Full Moon

When I first saw Russian artist Leonid Tishkov's ongoing project - Private Moon - I fell instantly in love with it, and wanted to be part of it myself. I mean, who doesn't want a moon of their own?! The project is "a mobile installation and visual poem telling a story of a man who met the Moon and stayed with her forever. This man, it seems, could be the wonderfully romantic Russian artist Leonid Tishkov - literally living the performance of a lifetime as he travels the world with his own private moon." The citation is from an interview Tilla Buden of Gestalt Journal made with Tishkov. He then published it on his blog, and the rest of the text in this post is excerpts from that interview. All pictures are also from his blog.

What initially inspired the Private Moon series?

Ten years ago I created this installation with the glowing moon at one of the festivals of contemporary art. 
I wanted to make a picture of the reality of my favorite artist – Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. After  that 
I brought the moon to the roof of my studio on a skyscraper on the South of Moscow, where she shone 
to me personally, and brightened my loneliness.

What does this series mean to you?

This is not just a series – it is a performance of a lifetime! I have traveled Private Moon for ten years and

each time the moon reveals more space to me. The moon is a shining point that brings people together

from different countries, of different nationalities and cultures. And everyone who gets in its orbit does

not forget it ever. It gives fairytale and poetry in our prosy and mercantile world.

You have described this work as a visual poem, and often accompany your images with poetry too. Which comes first for you, the words or the images?

Poetry is born in the image. Before placing a Private moon in a place that I like, I look at it for a very long

time. Often this is the place that I see as the basis of the poem. In the first pictures you see my country

house, the bed on which I sleep and write poetry, I myself as a lonely poet and philosopher – in the hat

and cloak of my departed father. The world is beautiful around us, you just illuminate it with the light of

poetry! And for me, the light of the moon is the perfect poetry.

How has collaboration enriched your art practice?

I am grateful to everyone who walked by my side as I’m carrying the moon around the world. You see,

I’m an artist and a poet, I have no other life but to dance of the dance of the moon mad dervish. And if

someone comes up beside me and will dance with me, and if the stars respond to this dance – then a

miracle happens – an art is born. And I hope that everyone who danced with me got a bit of inspiration

for his work and for his life.

To see this amazing, ongoing project, and follow Leonid Tishkov and his Moon on a journey across the whole world, visit his blog!

PS. Tonight's (June 23rd) full moon will also be a Super Moon! So that means the moon will be closer to Earth than it has been during all of 2013. If the sky is clear where you live, go out and watch it!