“Why does the composer need the painter’s windows?”: St. Petersburg continues the struggle for the studio, which they want to give to the conductor Currentzis

In St. Petersburg, the process continues around the studio of the artist Valery Gridnev, who is being evicted from the premises in which he worked for more than twenty years in order to give it to the conductor Teodor Currentzis. The artist Valery Gridnev refused two options for the workshops offered to him instead of the workshop in the house on Bolshaya Zelenina, 28.

As the painter explained to the Rosbalt correspondent, both rooms are not suitable for an artist – a painter. The first of the proposed ones is on Gorokhovaya, 3 on the seventh floor, where a back staircase and a tiny elevator for one person lead. The studio has low ceilings and several small rooms suitable for the work of a graphic artist, but not for a painter who creates more canvas. The second address is at Bolshaya Morskaya, 40. Various clubs and offices rent premises there. The artist was offered a workshop with a window to the south – this light is also unsuitable for the painter.

Gridnev recalled that he had occupied a workshop at 28 Bolshaya Zelenina Street for twenty years, he had completely put the premises in order at his own expense – he removed the rusted iron from the skylight, replaced broken and cracked glass, damaged lintels, patched up holes in the roof to avoid leaks. Moreover, since the house was built in 1905 with iron floors, but with wooden filling, it was impossible to use welding during repair work.

“Everything was done by hand by specialists in old technologies invited by me at my expense,” the artist explained. Gridnev said that at the end of November last year he was invited to the committee on culture and informed that he would be selected a new room for the workshop, and this room would be transferred from the Union of Artists to the Union of Composers and would be transferred to Teodor Currentzis. Gridnev is perplexed: “Why does a musician need a painter’s window?”

Next to Gridnev’s workshop – on the same landing – Currentzis has already acquired a similar workshop of a larger area with an apartment where, as Gridnev said, a large family used to live.

“We work within the framework of the Law on FTM (“Law of St. Petersburg“ On the Fund of Creative Workshops ”dated July 13, 1998 N 169-26-approx. ed.), ”the chairman of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists responded to a request from Rosbalt about the situation with Gridnev’s workshop Andrey Bazanov. In any case, the prerogative of making a decision on the exchange of alternative premises remains with Valery Gridnev, on his part there have been no violations for 22 years of renting the facility. It is a pity that the Coordinating Council of Creative Unions, without notifying the St. Petersburg Union of Artists, brought such chaos into the solution of this problem. I do not want to infringe on the rights of other Unions (including composers), but it is in the interests of the Union of Artists to preserve the Fund, especially professional workshops built specifically for artists by our Union of Artists. The process of Gridnev’s workshop has not ended, but we hope for a respectful attitude of the administrative structures of the city to the rights of our members of the Union.”

Recall that the house at Bolshaya Zelenina, 28 – the profitable house of Duke Nikolai Leuchtenberg was built in 1905 in the Art Nouveau style by architect Fyodor von Postels. The decoration of the house is a mosaic frieze. In 2019, the house was included by KGIOP in the register of cultural heritage sites of regional significance.