country's chief brain prefers life as cartoonist
by Tatyana Patina
Huub Golstejn / The St. Petersburg Times
Andrei Bilzho, ex-psychiatrist and creator of cartoon character Petrovich. |
Best known as the creator of Petrovich, the beloved cartoon character who first graced the pages of the Kommersant daily 10 years ago, Andrei "Petrovich" Bilzho started his career on an entirely different path - psychiatry. Having worked for several years as a psychiatrist at Kashchenko, the country's best-known psychiatric hospital, the doodling doctor gradually gave up medicine for drawing. His fictional fool is now the honorary host at the popular Petrovich, a club dressed in irony and nostalgia. As for Bilzho himself, he graces television screens each week as NTV's "glavny mozgoved" - or chief brain of the country. He spoke with The St. Petersburg Times about the rise of Petrovich and his future singing career. Q: How did you become a cartoonist? A: I don't even remember, because I have been drawing for quite a long time. My first caricature was published in 1975. And I think the 15 years that followed were a kind of prelude to this new career. When I was a student and later a psychiatrist, my work ran in various newspapers. This was a period of caricatures without words featuring different bureaucrats - a realm of Aesopian language. It seems history chooses our genres, as well as our path in life. I think the changes in our history changed my life a great deal. For the first time it was possible for me to devote myself to painting and graphic arts. And then by degrees I left psychiatry and indulged more and more in caricatures. Q: Are you now in a field that is right for you? A: Yes, no doubt about it. But I have always felt that I was in the right business - no matter what. It doesn't matter to me what I do as long as I get pleasure and satisfaction from it. Even if, in the past, I got involved in something that did not really seem like it was my business, it turned out to be a positive experience. The television program "Itogo" is one example, and we won a TEFI [Russian television award] prize for it. Q: When did you draw your first cartoon? A: I began drawing as a child. I have always loved to draw, but never learned how to do it professionally. But if I have a piece of paper and a pencil at hand I always draw. Q: How do you define caricature? A: It's difficult to say. Our definition of caricature differs from that in the West. There, what I draw would most probably be considered cartoons. But here it caught on as caricatures. This genre gives me the opportunity to comment on the concrete events of our life today - on the absurdity - and give the issue a more global meaning. Caricatures have an important place in our newspapers, because they serve as articles without words. A picture sometimes influences readers more effectively than words. The reader's eye catches the information quickly and will remember it for a long time. Caricatures are like spices that make food more delicious. Q: When did your character Petrovich first appear, and what, exactly, does he symbolize for you? A: Petrovich showed up about 10 years ago, when I started working for Kommersant. If our national folk hero, Ivanushka-Durachok, is a country fool, then Petrovich is a city lunatic. He is, in many ways, a composite character - an optimist who finds himself in many embarrassing situations, as does everyone in our country. But in spite of all the difficulties he faces, he maintains his self-respect. Sure, he may break his arms and legs occasionally, but he recuperates quite quickly. He is a strange fellow. Q: For a brief period last year an animated version of Petrovich appeared on [ORT] television. Where did he go? A: Leonid Parfyonov [NTV's director of special projects], a man whose excellent taste I respect, originally wanted to arrange for Petrovich to appear on NTV. But something went wrong. I still don't understand what. By that time the work had already been finished, and it seemed a pity to let it go to waste. Instead, we started to look around for a solution and signed a contract with ORT. Petrovich aired five days a week for six months. And then the contract was finished. That was it. After that ORT [director] Konstantin Ernst wouldn't see us any more, and NTV didn't want to talk to us [after Petrovich aired on ORT]. Q: When and how did the idea for your popular Club Petrovich come about? A: The idea had been there for a long time, but the club only came into being three years ago. There were many components that led to its opening. Petrovich became more and more popular - almost legendary. And then there was an exhibition dedicated to his favorite things - clothes, food and so on - at the Roza Azora gallery. They featured all sorts of things from our Soviet past - things we now associate with nostalgia. And, finally, Moscow had no clubs for its cultural, art-loving audience. We wanted to create a restaurant, gallery and museum all in one - a place that had a homey atmosphere, surrounded by all the objects of our childhood and youth, but with a twist of irony. And no politics. This is how Club Petrovich began, and why it continues to be successful. Q: And what about your new Petrovich-Puteshestvennik [Traveling Petrovich] restaurant? A: If at Petrovich we are traveling back in time, then Petrovich-Puteshestvennik is dedicated to traveling through space. We created a menu representing Petrovich's different journeys, cooking the food he tried in various countries. He was in Africa, England, etc. where he found that all people are equal. Q: What do you have to do to become a member of the club? A: You need to have a sense of humor. If you can smile at yourself, come to the club, fill in the form and you'll get a card. Q: You appear every week on Viktor Shenderovich's "Itogo" program on NTV, giving commentary from "a small mental hospital." What is it like being the glavny mozgoved, or chief brain, of the country? A: It is very pleasant working with such a nice group of people. We are friends and were friends before the program. Our union is a creative one, and it is nice for me to use my psychiatric knowledge. And I like it when people recognize me and call me the country's chief brain. Q: What creative plans do you have for future? A: I have a lot of plans, including music. I am recording a CD of 10 songs, singing together with the group Posledny Shans (Last Chance). The working title of the disc is "Moscow's Little Tragedies," and the songs are quite idiotic. They are about mobile phones, pagers - about everything we see around us and more. At the same time, I am working on an album at the Kit Art studio with Nikita Golovanov, the chief artist at Kommersant. This should come out in the new year. And recently I finished illustrating an alphabet book for children published by Vagrius. Q: Do you have anything else to tell our readers in conclusion? A: I find it very interesting when people approach me with different ideas and activities. I was offered a role in a movie playing the part of a psychiatrist, for example. What I would say to your readers is do not to be afraid to try to prove yourself in different fields. If you don't get results, it's not so terrible. If a surgeon can't do his job well, it's bad. If a nuclear warmonger makes mistakes, it's very bad. But in fields that are less dangerous, you should put yourself to the test. Andrei Bilzho can be seen on NTV's "Itogo" program at 10 p.m. on Sundays.
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