Komar and Melamid

Sotheby's London, The Russian Sale, 28 November 2006, Lot 174
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

New York, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Business as Usual, 7 January - 11 February 1984
Montreal, Saidye Bronfman Centre, 27 March - 29 April 1984

Both canvases original and with a layer of light surface dirt. Both canvases also backed with board, therefore it is not possible to see the reverse. There is light wear and rubbing to the corners and edges. On the left panel there is an area of restoration of craquelure lower middle and some chips to the paint surface in the upper right hand edge. Examination under UV light confirms the aforementioned restoration to the left panel, and also to two other small spots however the present of opaque layer of varnish prevents a more conclusive analysis.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Widely recognised as the founders of the Sots Art movement of the 1970s, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid’s work transforms stereotype images of Soviet Propaganda into a new, contemporary artistic language.  

The Nostalgic Socialist Realism series (1981-1983) comprises 30 works which reflect its creators’ nostalgia for the lost fictional model of the world created by the Soviet system, while simultaneously undermining it. One of the last works in the series, Lost Paradise is based on the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, the breakdown of their relationship with God and their expulsion from Paradise to a world of evil and suffering. This forms an interesting parallel with the fate of Komar and Melamid, who were expelled from the Moscow Union of Artists in 1974 for the ‘distortion of Soviet reality and deviation from the principles of Soviet Realism’.

Komar explained that before the Thaw, Soviet citizens believed that the West was Hell and the East was Paradise. However, with the gradual erosion of the credibility of this doctrine that coincided with the gradual collapse of the Soviet regime, they began to associate the Western way of life with paradise. Likewise in Lost Paradise, Komar and Melamid deconstruct traditional Socialist Realist references and shift contextual meanings.

Lost Paradise parodies the pompous style of Soviet Realist paintings and infuses it with a knowing irony: The Garden of Eden is transformed into a typical Russian landscape painted in the 19^th century realist manner and Adam and Eve are represented by ordinary Soviet workers, whose sexual encounter on a red drape - a recurring motif in the series, which undermines this often-encountered detail in Socialist Realist compositions – is interrupted by the appearance in the distance of an angel glowing with divine light.

The dramatic use of lighting recalls the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, and the composition clearly references Alexander Ivanov’s monumental masterpiece The Appearance of Christ before the People, 1837-59. The choice of title is also a deliberate reference to John Milton’s famous poem Paradise Lost (1667), which ends with the suggestion that, on leaving the Garden of Eden, mankind can find ‘a paradise within thee, happier far’. In their stark juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane, Good and Evil and high and low art, Komar and Melamid encourage the viewer to question the value of belief systems as a whole.