The artwork «Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination» was created during the 3nd Art Symposium (1993), the theme of which was «Art in Politics»
“Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination” is indicative of the artistic work of Gutoff. Influenced by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the artist denies the culture of the past and creates a new version of human culture putting emphasis on the process of writing. He uses elements of the past and transforms them into remarkable traces of modern time. In this work, he uses a phrase from Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” in which the king as a wondering madman symbolizes the grotesque of life and recreates it on copper strips in his own handwriting. Thus, Gutoff relates to the hero of the theatrical play, who has lost his reason and privileges, wanting to show the viewer how he felt under the light of the new Russian reality.
