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Russian communists protest Stallone art exhibition
Party calls Sly an 'insolent American invader, sadist and Russophobe'.
Communists in Russia have long memories, it seems, particularly where Rambo is concerned.
The Russian Communist party has failed to get an art exhibition of Sylvester Stallone's paintings in St Petersburg banned.
The exhibition, called ‘Sylvester Stallone. Painting. From 1975 Until Today’, opened earlier this week at the State Russian Museum, home to many of the country's best known works.
[Sylvester Stallone 'hated' Arnold Schwarzenegger]
Yet it's the 67-year-old action star's oeuvre from the 80s which continues to aggrieve certain corners of Russian politics, with a statement from the Communist Party of Leningrad Oblast delivering a scathing attack on the actor, director and painter.
“For those who were born and raised in the Soviet Union, Rambo/Stallone will always be an embodiment of Cold War and the U.S. military machine, someone who kills countless Soviet soldiers and our Vietnamese comrades, a maniacal fighter against the so called 'red threat',” read a statement.
“An insolent American invader, sadist and Russophobe has settled for a month [at a venue] where masterpieces of Russian painting have been on display for more than a century.”
[Rambo TV series in the works]
Sergei Malinkovich, who is the leader of the St Petersburg Communists echoed the sentiments, and called for the museum to cancel the exhibition.
“Stallone referred to our country as an evil empire, he was a soldier of [Ronald] Reagan,” he said.
“Renowned artists and characters of their paintings wouldn’t want to be placed next to daub by a Cold War relic, filled with hatred.”
The exhibition has so far gone ahead unabated, featuring 36 of Stallone's paintings.
Speaking at the opening, which attracted over 1000 visitors, Sly said: “I think I'm a much better painter than an actor.
“It's much more personal and I'm allowed to just do what I want to do. Quite often in acting you have to play a certain part, you cannot speak as much as you want to speak.
“I suppose the heroes don't talk much, you have to be very stoic.”
Stallone, who studied art before moving into film, has previously exhibited his work in Miami and Switzerland.
