ERIK BULATOV | BEZOPASNO (COUPLE IN THE COUNTRY)

Galerie Gorky Basmadjian, Paris

Vienna, Albertina, Kunst im Untergrund, Nonkonformistische Künstler aus der Sowjetunion, 1999-2000

Exhibition catalogue Kunst im Untergrund, Nonkonformistische Künstler aus der Sowjetunion, Vienna: Albertina, 1999, p.20, no.5 illustrated

In this composition the couple appears to be simultaneously occupying two distinct and unresolvable spaces - picnicking on a red rug in in the country and sitting on the red floor of a square interior. This visual contradiction creates a sense of unease, Bulatov challenges the viewer's lazy reading of a pastoral scene. To see is not to understand.

This work on paper is not a study but belongs to the artist's 'pocket' works. Made at a time when he did not have permission to take his large-scale canvases out of the Soviet Union for foreign exhibition, these 'pocket' works are concentrated versions of his paintings which is why they are so powerful.

The full-size version of this composition, and its partner Danger, are in the Norton Dodge collection at the Zimmerli museum.