Alexander Kosolapov

Alexander Kosolapov, New York: Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts, a similar work illustrated

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on its original canvas. There is one small patch that has been applied to the reverse on the shoulder of the figure in the lower left. This does not appear to correspond to any restoration and neither does there appear to be any restorations elsewhere. It seems more than likely that the picture is in perfect state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Alexander Kosolapov was an important figure in the Sots Art movement, which employed satirical criticism to parody Soviet symbols, Socialist Realist art, and Communist Party slogans.

From 1962 to 1968, Kosolapov was trained as a monumental sculptor at the Stroganov Institute of Art and Design in Moscow. After his graduation, he worked as a sculptor until his immigration to New York in 1975. Between 1981 and 1984, he was a co-editor of A-Ya, an important journal on Soviet nonconformist art published by the artist Igor Shelkovsky in Paris from 1979 to 1986.

Influenced by both Dada and Russian absurdist poetry of the 1920s, Kosolapov frees images from their traditional associations, often employing elements of parody and irony. His work also invites comparison with American Pop Art; just as American Pop artists utilized images from the mass media to satirize consumerism, Kosolapov uses images of Soviet propaganda and elements of Soviet kitsch to satirize Soviet ideological mass production.

Kosolapov appropriates major cultural icons for his compositions, as can be seen in Gorby. In this work, laden with multiple levels of symbolic meaning, the artist depicts the Soviet political leader Mikhail Gorbachev, while at the same time alluding to Andy Warhol's famous portrayals of Marilyn Monroe. Here, as in other works by the artist, Kosolapov evokes the similarities between Communist propaganda imagery and the iconic, popular images of capitalist society.

Kosolapov has described how, while perusing the excerpts of Warhol's writings published in the catalogue for the 1989 Warhol retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, he was fascinated to learn that Warhol saw parallels between Communist and capitalist societies.