The context is important here. Remember, what is 1979? In the “decaying West”, there is a computer revolution. There is an incredible seething of energies, a passionate explosion. In the U.S., there is a consumption boom. At the same time, in the USSR, the era of stagnation is in full swing. Propaganda on the background of growing scarcity. But at the same time, 1979 was a time of rapid scientific and technological progress and a paradoxical flowering of culture! Such a strange time of disappointments, successes and hopes. And all these fears, doubts and optimism became part of the large-scale work of Petr Belenok — the creator of the unique concept of “panic realism”.

The works of “Vasya the Lanternman” — Vasil Yaklich — Vasily Yakovlevich Sitnikov are a rarity at auction. And so characteristic of his nude — a rarity and even more so. That's exactly the kind of Sitnikov collectors are after. Sitnikov, as it is commonly said, is a legend of the 1960s. A self-taught man who went through hell in prison and a mental hospital. No formal education. Only books, museums, lectures at the Surikov Institute (there he showed slides on a projector — hence the “lanternman”). Vasily Sitnikov is in the top of the most expensive 1960s artists.

Vasily Yakovlevich Sitnikov is a legend of unofficial art of the thaw era. His nickname Vasya the Lanternman is due to the fact that he worked on a projector for showing transparencies at the Surikov Institute. A virtuoso artist who was able to paint a picture with a broom or a floor brush was actually self-taught or a person of natural gifts (whoever you like). He painted beautifully and kept a whole “academy” of his students.