The title of the current project – Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok – translates from Russian as image (or appearance), edge (or slice), and remnant. The project reiterates fragments of appropriated Soviet-era images in combination with collected Soviet-era objects. Wall-based installations consist of Soviet-era materials juxtaposed with sections of film stills showing domestic objects, acquired from Soviet films of the 1970s-80s; portions of the constructions were photographed and printed on clear film to then be reincorporated into the constructions.
The piece History of the Communist Party of the USSR consists of a found book of the same title, and a watercolour study on Soviet-era paper based on a film still of a burning USSR History textbook from a 1990 Soviet film. December 28 1991 is a similar assemblage of found, culturally specific and outdated material, combined with a painted study of a specific section of visual ephemera. Both works are constructed around self-reflexivity – one depicting the symbolic destruction of USSR history emerging from an actual obsolete USSR history book, the other reflecting a partially concealed newspaper image that is mimetically expanded as a refraction on the reflective surface. Painting is utilized here as an afterimage, contriving scrupulous familiarity with specific pieces of historical debris. As assembled combinations, the works are both self-negating and self-representational, affirming themselves as mere appearances of diffused cultural matter.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, 2′ x 2′ x 4″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, 2′ x 2′ x 4″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (1), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, 3′ x 5′ x 5″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (2), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, 4′ x 5.5′ x 4″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (3), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, 2′ x 3′ x 4″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm, silkscreen on Soviet-era fabric, silkscreen on paper, semitransparent red acetate.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, 2′ x 3′ x 4″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm, silkscreen on Soviet-era fabric, silkscreen on paper, semitransparent red acetate.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (4), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, 2′ x 4′ x 3″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, 2′ x 4′ x 3″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, 2′ x 4′ x 3″, Soviet-era objects and materials, inkjet prints on paper and clear fillm.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, detail.
Obraz, Obrez, Ostatok (5), 2020, detail.
December 28 1991, 2019, Found newspaper (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Dec. 28 1991), oil paint on polished aluminum, MDF, 12” x 9” x 9”December 28 1991, 2019, Found newspaper (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Dec. 28 1991), oil paint on polished aluminum, MDF, 12” x 9” x 9”December 28 1991 (Detail), 2019, Found newspaper (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Dec. 28 1991), oil paint on polished aluminum, MDF, 12” x 9” x 9”History of the Communist Party of the USSR, 2019, found book (of the same name), watercolour on found Soviet paper, steel shelf, 10” x 8.5” x 3”History of the Communist Party of the USSR (Detail of watercolour study), 2019, watercolour on found Soviet paper, 3” x 3”Konstruktor, 2019, oil paint on gesso on Soviet pencils (Konstruktor), Soviet fabric, frame, 9″x14″Konstruktor (Detail), 2019, oil paint on gesso on Soviet pencils (Konstruktor), Soviet fabric, frame, painted image: 1.5″x2″