Exhibit Honors Caricatures of Russian President

On Tuesday, March 25th, an exhibit titled “Hallo Medved [sic, a purposefully misspelled phrase equaling something like “hallo bare”], or A Morning in the Pine Woods,” opened in the gallery of the commonwealth of artists, located on the Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. As the Fontanka.ru internet newspaper reports, the exhibit is comprised entirely of caricatures of the incoming Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, whose surname derives from the Russian word for “bear.”

As organizers explained, the exhibit is coordinated with the International Day of the Bear, and dedicated to the newly elected Russian president “with the lucky last name,” as well as the popular “Medved” personality floating in the blogosphere. The latter reference comes from an internet meme that swept the Russian internet, featuring a cartoon bear shouting “Preved!” (Hallo!) upon discovering an unsuspecting couple making love in the woods.

Each caricature features a bear and plays on a topical political theme, the REGNUM news agency explains. The presentation features artwork by Nikolai Zhigotsky, Yevgeny Osipov, Aleksandr Sergeyev, Vyacheslav Shilov and other artists. The gallery is sure that the exhibit “should continue the ancient tradition of political caricatures in our county.”

Some of the artwork follows, all sourced from Fontanka.ru:

Caption: Wharse evaryone? [sic]

The buttons read: Ivanov / Petrov / Medvedev