Or Why My Nickname Is Don Valeri Grig de Kalaveras

Nearly 12 years ago the USSR - the country, where I was born and had citizenship, split into 15 sovereignties. Fate willed me to live in Estonia at that time. I was refused citizenship as those not Estonians, who had arrived in Estonia as far back as the USSR. The reason for the refusal was the fact that I was not born in Estonia and therefore had never been a citizen of that country. I was very disappointed. It was not very nice to live without citizenship somehow. So the years passed by: the first, the second, the third… To live on the Earth and not to be a citizen is almost indecent. And then I thought! There are not very big states such as Monaco, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein… And I decided to create my own state and compressed all its population into one person, i.e. into myself, where I am the people and a citizen, and the President and even a king. And I called it Kalaveras. Like every state, Kalaveras has all the attributes of a State system:

Kalaveras has its own flag. The dimension is an international standard of a state flag. The flag depicts an isosceles triangle against a white background with an eye inside it. The depiction symbolizes God’s all-seeing eye, which sees and evaluates our affairs and deeds. It also symbolizes a Human’s eye, looking into the world and craving to see God.

Kalaveras Hymn is the Beatles “Yellow Submarine”, because it fully corresponds to the spirit of Kalaveras as a state.

Kalaveras State Emblem is a schematic depiction of a Paper Ship as a symbol of a childhood dream.

Kalaveras Crown is a paper hat made of a newspaper in the form of a paper ship as a symbol of power and material world caducity.

"Kalaveras serves no one", which means full freedom within the limits of international morality standards and human rights.

Totalitarian-democratic monarchy based on anarchic-existentialistic views of a communist, that Kalaveras (that is me) has never been.

Kalaveras currency is paintings by Don Valeri Grig de Kalaveras, which can be exchanged to the currency of any country, but preferably to English pounds of sterling, American dollars, European euros.

Kalaveras position is determined by the following way: where Don Valeri Grig de Kalaveras is, - there is where Kalaveras is situated.

Kalaveras language is the language of painting and image from abstractionism up to surrealism, which is comprehensible for all sighted persons on the Planet Earth.

After having created and proclaimed myself as a country of Kalaveras, furthermore I can not use my name given me aborning because of two reasons:

1. I DO NOT WANT!
2. My name Valeri and my last name Dobrynin are widespread in Russia, especially in artistic spheres and show business. To escape in future any misunderstanding, connected with my namesakes, but not disowning my Russian origin and at the same time not being a citizen of the world but only self-declared citizen of Kalaveras - a virtual self-declared state, I have transformed my name and surname into Don Valeri Grig de Kalaveras - ACCORDING TO MY WHIM.

Where:

• DON means two first and the last letters of my last name - Dobrynin
• VALERI is my name given at birth
• GRIG is the abbreviation of my father’s name - Grigori
• DE KALAVERAS means from Kalaveras
• All these completely correspond to my family name and my status

Kalaveras

During my conscious life I have been contemplating and viewing the photo taken by my father in 1957 in the Crimea in Bahchisarai city where I was born. At first glance it is a poor quality, old amateurish photo of a boy who was accidentally captured next to the road leading to somewhere; the road which was known only to the boy and the photographer. And I have just understood how mystically and precisely my father managed to take a photo of what was impossible to capture - the beginning of the road to my life and to the country which existed only inside me; the country which would be depicted later in my pictures during my lifetime, the beginning of the real road to the Country of Kalaveras, assumed by me; the beginning of the road to a real implementation of a childhood dream.

At the beginning of the 60s one of my cousins presented me a book "The Legends of the Crime". That was a book for Soviet tourists and contained a homebred collection of legends, created at the request of tourist firms which were catering to the tourists visiting the Crimea and its places of interest. The book was illustrated with beautiful pictures from ancient heroes legendary lives.

At that time I was only 9-10 years old and it seemed to me that a simple truth was written into that book, especially the places, which had been described there, were very native and familiar to me.

When you were born in a place on Earth fanned with legends, where every stone is history, voluntarily or not, it arouses in you a childlike romantic fantasy and you begin to create your own legend, which afterwards, regardless of you, turns into your real life. Thus, I invented Kalaveras, my legendary Country, existing for me in my childish imagination, with my own heroes and astonishing castles, with my own seas, rivers and oceans, with amazing forests and even with my unique starry sky - Space. The main peculiarity of Kalaveras for me is that inside my Country the structure is based on values common to all mankind.

I was born and brought up in the family of an artist; perhaps that is why my childish imagination wasn’t oppressed by my parents. I started to paint early. It seems to me now that I have painted more inside me, in my imagination, than with my hands. And now like in a distant childhood I can distinctly, to the smallest details, see inside me, on the inner mirror of my subconscious mind, any pictures and then to depict them exactly. Just like in the childhood I can easily see the colors and lines inside me, freely making up any compositions. I can easily bear something being designed for years inside me, until it is accomplished into a real painting. I never sketch on paper or canvas; I make sketches with my eyes and subconscious mind. It is not only a matter of habit to remember everything what was seen since my childhood. Working on a picture like that, from a great amount of what was seen in the sub consciousness, a generalized image is drawn up. This image is without superfluous details, it is brought to perfection like a diamond, being weighed with consciousness to the hundredth of a carat. Therefore there are no fortuities in my paintings. Everything that a viewer can see sometimes may seem rude or even accidental; everything is the product of my sub consciousness. From a creative work perception - "WHAT?" i.e. the perception of my feelings and sensations up to the transformation into a visual pattern; and through, still in that very consciousness, the task solution - "HOW?", the technique of carrying out up to a real painting.

Somebody may think that a serious adult person has been playing childish sports for too long; and this somebody will say it's time you became mature and took a look around, or you need to consult a psychiatrist. But only a man knowing nothing about liberty and never craving for getting it even in his dreams, killing a divine spirit, is able to say that. I can step into Kalaveras and leave it whenever I want, be simultaneously in Kalaveras and in the real world, not step into Kalaveras and live in the real world. I do not need drugs or alcohol; my consciousness is able to see and imagine everything I need, for no particular reason, easily and freely. It is able to reach any level of my sub consciousness in a fraction of a second and come back. Kalaveras is my way to perfection. Perhaps, I will not manage to pass along it too far, but every step along this road is a great and joyful labour for the sake of my spirit.