Leonid Voitsekhov is a contemporary artist, art theorist, curator and writer. He was born and lived almost all his life in Odesa. He is a father of Odesa Conceptualism – a trend of art that claims that the main thing is not the form of the work, but its intellectual component. Most of Voitsekhov’s works are built on associations, wordplay and absurd situations that force the viewer to pay attention to non-obvious details. He was one of the first organizers of actions and performances in Odesa.

“Direct Speech” is the name of a very ironic well-known performance in which Leonid Voitsekhov, with his bare torso, becomes the central figure. The documentation of this action consists of nine photographs, which are part of a sequence that reveals the idea of ​​”direct speech” as a literary form. In the first photograph, the artist is sitting as if waiting. On the second, he solemnly raises his right hand, on which a colon is visible, symbolizing the beginning of a future quote or direct speech. The next photograph shows Voitsekhov with a quotation mark on his right palm. Then there are four almost identical pictures with the artist emotionally speaking some words and making a pause, which often accompanies the dialogue process. The following photograph shows Leonid, on whose left palm they are closing paws, completing the statement. In the last photo, in the center of the sheet, there is a small photo and a dot, which emphasizes the end of the statement.

The performance “Direct Language” questions traditional notions about the boundaries between art and communication, demonstrates the sequence of presenting an idea from its beginning, stages of meaningful components, and to the final of the action. The author’s ironic and at the same time self-confident look demands from the viewer a serious consideration of the actions during the performance. There are many examples when Odesa conceptualists concentrated on Russian idioms and used them in the situations of complete absurdity. It is difficult to propose something more absurd than the use of a human body for the presentation of an idiom. This is one of the reasons for the particular popularity of Leonid Voitsekhov’s performance “Direct Speech”. The approach chosen by the author, for all its surprise and irony, provides a very accurate representation of the idea and a full consideration of the viewer