 The narrative of The Untalented Artist describes the man as 50 years old (approximately Kabakov's age when he created this work), who took some art classes when he was younger and now works for the state.The paintings resemble the crude works created for propaganda, agitation and advertisements for official events.The narrative suggests the works are “a dreadful mixture of hack-work, simple lack of skill.” 

Another character, The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away collects and treasures ordinary and discarded items.