Road to Pleiades by Yury Linnik, Crystal of Aquarius by Yury Linnik (review)

ROAD TO PLEIADES by Yury Linnik. Svyatoi Ostrov Press, Petrozavodsk, Russia. 286 pp., 1995 (in Russian). ISBN: 5-87339-024X. CRYSTAL OF AQUARIUS by Yury Linnik. Svyatoi Ostrov Press, Petrozavodsk, Russia. 231 pp., 1995 (in Russian). ISBN: 5-87339-028-2. Reviewed by Bulat M. Galeyev, Scientific and Research Institutefor Experimental Aesthetics "Prometei," KGTU (Kazan State Technical University), Academy ofSciences ofTatarstan, K. Marx Str., 10, Kazan 420111, Russia. E-mail: Author Yury Linnik should be well known to Leonardo readers. He partici­ pated in the Theremin issue of Leonardo Musicjournal (Vol. 6, pp. 70-71, 1996). Previous to that, Linnik reported on the Rerikh Space Art Museum in the Prometheus special issue of Leonardo (Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 377-378,1994). He planned to establish this museum using as its base his collection of works by artist -cosmists from the "Amaravella" group. Unfortunately, the museum— with its hundreds of canvasses and graphics—is still quartered in Linnik's small flat in Petrozavodsk, while his achievements in the field of cosmic art have become widely known via from his numerous publications from the Saint Island (Svyatoi Ostrov) Press, which (alas!) is also quartered in the same two-room flat. In spite of all these diffi­ culties, Linnik sees fit to publish his own works exclusively. During the era of perestroika he published about 100 of his own works, including an anthol­ ogy of verse, fantastic prose and books about the world's major religions, along with his personal newsletter, Yury Linnik. The question arises: perhaps our re­ spected doctor of aesthetics is a graphomaniac? If so, then his is a spe­ cial kind of graphomania, the graphomania of a man who is awfully glad that there is not any censorship anymore and that one can write and publish to one's heart's content! The main thing is that he can now freely tell about his favorite artist-cosmists from the Amaravella group, which appeared in post-revolutionary Russia in the early 1920s (later, in Stalin's times, the group was dissolved and consigned to oblivion for a long time). These artists were far ahead of their time, and their creation was based, on one hand, upon the scientific-philo­ sophic ideas of such Russian scientistcosmists as N. Fyodorov, K. Tsiolkovsky, V. Vernadsky and A. Chizhevsky; on the other hand, they followed a trend in ar­ tistic research similar to that of indi­ viduals such as N. Rerikh, V. Kandinsky and M. Churlenis. Linnik first acquainted himself with the creative work of Amaravella at the Light and Music conference in Kazan in 1975, where the works of artists such as V. Chernovolenko and A. Sardan were exhibited. It was the creative activity of these artists that Linnik described in his first Amaravella publications. It is wor­ thy to note that he managed to publish a number of these papers and articles in Kazan as far back as Soviet times. In 1993 Linnik published an excel­ lent book, Sonata of Orion, about artistcosmist V.T. Chernovolenko. In 1995 two books about Amaravella appeared simultaneously. The first, Road to Pleiades , tells about the Amaravella group and its formative links with abstract art, music (Wagner and Scriabin) and ideas of artistic synthesis. One of the sections in the book is devoted to Amaravella founder, P. Fateyev (18921971 ), a pioneer in the field of cosmic painting in Russia. Two other separate sections chronicle the creative works of A. Sardan (1901-1974) and the tragic fate of S. Shigolev (1895-1942?), who perished mysteriously after his ar­ rest by punitive organs of the NKVD. Linnik has prepared separate mono­ graphic essays on the lives, world out­ looks and creative activities of each of these artists. At the end of each essay, he provides his own fantasy prose piece, which turns the reader's mind to the fu­ ture and describes the ideas and cre­ ative activity of each artist. In addition, Linnik offers a special poetic hymn of praise to each. Road to Pleiades also fea­ tures a great number of color and black-and-white illustrations. The second book, Crystal of Aquarius, covers a similarly unexpected territory; it is entirely devoted to Amaravella member...