Pussy Riot founder uses art and ashes as ammo for an anti-Putin exhibit

In an upstairs corner of the Jeffrey Deitch gallery, Nadya Tolokonnikova steps quietly into a dark, closet-size vault where the founder of the Pussy Riot art collective has mounted three vials of ashes to canvases on the walls. They hang within frames covered in fuzzy faux-fur and have labels helpfully marked with measurements: “5 grams,” “30 grams” and “100 grams.” “This is the mausoleum of Putin,” says Tolokonnikova, sounding more playful than solemn, describing this small part of her art installation, “Putin’s Ashes,” a weeklong exhibition of political agitprop aimed against the Russian president opening Friday. She has a vision.” Pussy Riot rose from an obscure Moscow activist group to become an international force through the chaotic performance of its “Punk Prayer” at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in February 2012. For “Pussy Riot: Putin’s Ashes,” Fairey created a fiery poster art in shades of black, white and pink, and he is now collaborating with Tolokonnikova on an NFT that will raise money in support of Ukraine. In December, she appeared with artist Judy Chicago on a panel at Art Basel and unveiled a textile-based collaboration titled “What If Women Ruled the World?” Chicago, a groundbreaking feminist artist, met the Pussy Riot creator after reading Tolokonnikova’s book, “Read and Riot,” which Chicago says included “numerous passages that could have been said by me.” “It has been amazing to connect so deeply with Nadya across generations, geography, culture and experience,” Chicago adds via email.