Political Art / Putin Plays Poker (With Tony G)

Nadia Khuzina, MFA

I am proud to be Russian. All I hear in America is about how bad Russia is, how corrupt President Putin is, and how we need regime change in Russia. I won't claim everything is perfect in Russia, but I question whether people who have never even visited there should be voicing an opinion.

I see vast paralells between the American government and the Russian one. In fact, from the stories I hear, it seems America is could be even more corrupt and in need of not only regime change, but constitution change. Seriously, its just as messed up here as it is in Russia. As I have mentioned before, only family and weather tip the balance of my choice to live in the USA. I try to minimize the impact of politics when I seek happiness in life. I think a lot of people would make their life and country a lot better if they took this outlook. We are humans first.

As much as I deride the current American political situation, that doesn't mean I don't like the President of the USA, Barack Obama. I actually do. I liked George Bush (both of them), Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan as well. This is not a paradox either.

One person in a large problem filled country cannot be blamed for not fixing things instantly. You have to look at their intent, and the alternative outcomes. Russia would have been weaker today with almost any other person on this Earth if not for Vladimir Putin. I don't for one second suggest Russia doesn't have an extraordinary uphill battle in terms of politics, it does, but it could be much worse. The same goes for America. It's bad, but it really could be worse.

As I have learned from my professional poker playing husband; you often face situations in poker (and life) where you have to chose between losing, and losing even more with no possibility of winning. There is no reason for this, no higher being looking down, it is just sometimes down to luck. The difference in the game (and life), is not how you act when things go your way, but how you play when up against the wrong side of fortune. Some people like to punish themselves and lose as much as possible, while the winners realize their fate sooner and move on to the next hand knowing they did their best.

Politically, this is where a lot of countries in the world stand right now. It is a struggle almost everywhere. Instead of dreaming of utopia and relying on religion, people need to face reality and come up with a plan for themselves. People who blame Obama or Putin for all of their nation's troubles are very shortsighted. They selectively pick out the mistakes one person, out of hundreds of millions, made and dwell on it, instead of looking at the situation analytically. They play with their heart instead of their brain. This is not good strategy in any game.

The inspiration for this work: I am often watching poker and my previous work featuring Kim Jong-Il poker has proved to be my most popular yet.

My husband and I have lived in Lithuania where we know Tony G (I did another painting featuring his company TonyBet, which helped save Lithuanian Basketball). I have seen the videos of him trash talking Russians of course, and thought he was the perfect subject for this painting.

By all accounts, Tony G has earned quite a bit in Russia over the years in high stakes games, and I wanted to make sure Tony G finally had his mouth zipped shut when he meets the "final boss" of President Putin!

I consulted my husband over the details of the situation I was to paint. I wanted to accurately represent Tony G's mood and what weakness he is likely to show. He claims to be an expert in Russian psychology and mannerisms as far as poker players go so I allowed Putin's mood and hands reflect my husband's advice.

We watched some clips of the movie Rounders as he went on and on about how bad poker movies always are, and how every production seems to use a very cheap set of plastic chips that look poorly on camera. I agreed with my husband on this. The light definitely reflects much differently than the clay based chips, which have a rich porous matte look to them. The black chips I depicted are based on real Paulson "Hat & Cane" chips from the big budget movie Rounders, who could afford nice chips and had the set designers with brain.

The hand itself is a recreation of a high stakes heads-up hand my husband played against a well known Russian with real ties to the FSB (KGB). In that hand, the person he was playing flipped the table and smashed a chair in anger at himself for bluffing. In this hand Tony G has not got to that stage yet, but the cards he had have been thrown in anger.

Finally, the dealer is a self-portrait. I often like to include myself in my works incidentally. My ego is probably bigger than both of these men combined as well too. Tony G should have known better than to let me deal in this game!