Oleg Kotelnikov • Portrait of Hannelore Fobo with Camera, 2017

Oleg Kotelnikov • Portrait of Hannelore Fobo with Camera

Олег Котельников • Портрет Ханнелоре Фобо с камерой

Filmed by Hannelore Fobo 31 May and 2 June, 2017, at the New Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg.
The works displayed on the walls are prints on canvas of Timur Novkov's ‘Horizons’.

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Asked by his artist friend (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, Oleg Kotelnikov draws a portrait of curator and art-collector Hannelore Fobo. While he is drawing with both hands, he explains (in Russian) the advantages of Japanese ink-pens and English hand-made paper (31.05.2017)

As she is being portrayed, Hannelore Fobo is holding the camera in her right hand, filming Oleg Kotelnikov. Her posture becomes part of the portrait.

Pictures for end titles: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov and Hannelore Fobo, Berlin

In the background: Kozlov´s paintings from 2017

Two days later, 2 June, 2017, Oleg Kotelnikov asks Evgenij Kozlov to solve a riddle he made up: змей, уздечка, два сердечка, речка - a serpent, reins (bridle), two hearts, a river – what is this?

Evgenij's answer is given in the end titles of the film:
Portrait of Hannelore Fobo with Camera

змей, a serpent = the nose
уздечка, reins = the ears
два сердечка, two hearts = the eyes
речка, a river = the mouth (from речь / speech)

Filmed and edited by Hannelore Fobo.

Oleg Kotelnikov: "Portrait of Hannelore Fobo with camera”
Marker on canvas, 40 x 30 cm, 2017

P.S. Oleg Kotelnikov himself offers a different solution to the riddle – the Equestrian Statue of Peter the Great pointing towards the River Neva, the horse trampling a serpent.

Not being fully convinced by this answer, Kozlov wrote down his objection in a letter to Kotelnikov, his main argument being that in this case there should be three hearts, not two: those of Peter, the horse, and the serpent.

Letter by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov to Oleg Kotelnikov, 2017