SOTHEBY S SALE OF RUSSIAN ART IN NEW YORK TO FEATURE SESSION DEDICATED TO POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS ON APRIL 15, 2008

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Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York: Lauren Gioia Susan Ollinick 212-606-7176 SOTHEBY S SALE OF RUSSIAN ART IN NEW YORK TO FEATURE SESSION DEDICATED TO POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS ON

1 Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York: Lauren Gioia Susan Ollinick SOTHEBY S SALE OF RUSSIAN ART IN NEW YORK TO FEATURE SESSION DEDICATED TO POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS ON APRIL 15, 2008 AES+F, Last Riot, Panorama #4, AES+F 67 x 100 in. (est. $180/220,000) Following the successful results of Sotheby s second sale of Russian Contemporary Art in London on March 12 th, which totaled 4.1 million, above the high estimate of 3.8 million, the sale of Russian Art in New York on April 15, 2008 will also feature a section devoted to Post-War and Contemporary Art. This session will include 130 important works by Oleg Vassiliev, Oscar Rabin, Evgeny Rukhin, Komar & Melamid, Ilya Kabakov, Grisha Bruskin, Svetlana Kopystiansky, Alexander Kosolapov and the artistic collective AES+F, and others, covering the wide range of subjects, styles, and approaches of important contemporary Russian artists who had far-reaching impact on the development of modernist art in the former Soviet Union. Russian Post War and Contemporary Art In July 1988 Sotheby s held the first auction of Russian avant-garde and Soviet contemporary art in Moscow, and on February 15, 2007 Sotheby s London held the first ever dedicated sale of Modern and Contemporary Russian Art. In keeping with that distinguished tradition, the forthcoming April auction exemplifies the wide range of subjects, styles, and approaches of important contemporary Russian artists who had far-reaching impact on the development of modernist art in the former Soviet Union.

By the late 1950s, as Soviet artists became more conscious of Western art movements, they responded in various ways, expressing their discontent with the official Socialist Realist aesthetics in

Art became divided into official - which was given exhibition halls and government subsidies because it promoted ideas of Socialism and glorified the Soviet state, the industry and the Communist

2 By the late 1950s, as Soviet artists became more conscious of Western art movements, they responded in various ways, expressing their discontent with the official Socialist Realist aesthetics in preference to a wide range of modernist styles. Art became divided into official - which was given exhibition halls and government subsidies because it promoted ideas of Socialism and glorified the Soviet state, the industry and the Communist Party leaders -- and unofficial or nonconformist, which was completely deprived of governmental support. Oscar Rabin played a central role as both an initiator and a driving force behind Moscow s unofficial art movement. Although he began as a conventional painter in the realist manner, he soon became dissatisfied with Soviet official art. Pivotal to Rabin s artistic development was his appreciation for children s art, which influenced his angular distortion of forms and served as a psychological and formal model throughout his career. Instead of portraying officially-sanctioned images of Soviet prosperity, Rabin chose to depict the mundane and the everyday, as exemplified in City With Moon (Socialist City), 1959 (est. $120/160,000)*. Also included is Da Nyet, 1975, by the important Leningrad artist, Evgeny Rukhin (est. $60/80,000). Rukhin was also one of the original artists behind the unofficial art movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1963, when an exhibition of American graphic arts traveled to the Soviet Union, Rukhin went to the show in both its Moscow and Leningrad venues. The exhibition had a major impact on his artistic development. For the first time, he saw the works of such American artists as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Jim Dine. Influenced by the work of his American contemporaries, Rukhin began to create paintings consisting of monochromatic fields, stenciled phrases, and richly textured assemblages. Most of Rukhin s works are now found outside of Russia. Only a few works remain there, some of which were given away as gifts by the artist; others were purchased by rare collectors of nonconformist art. 2

Oleg Vassiliev s art is closely linked with that of his friend and fellow nonconformist artist Eric Bulatov who is depicted in the artist s By a Campfire, Erik Bulatov, 1962 (est. $120/150,000).

While in Moscow, Bulatov s and Vassiliev s studios were side by side, and the two saw each other almost every day for many years.

3 Oleg Vassiliev s art is closely linked with that of his friend and fellow nonconformist artist Eric Bulatov who is depicted in the artist s By a Campfire, Erik Bulatov, 1962 (est. $120/150,000). Beginning in the early 1960s, Vassiliev began illustrating children s books with Bulatov. While in Moscow, Bulatov s and Vassiliev s studios were side by side, and the two saw each other almost every day for many years. But in 1989, in the period leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bulatov moved to Paris, while Vassiliev left for New York in The present work captures the artist's memories of his artist friend. Vassiliev has created a portrait of Bulatov that is infused with luminosity and a poetic spirit. Dried flowers, usually associated with lovers and memory books, are here meant to recall the days when Vassiliev and Bulatov worked together. Vassiliev views the canvas as a boundary between the tangible world and the world of memory and feeling; the picture plane connects these two worlds. His work is seen as a melding of the two major traditions in Russian art: nineteenth-century realist painting and the early twentieth-century avant-garde. The concept of light is an important element of Vassiliev s work, exemplified by Home II from the Series White House, October (cover lot 235, est. $40/50,000) Having studied industrial architecture, Semen Faibisovich turned to painting in 1978, impressed by the work of the American Photorealist artist Richard Estes. Attracted by quotidian reality, Faibisovich depicts ordinary Soviet people in his photo-based paintings. While living in the gloomy expanses of a new neighborhood on the outskirts of Moscow, he spent many hours riding the bus between his home and the subway. During his commute, he would shoot roll after roll of film; these drab amateur photographs became the basis of thematic series of paintings, including On the Platform, (est. $100/120,000) from the cycle Moscow Commuter Train ( ). 3

Sots Art and Conceptual Art Many Nonconformist artists created works which mocked the clichés of Socialist Realist art.

The sale includes an important work by Kosolapov, Five Prints from the Series Mother Russia, 1982 (est. $10/15,000) where the artist takes on the role of St.

Sebastian is usually presented as a handsome, almost nude young man, his body tied to a tree or column and pierced with arrows.

The East-West dichotomy is addressed throughout Leonid Sokov s oeuvre, often in the form of works juxtaposing emblems of Soviet and American society. In Marilyn and Stalin, 1990 (No.

4 Sots Art and Conceptual Art Many Nonconformist artists created works which mocked the clichés of Socialist Realist art. Alexander Kosolapov cast himself as the star of an inventive series of still photographs that blend the arts of performance and photography. The sale includes an important work by Kosolapov, Five Prints from the Series Mother Russia, 1982 (est. $10/15,000) where the artist takes on the role of St. Sebastian (one of the five prints, at left). One of the most popular subjects in Renaissance art, St. Sebastian is usually presented as a handsome, almost nude young man, his body tied to a tree or column and pierced with arrows. Here, the artist frees the image of its usual associations be representing himself as the saint and positioning himself under the emblem of the soviet state the hammer and sickle. The East-West dichotomy is addressed throughout Leonid Sokov s oeuvre, often in the form of works juxtaposing emblems of Soviet and American society. In Marilyn and Stalin, 1990 (No. 7 of 20), estimated to bring $15/20,000, and The Chase, 1991 (est. $20/30,000), Sokov pairs one of the leading American icons Marilyn Monroe with two unmistakable symbols of the Soviet Union: a Russian bear and Joseph Stalin. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid are most widely recognized as the originators of the Sots Art movement in the 1970s, but the collaborative pair has created various conceptual projects, including two works in this sale, both part of the artists series Anarchistic Synthesism, The triptych Composition with Missiles (Landscape Inspired by Rothko), est. $120/150,000, is one of Komar and Melamid s most impressive works. It includes various objects of everyday use, images of missiles, and a soaring figure in the sky. With its rich layering of associations, symbols and signs within a work that combines figuration with abstraction, Composition with Missiles suggests the internal and external human environment and its fateful cycle. In Footsteps on the Stairs (est. $100/120,000), seen below, the 4

artists have fused academic realism and Abstract Expressionism. One of the two panels shows a young girl, while the other panel features a gestural splash of almost monochrome color.

girl s pose, while her frightened glance conveys a sense of danger.

5 artists have fused academic realism and Abstract Expressionism. One of the two panels shows a young girl, while the other panel features a gestural splash of almost monochrome color. The former demonstrates the artists technical virtuosity; the young subject s facial expression has been captured with extraordinary skill and they have convincingly rendered the tension through the girl s pose, while her frightened glance conveys a sense of danger. A real hammer attached to the panel symbolizes a phallus, alluding to the source of the little girl's distress: the footsteps of a stranger on the stairs. For a time, Footsteps on the Stairs was displayed in the residence of the American Ambassador in Moscow. Conceptual artists visual experiments with image and text were another important development in Nonconformist art. Ilya Kabakov was a leader of the Moscow Conceptualist School in the Soviet unofficial art movement. He has often described how his interest in combining word and image in his works resulted from his many years of work as an illustrator of children s books. Kabakov began his experimentation with word/image art in his albums, a genre he started developing in 1972 which allowed him to introduce the fourth dimension -- time into his work. The viewer was to turn the pages one by one, an action that, as Kabokov envisioned, was to deliver an experience comparable to that of viewing a theatrical performance. The albums present a fictionalized typical Soviet citizen who is a small man fully subordinate to the collective social mindset, feature seemingly unrelated statements and comments issued by a range of voices. Kabakov created a total of fifty albums. The first ten considered the most significant were produced in the early 1970s under the title Ten Characters. The present work, The Complete Album Flying Komarov (est. $200/250,000) containing 32 original drawings from 1978, was album six of Ten Characters. The fictional Komarov is in despair, after having excrutiating discussions with his wife. He opens the balcony door and steps outside to get some fresh air, but suddenly sees people flying with objects of their everyday existence hovering in between them. Wishing to be airborne as well, Komarov waves his arms and tries to take off after them. At the 1988 Sotheby s auction in Moscow the first of its kind in Russia Grisha Bruskin s entries garnered around one million dollars; one lot went for over $416,000. That same year, the artist emigrated to the United States, where he has become one of the most successful and widely exhibited Russian émigré artists. He has explored two themes the myths of Judaism and socialism. Metamorphoses #14, 1993 (est. $60/80,000), based 5

loosely on kabbalistic thought, is divided into four parts, referring to the four letters of God s name in Hebrew; the four living creatures described in the vision of Ezekiel (man, lion, bull,

6 loosely on kabbalistic thought, is divided into four parts, referring to the four letters of God s name in Hebrew; the four living creatures described in the vision of Ezekiel (man, lion, bull, eagle); the four keys to the Garden of Eden, and the four elements (fire, air, earth, and water). The two dominating colors, red and black, represent Creation and Nothingness, respectively. These works, do not so much interpret kabbalistic passages as exist in their aura. The basis of many of Svetlana Kopystiansky s works is a literary text, as visualized in The Story, 1987 (est. $50/70,000). She draws from a range of texts, both classic and contemporary, including Russian novels, short stories, and plays. In every case what is most important is that the text is found it was written by someone other than the artist and then rewritten by hand by Kopystiansky. Recent Trends For the past twenty years the artistic collective AES has interrogated the boundaries of contemporary art. The projects of AES and later, AES+F, as the group has been known since 1995, have incorporated a wide range of media, involving a plethora of cutting-edge photographic, cinematographic, computerrelated and sculptural technologies. The group s name is an acronym of the surnames of its artists: Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky, and Vladimir Fridkes. The present work Last Riot, Panorama #4, seen on page one (ext. $180/220,000) belongs to the epic cycle Last Riot. It features underage models engaged in an endless virtual battle in which everyone is at war with each other and with themselves, and where there is no distinction between victim and aggressor, male and female. This lot is an example of the technical perfection central to AES+F s work in digital collage. The group s working method involves photographing the main elements of a piece the landscape and the child models, who have been of various nationalities and then digitally assembling the composition and introducing graphically-designed elements such as futuristic fortifications and exotic buildings. The artists have likened their creative practice to that of the Old Masters, who would paint figures, landscapes and other surroundings and details separately and then transfer all the elements to a single composition on canvas. * Estimates do not include buyer s premium. # # # 6

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