humor magazine "fenamizah" has been published
- NEWS
- Sat, 26 Oct 2024 11:19:07 +0330
Artist
Biography
Roman Genn - Russia
Genn was born in Moscow, in 1972 at the height of the Cold War.
He quickly sized up the political realities of his country and so, at age 5, he began to collaborate with the communist regime by drawing propaganda posters for his kindergarten class, including "THANK YOU, COMRADE BREZHNEV, FOR OUR HAPPY CHILDHOOD".
This work earned him extra food, cool toys and soft toilet paper.
In his early teens, ungrateful for his free education and Soviet health care, a greedy and unpatriotic Genn began to draw a series of reactionary caricatures critical of the government and the Soviet system.
At first, these attempts were merely an adolescent ploy for cheap popularity and a way to look cool in front of girls.
Later, however, when he attempted to sell these works on the streets of Moscow, many unpleasant encounters with police officials ensued.
Reprimands were handed out by the administration of the Moscow Art College, which had been foolish enough to admit him.
It was time to leave the Motherland, and through the kindness of strangers Genn landed in Los Angeles in 1991, where he lives and prospers.
Since accomplishing the American dream (owning a car wash or body shop) was out of Genn's league, he had to stoop to selling his caricatures to, among others, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, New York Daily News, International Herald Tribune, Newsday, Newsweek, Harper/Collins, Penguin Group (USA), Saatchi & Saatchi, TV Guide, Barron's, The American Lawyer, and many other publications.
Genn is a contributing editor of The National Review, and one of his more scandalous Clinton-era covers generated protests on the streets of New York and Washington D.C., as well as a New York Times article and a CNN Crossfire "debate" on the subject of freedom of speech in cartoons and caricatures. Genn proudly accepts the title of "The attack dog that Buckley unleashed upon humanity" given to him by the great David Levine of the New York Review of Books.
Sent to Moscow by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Newsday to cover the Russian Presidential election of 1996 Genn had to be bailed out by his sponsors after the Moscow police realized he was back in their jurisdiction.
In the years 2000-2002 the Los AngelesTimes published Genn's bi-weekly feature, "The Gallery by Roman Genn," where he turned his pen on unsuspecting citizens of this great metropolis.
The Ethnic Grievance Industry regularly brings Genn's modest renderings to the attention of News Networks and TV shows, such as ABC's Nightline, CBS' 60 minutes, CNN’s Crossfire, NBC's Dateline, among the others.
Genn's caricatures have been featured in several personal, as well as many group exhibitions.
In 2006 James Gray Gallery had the first showing of his oil paintings “Sic transit Gloria Mundi”, which paid homage to the genius of old white men, the only group that stoically withstood abuse and humiliation from Genn's poisonous pencil.
