Vladimir Slepian

Vladimir Slepian, a.k.a. Eric Pid (Russian: Владимир Слепян / Эрик Пид; 1930 – 7 July 1998) is a French artist and writer of Russian-Jewish origin.

Son of a repressed and executed Soviet functionary, Vladimir Slepian was born in Prague and resided in Leningrad before moving to Moscow. He began his university studies in mathematics, continuing as a student of fine art. In 1956 Slepian moved to Moscow. He attended the Picasso exhibition at the Pushkin Museum and presented his paintings to David Burliuk, who was then staying at Hotel Moskva. Burliuk inspired Slepian to look towards the way Jackson Pollock deposited paint on canvas with broad, lunging, spontaneous gestures. Slepian’s style evolved towards happening and performance art. He devoted several years to action painting. On one occasion, Slepian conducted a séance of simultaneous painting in collaboration with Yuri Zlotnikov. They suspended a bedsheet in the middle of a room and each of them painted one side of it whilst following the actions of his partner on the other side through the translucent fabric. Slepian created abstract paintings using a gas torch and paint dispensed out of a pump. He is said to have worked on a canvas a few kilometers long, by pouring paint on it from a truck. Slepian also made a pilgrimage to Nazım Hikmet, who assured him and his friends that modern art will prevail over political oppression. In 1957 Paris' Right Bank Galerie Daniel Cordier mounted an anonymous exhibition of paintings by Vladimir Slepian, smuggled out of Moscow by its owner.

Vladimir Slepian emigrated to France in 1958, by way of Poland. In 1960 he conducted a performance of “transfinite painting” ("трансфинитная живопись") in Paris. Slepian sprinted along a roll of paper a hundred meters long, depositing paint in a manner that recalled calligraphy. Slepian competed with Georges Mathieu, by creating a picture in ninety seconds. He is said to have turned a road into an action painting by throwing paint onto it whilst riding a motorcycle. In 1963, Slepian gave up painting, resolving to concentrate on writing. He founded a successful translation bureau, explaining his ambition as using his intelligence to put others to work for his benefit, whilst enjoying idleness. His business operated successfully until its manager quit in a protest against Slepian’s despotism.

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