Marxizm de Sad 1998

Arsen Savadov’s photograph, Marxizm de Sad, presents a tableau of figures staged amidst a wooded landscape. I wonder, what was it like to find this scene? You know, it is really hard to stage something weird! I guess the title alludes to two figures: Marx and the Marquis de Sade. It brings together politics and perversion. I can't help but wonder about the artist's intention. The figures wear rabbit ears. This makes me think of the Easter Bunny, and of Playboy. What is more capitalist than the Playboy empire? What is more weird? The bodies have a raw, almost vulnerable quality, juxtaposed with the fetish gear and woodland setting. This image presents a puzzle, a space of contradictions and ambiguities. It refuses any singular interpretation, embracing complexity and discomfort. It might have been a performance, a one-off event that took place and was never repeated, but captured for the viewer, such as you, to consider many years later.