Gor Chakhal is a man with a history, having experience in mathematics and rock song writing. His main profile, though, is as a figure in contemporary fine art. He is an artist before all else and an artist with a solid professional reputation.
He is — unjustifiably — less well-known as an author of texts in verse and prose.
I use the term “author of texts” for the sole purpose of avoiding, so far as possible, the words “poet” and “prose writer”. But this is not a pretension to pass judgement or, if it is, then not in favour of “poets”.
There is poetry written by poets. But there is another kind of poetry, which has an important cultural niche, namely the poetry of musicians, philologists and artists. And to me personally such poetry is, to say the least, no less interesting than “poetic poetry”.
The poetry written by a poet is valuable and significant precisely to the extent that the poet is able to overcome the entrenched and, to my mind, justified conviction that poetry is impossible. However, the poetry of a “non-poet” is perceived and assessed using quite different criteria. Such poetry is sometimes read with sympathy, but never with pity. For an artist — I mean for a contemporary artist — poetic and other literary pursuits are only a component part or special cases of his visual practice. Therein lies their interest.
I am not sure that the author will agree with me. Most probably not. But I leave that to the judgement of those who attend our next meeting, at which they will be able to hear what Gor Chakhal himself has to say.
Lev Rubinstein
