Lubki: Faux traditional folk Russian woodcuts of Star Wars and Harry Potter...

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What do these woodcuts of the Terminator, Matrix, and the Lord of the Rings really say??

This is my second lens based on a Slavic mystery. A couple years ago I stumbled upon these modern parodies of the Russian folk woodprints called lubki (singular, lubok). The artist is Andrei Kuznetsov. I wrote to the artist and got no response. There isn't much information to be found online.

I'm collecting everything I found on this page, and hope to find more. Particularly, I'd like to know if the prints are for sale anywhere!

Further down the page, some of what you can learn about the art of Russian folk woodcuts.

There is general agreement that Kuznetsov wants to be cryptic. People thought the inscriptions were in old church slavonic but I contacted Professor Larry Feinberg, specialist in Old Church Slavonic at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he tells me:

The language is actually not Old Church Slavonic but Russian of the 17th-/early 18th-c. (Petrine Period), or Kuznetsov's attempt to mimic it. The biggest challenge is getting his puns: for instance *zhoker* in the Harry Potter text (not a word in any kind of Russian) seems a hybrid of *dzhoker* 'joker (in a deck of cards)' and *zhokej* 'jockey'. A lot of the material is off-color, though the point of his innuendos isn't always clear. Is he trying to say, for instance, that Harry is kind of a girly-man, more witch than wizard?



Professor Feinberg has kindly done some translations of this material for me. This first lubok says:

And here you have the Joker/Jockey called Harry Potter. He studies wizardry and attempts to become skilled at flying. As he mounted the broom he also pressed his fingers to [his groin].



The Kuznetsev website freely permits free downloads of his images, and they have been published in many places on the internet, by people as confused and intrigued as I am. I'm hoping that posting his work here will flush out somebody, somewhere, who knows more.

Lord of the Rings

"Plasticene of the sheep" is the title in Russian

An explanation of the title from Metafilter: "What happened is that the title was the artist's pun (in Russian) on the actual movie name. "Lord of the rings" in russian reads as "Vlastelin kolets" "Vlastelin colets" is phonetically similar to "Plastilin ovets" "Plastilin ovets" is indeed "Plasticine of the sheep" when translated into English, although "Sheep silly putty" might be a more appropriate, if freer, translation."

The contributor goes on to translate...

Above the hobbit, written in traditional fairy tale rhyme: I am a hobbit animal called Frodo, I have a prickly face and my legs are crooked and furry. I have a ring of magical forge, when I put it on I disappear from the view and get quite sick from it.

Above Gollum, per Professor Feinberg: This creature is called Gorlum [sic: K. is punning on Горло 'throat'], a sea idiot with a croaky voice. He catches fish beyond the ice blocks and eats them raw And then suffers from stomach swelling

Above the cup: To avoid being laid low by illness, drink beer as a chaser (опохмелиться 'pull a hair off the dog that bit you')

Below the cup: I should put on the ring so nobody can see my shame [sram: a euphemism for genitals].

"War of the Worlds"

Per Professor Feinberg: "So long as the Martian was healthy he waged a war of the worlds against mankind. Some humans he simply incinerated, sparing only their shirts and trousers, others he pureed into fish broth . He went about the city and caught a nasty disease for which he wasn't treated. He got sick and turned to dust and came crashing to earth."

Beaver, exhale!

Rastaman Folk Tales 3.1 [a collection of short stories by Dmitrii Gaiduk utilizing folklore motifs and based on experiences of people getting high on cannabis]

Printed on the laptop case: For adults only

Anaconda

Top: And here is Monokonda, a hundred cubits long. When he swallows a man he spews him out immediately.

Left: A greedy pharmacist slaughtered his comrades for a flower, and the swamp serpent made a meal of him.

Right: A learned maid took a machete and cut off the aspid's head.

Cheberashko

Cheburashka is "a funny little monkey who lives in the tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. When he wakes, his paws are numb after the long time spent in the crate, and he tumbles down ("cheburakhnulsya") from the table onto the chair and then from the chair, where he could not sit, for the same reason, onto the floor.

Professor Feinberg: "Here is Cheburashka, a Moroccan beast. Speaks a heathen language. Body of a bear [ведмедь is dialectal for медмедь], face of a cat. Captured by women on the Neglina stream."

Crocodile Gena

"Crocodile Gena works as a crocodile in an urban zoo. Every evening he returns home to his lonely flat. Finally, Gena is very tired of playing chess against himself and decided to have friends. Animals and people responded to his advertisements stuck throughout the city. First comes a girl Galya with a homeless puppy, then followed by her, Cheburashka."

The woodcut is titled "Sabantuy" Sabantuy is a "Bashkir, Tatar and Chuvash peoples' holiday celebrated at present by the remaining peoples of the Volga Region." You can watch a youtube video (the guy plays a cute tune on the accordion) here.

Feinberg: Top: And here is Korkodil [sic] Afrikanych [patronymic]. The alligator-beast, called Genadii, is dressed in German clothes. He never wears pants because his tail would get in the way. The Tatar walks him on a chain.

Bottom: I play the accordion so alluringly that I can use it to get sustenance [here K. seems to be punning on the word пропитание 'sustenance': the root pit- 'nurture, nourish' resembles the root of the verb пить 'drink' (note the samovar held by the Tatar), although it has a different origin. But Gena probably has more solid nourishment in mind.]

Korobeynik - "The Peddlar"

There is a famous Russian folk song by this name, you can watch it performed on accordion, saw, and spoons here.

Left: "And here for you, local product, strong weed."
Right: "We don't need your heroin, we drink beer and that's how we get happy."
Below: "A joint for five kopecks. For a ruble you can become a total fool."

Farenheit 451

The Russian title is "War with nonsense #3"

Per Professor Feinberg:

Top: And this is nothing new: nothing but evil comes from the printed word. So as not to tempt the simple folk we have decided to remove all harmful books from circulation and burn them.

Lower left-hand corner (over old woman): holy simplicity
Title of book in her hands: The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food

Title of books in fire: (1) [can't read] (2) Perennial Grasses (3) Mushrooms of the World
Sign on building: Book Store

"To beat means to love"

As with the others, this is from Professor Feinberg:

Top: Here you have a double [Jean Claude] Van Damme. He fell so much in love with himself that he split in two. If by chance he drinks too much vodka he fights with himself.

Right: He does splits and even his balls [муди: whited out] protrude..

"To live to drive"

I am SO thankful to Professor Larry Feinberg for doing these translations!

TOP: And here you have Kharlam Davydov [cf. Harley Davidson], a pot-bellied biker. His beard is like a shovel. He has the niftiest bike (1), with a sidecar [коляска also means 'stroller'], wears a German spiked helmet and leather pants with silver studs.

LEFT: Kharlam is a crack pool player (2). He used parts of a wolf's rear for billiard balls [пирамида 'pyramid' also means 'Russian billiards'; хвост is 'animal's tail' and also 'tail end'].

RIGHT: The wolf howls in frustration, Kharlam gives him beer to drink.

Mission Impossible

The Russian title is "Anikeika Lamer"

Professor Feinberg provides:

Annikeika Lamer presses the keys but has no idea what he's doing. He bought a USB data stick [R. св исток, literally 'whistle'] but doesn't know where to stick it. [Annikii, aka Annikeika, Ivanov was a 17th-c. icon painter; ла мер is contemporary slang for someone who is clueless about computers.]

Star Wars

From Professor Feinberg:

TOP: And here is Luke Skywalker. He is on a flying saucer (1), and a smart samovar (2) helps propel him along.

LEFT: Luke spent a long time looking for his father, and once he found him, slew him with a fiery sword (3), which brought on grief and sorrow.

CENTER Here I might have had some vodka to ease my grief, but my father cut off my hand. I can't pick up a glass; looks like I'll be living sober from now on.

RIGHT: And here is his friend Chewbacca, something between a monkey and a dog. He speaks no words, but roars and howls. Evil men took him captive and turned him into ice.

[Writing on samovar in lower left-hand corner: R2D2]

Spiderman

Per Professor Feinberg:

UPPER LEFT: I've never washed my leggings, so my feet stick to the ceiling.

LOWER RIGHT: Here I am, the Spider Man. I have an extra pair of hands. From the front I embrace a maid, from behind deftly pour myself some wine. [The placement of the adverb сьзаду 'from behind' is sly: even though it modifies винца себе наливаю 'I pour myself some wine" it stands directly after обънимаю 'I embrace' - notice where Spiderman's right front hand is going.]

The Matrix

Per Professor Feinberg:

UPPER LEFT: And here is Neo, who always looks skyward. He dodged a bullet by bending backward, injuring the back of his head, and he never managed to straighten himself up. When he noticed the two cats he farted through his pantaloons.

UPPER RIGHT: I am Doctor Morpheus, with the face of an Abyssinian Negus. In the back of my head is an iron socket like an oar lock. I walk about hooked up to a telephone.

LOWER LEFT: Brother apothecary, can you give me a pill for reverse curvature of the spine and hemorrhoids?

CENTER: Neo goes about stinking, and Morpheus reproaches him: "You ask me for a pill, you idiot! Don't you want to eat [literally 'bite off'] the bird?" [The Russian equivalent for our 'flip the bird' is пока зать кукиш - дулю; the gesture referred to is quite similar.]

The Terminator

Russian title: "Revolt of the Machines."

Per Professor Feinberg:

TOP: I 'm an odd fellow, a wind-up dummy, called Terminator 2. My head is made of tin. I get drunk on kerosene and ride my bike (1) very fast. I'm very handy with a pistol (2).

LOWER LEFT: I'm three arshins [about 7 ft.] tall. Inside I'm all wheels and springs.

LOWER RIGHT: I landed in a smithy (3) and smashed up my head.

Links related to the Andrei Kuznetsov mystery woodcuts

russian drawings from films | Ask Metafilter
This is one of the articles that brought Kuznetsov's work to general attention.
Rastamanskie Narodnye Skazki
You can get a clear look at the woodcuts here. This is the gallery the metafilter articles reference.
Kuznetsov's LiveJournal
There are lots of pictures.
Enough With The Pickles Already, Chewbacca | MetaFilter
Another thread on which people speculated about these pictures.
Russian Lubok (popular print)
Historic lubki. "The unique feature of this presentation is my attempt to translate, as faithfully as possible, the texts found in the prints; the translations should bring the readers closer to the imagination and sensibility of the people who produced and enjoyed the lubok. As far as I know, there are no collections of lubok translations into English."
The Kuznetsov lubki gallery
There there is a lot of commentary in Russian on the different pictures.
Collection of lubki at John Hopkins
Good historic examples
Transcriptions of the inscriptions
so you can try your luck!

Below, non-lubok related information about Kuznetzov.

Did this illustration appear in "Gentleman's Quarterly" in 2009?

At the top is a quote from Burt Reynolds: "When an actor marries an actress they both fight for the mirror." (Actually here it says "they begin fighting for the mirror.")

Next, from Truman Capote, a version of: "a fellow loses two IQ points for every year spent in Hollywood."

The next one, by Jack Kerouac: "It's impossible to live in this world, but there isn't anywhere else."

About Andrei Timofeevich Kuznetzov

What I can glean from the Russian Wikipedia article

Born in 1966, Kuznetzov is a Russian artist, illustrator, producer of animated films.

In 2003, together with Maxim Pokalyov, he created the project "Cheburgen," assembling more than two hundred artistic works and photographs of different artists who depict cartoon heroes in parodical and humorous context. Among the most interesting works is Andrey's series called "Cheburaki", which includes parodies of motion pictures and historical events. (See example below)

From the Cheburaki series - "Khodiki" (clocks)

My other Slavic Mystery page: Cabaret Slave!

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Can you help with these inscriptions? What do you think?

  • Fulbert Oct 31, 2010 @ 11:51 am | delete
    Hello,
    I'd like to point some minor mistakes in them translations, if you don't mind:-)

    "Harry Potter"
    In the Harry Potter lubok, the last line reads "As he mounted the broom he crushed his fingers". You can see that one word, "??????" (fingers) is edited. In the original, the word was "????" (the vulgar word for "testicles") but the author later edited most of his luboks because, as he himself had once said, he "was ashamed to show the nasty pictures to his daughter".

    "Crocodile Gena"
    "Korkodil" is possibly a reference to a pseudo-scientist V.A. Chudinov who had once claimed to prove the word "crocodile" to be a distorted old Russian word "korkodil" which is supposed to mean a "crusted-over horse".

    "To live to drive"
    LEFT: "Kharlam is a crack pool player (2). He beat a wolf in billards and took its tail as a reward".
  • AddaptAbilities Mar 6, 2010 @ 6:12 pm | delete
    This is great! I've lensrolled it to my propaganda lens and my Ominous Noodle lens. What a delightful, odd find.
  • HealthyNatural Mar 4, 2010 @ 3:49 pm | delete
    Great lens, thanks!
    There are some small mistakes in translation. For example, "As he mounted the broom he also pressed his fingers to [his groin]." (1st lubok) should be translated as "As he mounted the broom he CRUSHED DOWN his fingers himself the same time." (that's why he has such face - because of pain:)
    Nevertheless, the lens is very interesting, thanks again!
  • vallain Mar 4, 2010 @ 8:16 am | delete
    Quite interesting. I'm passing it along to some friends who know Russian.
  • a_willow Sep 25, 2009 @ 11:42 am | delete
    This is interesting! And funny in some places! :) Blessed by an Angel!
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ChapelHillFiddler

Musician in Chapel Hill with two bands: Mappamundi, a world music - klezmer - swing band, and the Pratie Heads, a Celtic - British Isles - early music... more »

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