear into RuNet.

It is very difficult not to notice such a person on the street. “The acid grandfather,” as his daughter Dasha proudly calls him, walks through a small square, rattling his iron bracelets and terrifying the neighboring grandmothers. MK cartoonist Alexey Merinov is easy to recognize by his appearance, after all, not every person at that age sports a bandana and uses the word “hair” in relation to himself.

Something red-colored is rushing around with manic speed, getting entangled in its own long ears and literally being torn apart in search of a place that has not yet been sniffed. Noticing me, the creature finally freezes for a moment, joyfully nuzzles my legs and then runs off again to do its own thing. In the fifteen seconds it spent on me, it turned out that this “something” was an English cocker spaniel named Molly Alkaponovna.

Dossier:Merinov Alexey Viktorovich

Born March 25, 1959. Has no special education. Since 1988 he has been working as an artist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Winner of many awards: “MK”, magazines “Smena” and “Ogonyok”, the Union of Journalists of Russia, the Union of Moscow Journalists, the Academy of Free Press, “ Golden feather", festival "Golden Ostap", caricature competitions in Poland, Italy, in different cities Russia. He illustrated more than two dozen books and released over a dozen albums with his pictures. He loves the blues and supports CSKA.

- What, that’s exactly what you’re calling?

Of course not! By the time I pronounce my middle name, the dog will already have jumped halfway across Moscow. So the cry is simply Myley.

Meanwhile, the dog, having lost all interest in nature, led us to the entrance. Exactly ten years ago, when Mulya first crossed the threshold of the house, the life of the Merinov family changed. With her appearance, I had to learn not to leave food on the table, not to forget tubes of paint on the floor and, whenever possible, to put all leather things away.

- I see she’s a hooligan...

Now she is the very embodiment of calm. And when she appeared, everything in the apartment that she could reach was eaten, chewed, bitten. Not everyone can eat excellent Dutch shoes overnight, and for some reason they didn’t touch the metal buckles and soles. I won’t even talk about leather furniture, pants, bags, etc. She had a terrible respect for the skin - just some kind of dog biker. Although she was sometimes indiscriminate... For example, when we were returning home, which Muli thought was a bit late, the dog ate the leatherette on the door out of protest.

Alexei’s wife, Masha, joins the conversation:

Yes, we came across a “chewing” dog. Several years ago we moved to new apartment. We are packing our things, there are boxes all around, Mulya, naturally, cannot understand anything. And... gave us each full program. One day we come home, and at home it’s winter: there’s snow all around from padding polyester. She apparently decided: “Since you don’t explain anything to me, I’ll arrange a “Christmas night” for you.

And the floor of the upholstery of the leather sofa was gone - torn to shreds.

Don't think that you didn't feed. It was she who taught us to have a strict schedule. Although, of course, in the end, we taught her to have a free schedule. There are more of us, and besides, we don’t get up at dawn. In general, we got used to each other for several years.

Mulka's psychology is amazing. We're twenty s extra years lived on the first floor. And she chased everyone who passed by the windows. And the one who comes to us through the door is “one of our own” for her: he very joyfully greets anyone who enters. True, not always. Somehow I forgot something at home, quickly returned, walked in - and there was silence. There is no throwing of feet, wagging of the tail and other expressions of friendly feelings. Didn't understand! I go to the kitchen and see how this dear dog carefully picks up the scrambled eggs with his nose, which I had not eaten due to my haste, quietly lowers them to the floor and... begins to eat them with his slobbering mouth. And on the floor there are already a delicious pile of cookies. “Mula! - I shout to her. - Mulya! There are strangers in the house!!” It hits the dog in the ear, but she eats and chomps, eats and chomps, and doesn’t turn to her owner for a moment! Well, come in, good people, take whatever your heart desires... But in general, she is very picky. When he walks with Masha, he only drags her to the public garden. But if he’s with me, and even with my friends, then he runs cheerfully to the nearest tent, looking around and winking: well, master, will we have time?

- To the big man — big dog. Why is yours so small?

Yes, she has not been considered a dog for a long time now. More like a teenage alien. Space naughty. I can’t even imagine how we lived without her. Sometimes he turns on the “fool”, sometimes he is cunning with all his might. But one thing is constant: an eerie cheerfulness and an enduring friendliness.

-As I understand it, the story of Muli’s appearance in the family is also complicated?

Yeah. Masha and her daughter Daria Alekseevna went on holiday to the foreign sea. And they left me alone in Moscow on the farm. Well, as a matter of fact, I managed to my heart's content. My ladies' vacation flew by like one day. For me. Somehow I woke up in alarm. My dear friend, Seryozhka Voronov, wonderful person and the musician, reminded that tonight, in general, you have to answer to your family for all the festivities. I feel like I need to take some informal step to ward off the threat of reprisals. Well, cleaning the apartment won’t be enough here, since it’s easier to burn this apartment down than to somehow put it in order. And then another friend calls and says, he’s been wanting to buy a dog for a long time, he’s finally matured, would we like to join. You should have seen how I matured instantly! This is not what we want?! Ha! Yes, from infancy I could not live without a dog friend! We jumped into the car, and after about an hour and a half, this same Molly was trembling on my knees. I went straight to the airport with her to meet my family and showed up. Was forgiven forever!

We leave passport control, see Alyosha for some reason with a video camera and understand: something out of the ordinary has happened. And he gently pushes us: come on, come on, hurry up to the car! We approach, and everyone is spread out: sitting in the back seat, with her paws carefully placed, is an exemplary “young lady”, literally a graduate of an English college. Well, it started here! Squeals, squeezes... It turned out that our Mulya is indeed a girl of difficult blood. Her parents and grandparents are all European and world champions. Although, to be honest, for me the appearance of a puppy in the house was a shock at first: I understood that all the worries would fall on me.

- Alexey, and who does she ultimately consider the owner?

I wave. My daughter and I are like that, in the wings. Take a walk there, little by little, in short. But when something serious happens to this woolly fool, then there’s nowhere without Masha. To take her to the hospital in the middle of the night, to make a serious decision - here our mother rules.

- And a lot of things happened?

Of course, the creature is alive, although it doesn’t speak yet, and it’s also terribly curious. Either he almost runs under a car, or he eats some kind of rubbish in the forest. Those damned ticks, again. A year ago, a complex operation was performed. They left him with the doctor for several days. Thank God she survived. Her sister did not undergo surgery on time and died. The owner called us with bitter news, we immediately rushed to the doctor. It turned out to be just in time. Just a little more - that's all. When we went to get the dog, we saw it and almost burst into tears: all bandaged, head bandaged, like Commander Shchors, eyes like the average Chinese... She slowly hobbled over to me, touched her head to my knees and fell silent. Only the tail, like a metronome, quietly counted down the seconds. We experienced a storm of emotions. But now he’s a puppy again. He enjoys life to the fullest, and he makes us happy too.

- For example?

Once we celebrated big company my birthday. Naturally, I went to the nearest store for more and for some reason took my dog ​​with me, who immediately managed to get lost. “Well, okay, she’ll find it herself, she’s not small,” I realized and went inside the supermarket. Without even having time to study the assortment, I heard some kind of roar in the far corner of the room and was shocked to see next picture: from under a flying pile of Pepsi bottles with triumphantly fluttering ears, clutching either a jar of sprat or a briquette of dry jelly in her mouth, my dog ​​Mulya jumped out. And, knocking down rare sellers and buyers along the way, without stopping the helicopter-like movements of its tail, it rushed off like a comet into the back room. They caught the whole store for about forty minutes. They sent help from the house - at least they couldn't help it. The big-eared punk didn't want to crawl out from behind the boxes of candy until he had eaten about two kilograms, then his barking could be heard for a long time in the section of dairy and curd products. When I, exhausted by the search, was politely but persistently asked to leave the almost destroyed store and taken out onto the porch, I was even more surprised to find there “our little dog Mulya,” who was sitting with an absent look, turned away and yawning, they say, master, as much as possible wait for you with your pogrom, I want to go home!

- Did this joyful creature have puppies?

But of course! As many as five pieces. You should have seen how we came up with names for them. Our family is creative, respects rock and roll and modern Art, so we got these (all with the letter “M”): Marilyn Monroe (there were simply no female names starting with “m” in rock), Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger and Muddy Waters (these are our common idols), and Malevich ( this is already according to the Machine part). Malevich lives with our friends, he is one and a half times taller than his mother, his friends adore him and brag about his photos every time. And Marilyn went all the way to China. They gave it away with caution, but also with the hope that at least the journalists of their central newspaper “Zhenmingzhibao” are not keen on dog meat, but bought the puppy solely for pleasure.

Would you like me to tell you how we got Mulka married? In general, it started with a sad thing: the Dashkins’ wonderful grandparents died in Utah, Newfoundland. The diagnosis was the saddest - uterine cancer, and the doctors said that the whole point was that she had never given birth. And when Alkaponovna turned four years old, we decided: it’s time. We called the club and they gave us the address of the breeders - somewhere in the Kratovo area. I sewed a veil from tulle (a wedding is a wedding!), and we went to the nursery. How the girl resisted when she was introduced to her groom named Russ Irenes Sex Pistol (!) cannot be expressed in words. But the wedding photo turned out great, and then so did everything else. During “everything else,” I was politely asked: “And you, mother, while you smoke in the next room.” I remember Mulkin’s “or” behind the wall, my shaking hands, with which I unsuccessfully try to light a cigarette, and suddenly - a stunning picture outside the window: opposite on the hill, between two huge fir trees, they sat down, as if in auditorium, about twenty spaniels. They tilted their heads in hilarious synchrony and raised their long ears in amazement.

One on one, like gossiping gossips at a wedding. It seemed like they were talking in the same way in their dog language: “Who is the groom? Where did you get the girl from?” It was so funny.

- Finally, tell me why you’re torturing the dog so much: in this cold, he’s almost bald...

That's it, and a neighbor in the country the other day asked: “What breed is your dog?” We honestly said: “Halded spaniel.” And it was like this. Before this, our Mulka was a punk. Before the operation, she had a lump on her head - an ordinary wen, according to one doctor. It’s okay, he assured, if it doesn’t grow much, there’s no need to cut it – it’s just the head. But the bump was somehow unsightly, and the dog grew a cool haircut. Some even suggested painting it in pink color. Well, we didn’t follow the lead of our friends. And then the lump was cut out along with other nasty things, and in the August heat we finally decided to trim it. The hairdresser, running a trimmer along Mulka's sides with an experienced hand, turned our spaniel into a short-haired beagle or dachshund with a couple of skillful movements. But, to tell the truth, after the dacha in Mula there were countless thorns. So what! The fur will grow back, but now Mulka has again looked like the puppy I almost accidentally bought 10 years ago.

The famous cartoonist talks about creativity “in law”, caricature “on trust”, the exotic Kama Sutra and the happiness of doing nothing.

An unexpected publication was published - “Illustrated Criminal Code Russian Federation" The collection of articles was decorated with drawings by the artist Alexey Merinov. An Izvestia correspondent met with the artist.

Why did you take on such a thing? weird job?

There were a bunch of pictures drawn in different years. To the age-old domestic eternal theme: “They steal.” The drawings aren't the worst. There was a desire to somehow preserve them, since they live in the newspaper for one day. Through searches and feasts, this idea was born. To my surprise, it is quite tenacious. Because this is already the third re-release.

Does the fact of such an act fall under any of the laws?

It's not about the laws themselves, it's about their interpretation. There is, for example, Art. 261 - “Destruction or damage to forest plantations”, how much paper was spent on this book. Or, it may happen that my illustrations will bring irreparable moral suffering to some official. So the brilliant postulate “if only there were a person, there would be an article for him” was not put aside.

Have you, the “Russian artist and sailor,” as you are called on social networks, ever broken the law?

Weak man. But I don’t remember anything that makes it worth urgently putting on a wig and crossing the Gulf of Finland on skis. Sometimes he celebrated the victories of his favorite club too exuberantly. But mostly outside our homeland. That is, I take care of her, my beloved.

Have you been attacked for your work? Maybe they sued or wanted to beat you?

There were trials and all were won in Moscow. It differs in the regions. One day, a big uncle-official saw himself in Pinocchio. A sort of self-exposure session. We lost this trial with the editors, but we are still alive. Well, to get hit in the face, you don’t have to be an artist. It is enough to be “not from our area”, or even “for no reason”. There are options, as in the Criminal Code, for all occasions.

By the way, about Pinocchio. Why is he so cute to you?

Just as the last scoundrel clings to patriotism, so I, when preparing economic articles, especially articles, save myself with parodies or author’s versions of fairy tales, fables and other folklore. Because I don’t understand a damn thing about this economy. Moreover, the same wooden man is a most interesting pretzel. Well, it’s a log of wood, and he has five gold pieces! And besides, I hope most people know fairy tales and fables.

Is there any reaction to your cartoons from powerful of the world this?

I deliberately avoid friendly relations with all kinds of bosses, politicians and functionaries. I have a friend who fought in various hot spots. I will always remember his words: “Never communicate with prisoners. They will order him to be shot, but you already know his whole fate down to the third generation. Bam - the hand trembled.” I mean that you communicate with this very “strong” one, then he does something strange - and that’s all. Here you are all betrayed: you need to draw, but it’s a pity.

Does it ever happen that you give up and your pencil falls, say, when we're talking about about another surreal initiative of some deputy?

In most cases, it's the other way around. The specificity of “production” is that the worse the vibes, the less often the pencil falls. Although, honestly, it happens that you feel all your uselessness after reading about the next somersault of the “idol”. You see absolute perfection in his actions or words. And you have nothing to add to this. And there are more and more such perfectionists. If it goes on like this, I’ll definitely have to draw flowers.

What is included in this case - humor or anger?

I would like humor to be included, but often, unfortunately, anger prevails. Humor is generally a complex thing, despite its apparent ease. Humor in the field of politics is several times more complex. I really don’t like the word “satire,” which was worn out and vulgarized during the times of “the struggle against individual shortcomings.” IN mass concept a caricature is necessarily a laugh. Why? It doesn’t necessarily have to make you laugh until you drop. This is just a drawing filled with plot, logic, meaning, sometimes paradoxical. And anger, by the way, is not so bad. Here we need to find the line separating it from anger. There is such a line, I know. It's not always visible, though.

What does an artist need to work in your style, besides humor, and why is this genre not so developed in our country, unlike in the States, where there are even military cartoonists?

Are there many caricatures in the official paper press? Every year it is slowly “washed out” from there. And editors don’t need any extra itching, and the publication, to their naive eyes, looks more respectable. One very simple but important thing is needed: trust between the artist and the editor. A lot of people go online. There is freedom there: I drew, pressed a couple of keys - and that’s it, “to print.” True, sometimes the bar is below the plinth.

You are a big fan of rock and blues. Would you like to design someone's album?

At the dawn of our friendship with Seryozha Voronov (Crossroadz) there were several attempts collaboration. But since our artistic councils took place in music bars, I cannot firmly and clearly report their results. By the way, many musicians draw well. Therefore, let my idols remain as such, and let me be in the hall, in the front rows, as always enthusiastic and with two Guinnesses.

Artists, as you know, make money from corporate events. What kind of commercial themes, perhaps comic, but high-budget, have you been approached with?

I have Christmas trees every year from September to December. New Year calendars and other holiday printing. True, some former customers there were illusions that if you pay, you know better than anyone what and how the artist should depict. This is a warm hello and goodbye. There were also exotic orders, for example the Kama Sutra. While in the process, I feel, in the eternal.

Which cartoonists do you respect as teachers and are you preparing a successor for yourself?

I consider Zlatkovsky, Peskov, Dubov, Makarov, Tyunin, Tesler to be my teachers. St. Petersburg resident Viktor Bogorad is wonderful. It was they who laid the Soviet years what is commonly called modern caricature. Or problematic graphics. Or a paradoxical pattern. As for the successor, I am not so skilled, although, of course, there is not enough assistant. So that I sharpen my pencil, or better yet, run to the kitchen.

What is the artist Merinov’s favorite thing in life? In other words, what would he devote not to a caricature, but to a full-fledged canvas?

Doing nothing is a day when you don’t have to read, watch, listen to all this news and other horrors. It's such a thrill! The canvas is not ready yet, but I will be painting it for a long time. Because when it ends, confusion and old age will set in. Do we need it?