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Petr (or Pyotr) Andreevich Pavlensky (Russian: Пётр Андреевич Павленский; born on March 8, 1984) is a Russian artist.Born in Leningrad in 1984, Pavlensky studied monumental art in Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy.[1][2] During his fourth year in the Academy, he took additional training at St. Petersburg Pro Arte Foundation for Culture and Arts (ru:Про Арте).[2]In 2012, in conjunction with Oksana Shalygina, Pavlensky founded an independent online periodical entitled Political Propaganda, dedicated to the topics of contemporary art in political context, "overcoming cultural chauvinism, implemented by the government", feminism and gender equality.[3] In 2013, the publication was awarded the Alternative Prize for Russian Activist Art in the category Actions Implemeted in Urban Space.[4]Pavlensky first became known for sewing his mouth shut in political protest against the incarceration of members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot.[2][5][6] On July 23, 2012, Pavlensky appeared at Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg with his lips sewn up and holding a banner that stated, "Action of Pussy Riot was a replica of the famous action of Jesus Christ (Matthew.21:12–13)".[2][7] The police called an ambulance and sent Pavlensky for psychiatric examination, but the psychiatrist declared him sane and released him shortly after the incident.[8] The artist stated that he was highlighting the lack of regard for artists in contemporary Russia.[needs copy edit][8] He said, "My intention was not to surprise anyone or come up with something unusual. Rather, I felt I had to make a gesture that would accurately reflect my situation."[9]On November 14, 2012, Reuters published its list of the 98 best photos of the year, including a photograph of Pavlensky with his mouth sutured in support of Pussy Riot.[10]On May 3, 2013, Pavlensky held a political protest against repressive government policies. His art performance was called Carcass.[11][12] His assistants brought him naked and wrapped in a multilayered cocoon of barbed wire to the main entrance of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg.[11][13][14][15] The artist remained silent laying still in a half-bent position inside the cocoon and did not react to the actions of others, until he was released by the police with the help of the garden clippers.In her interview with Radio Liberty, Pavlensky's colleague Oksana Shalygina mentioned that a metaphor of the action had its immediate realization in the reality: as soon as the barbed wire was cut off, and the artist was freed from it, «the same exact wire wrapped him back in as police, ambulance and numerous field investigators».[16]Later, Pavlensky made the following comment about his art work:A series of laws aimed at suppressing civic activism, intimidation of the population, steadily growing number of political prisoners, the laws against NGOs, the 18+ laws, censorship laws, activity of Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, "promotion of homosexuality" laws – all these laws aren't aimed against criminals, but against the people. And at last the Blasphemy law. That is why I organized this action. The human body is naked like a carcass, there is nothing on it except the barbed wire, which by the way was invented for protection of livestock. These laws like the wire, keep people in individual pens: all this persecution of political activists, "prisoners of May, 6", governmental repressions is the metaphor of the pen with the barbed wire around it. All this has been done in order to turn people into gutless and securely guarded cattle, which can only consume, work, and reproduce.: Dmitry Volchek, «Cultural Diary: On Good Friday», Radio Liberty, May 8, 2013[17]On November 10, 2013, while sitting naked on the stone pavement in front of the Lenin's Mausoleum on the Red Square, Moscow, Pavlensky hammered a large nail through his scrotum affixing it to the stone pavement. His action coincided with the annual Russian Police Day. When the police arrived, they covered him with a blanket and later arrested him.[18] "A naked artist, looking at his testicles nailed to the cobblestone is a metaphor of apathy, political indifference, and fatalism of Russian society", declared Pavlensky in his statement to the media.[19]On 23 February 2014 Pavlensky organized the action named Freedom in support of Maidan and 2014 Ukrainian Revolution. The artist and his friends built an imitation barricade on Tripartite Bridge in Saint Petersburg, burned tires, beat drums and shouted Maidan slogans. The action was interrupted by Saint Petersburg police who arrested Pavlensky and his colleagues.[20][21][22]On 25 February 2014, Dzerzhinsky Criminal Court stopped the administrative case against Pavlensky and his assistant Yaroslav Gradil (Russian: Ярослав Градиль) on the accusations of hooliganism and released them from prison. An investigation into Pavlensky's alleged violation of the regulations on political meetings continued.[23] He was charged with vandalism due to his burning of tyres.[24]On 19 October 2014, Pavlensky cut off his earlobe with a chef's knife while sitting naked on the roof of the infamous Serbsky Center in protest against political abuse of psychiatry in Russia.[25]In 2012 Pavlensky participated in the alumni and students art exhibition Oculus Two organized by Pro Arte Foundation.[26] In 2013, in front of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, organized a street art exhibition Ghosts of Identity, which came as a project of his Political Propaganda periodical. Video, in Russian. Source, in Russian.