Avant-Gardists. The Russian Revolution in Art. 1917-1935

«Avant-garde is not a direction or a style in art, and, in my opinion, it is not a theory. Avant-garde is a mentality, a way of life, expressed not only in the creativity of artists but also in every fiber of their soul, in their beliefs and behavior. The avant-garde was radical in the sense that it rejected the existing order that had trapped art in the oppressive Procrustean bed of academic canons. Only as methods of fighting this oppression did artists use not stones, guns, or bombs, but provocative actions, performance, and shock, as well as ridiculing «public taste». Sheng Sheyen.