1960s UNOFFICIAL ART

KALININ Vyacheslav Vasilievich (1939) Preparation for the wedding. 1989. Oil on canvas. 110 × 75

Kalinin's paintings are the hits at ArtSale.info auctions. The growing interest of collectors has already led to a noticeable increase in prices — by 25–50% over the past year or two. This is a logical consequence of the appearance on the market of high-quality work, which caused competition among serious collectors.

Vyacheslav Kalinin is an artist of the legendary “Lianozovo group” — an informal community of like-minded people who gathered in the barracks of Evgeny Kropivnitsky and his son-in-law Oscar Rabin. Kalinin from the student's bench was excommunicated from the official exhibitions. The commission of the Moscow Union of Artists quickly identified “non-Soviet” mood of his work. However, such a life was destined to many original artists — apartment exhibitions, shows at physics institutes and in cafes. Regular exhibition opportunities for Kalinin appeared after 37 years, when the authorities established the City Committee of Graphic Artists on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street — such an “echo of Moscow” in the country of victorious socialist realism. There Kalinin exhibited as part of the group “Seven Moscow Artists” together with Krasnopevtsev and his friends from Lianozovo group — Nemukhin, Kharitonov, Plavinsky and Vechtomov.

Kalinin's paintings are usually autobiographical. These are stories from childhood and adolescence, memories of adventures in the alleys of Zamoskvorechye. Often their heroes are the frequenters of pubs, wicked girlfriends, and artist friends. The plot of the painting “Preparation for the wedding” Kalinin, obviously, refers to the number of creative successes, worthy of the author's repetition. An excellent chance for collectors to add a museum-quality work to the collection.

KABAKOV Ilya Iosifovich (1933) They are looking down. 1999. Porcelain, decal. 23.2 × 33.4

Kabakov is the major figure in Moscow conceptualism: complex and contradictory. In Russia, as it should be with prophets from the arts, he is admired and hated. Some are delighted by its courage and innovation. And others are ready to tear up for “vilification” and such “unpatriotic” exploitation of the idea of the ugly “communal life”. But one thing is hard to deny. Today, Kabakov is the most famous living Russian artist in the world. And definitely the most expensive. The inventor of the genre of total installation (when the viewer plunges into the construction space of a complex work) masterfully plays on the strings of people's fear of the unknown, on the eternal doubts of the “little man” and on social cowardice. But the particular piece — the conceptual sculptural board “They are looking down” — is somewhat out of place. There is no reproach in it. Rather, it is a work about zen.

To begin with, the porcelain board issued in an edition of 300 in Japan is a microcosm of the giant installation erected in 1999 in Shirakawa Park in Nagoya, Japan.

What's the idea? People are looking down into a bottomless well. The viewer's gaze is directed from above, and it should be dark at the bottom of the well. But no, it's white on the contrary. And that's what the sky should look like, not the abyss. So where are people looking? Up or down? And why do people have to look down to see the sky? Does that sound strange? But it's a classic example of a conceptualist conundrum. One of those “baubles”, with which Kabakov surprised people back in Moscow. But foreigners won't understand the Russian words “fenechka” or “hohma”. That is why in the booklet for the public the author used the word “koan”, a Zen paradoxical question, the answer to which requires an independent intuitive work.

The work is signed by Kabakov on the back, packed in a souvenir case and accompanied by a disc with a film about this work.

CONTEMPORARY ART

MAMYSHEV-MONROE Vladislav Yurievich (1969–2013) L. Orlova and Sailor Ivanko in a room of the Hotel “Evropeyskaya”. 2000. Photo. 100.5 × 102

An iconic piece. The image of the iconic actress of the 1930s embodied by the iconic artist of the 1990s. The series “Happy Lyubov (Love)” became the pinnacle of Mamyshev-Monroe's creativity. Lyubov Orlova was a forty-year-old aristocrat who played young workers and peasant women. She was a style icon, awarded several state prizes. Stalin's favorite, who survived an assassination attempt for the love of the leader. She made people go crazy in the literal sense of the word. There was even a psychiatric disease “Orlova’s syndrome”, when the ladies were so keen on copying the image of the actress that they fell into a split personality. Courageous, strong woman, never gave weakness. Risky stunts? Well! Dangerous covert plastic surgery? It must be so! Monroe himself said that her real name and surname should not have been Lyubov Orlova, but Steel Will. The standard of self-discipline and creative dedication.

Artist Vlad Monroe was an associate of Timur Novikov and Sergei Kuryokhin. In the 1980s they made the groundbreaking “Pirate Television” together. In the 1990s, Monroe moved to Moscow and became an iconic figure of the rave era. Monroe painted, shot video, and was even known for his work in ceramics. But his main artistic tool was reincarnation and creating photo sets in different images. At a speech by the German Minister of Culture, Monroe could have come in the guise of Hitler. After September 11, he could walk around Moscow in the make-up of bin Laden. He was not afraid of anything. And he got away with it. If he had lived till now, he would have been accused of some exotic extremism. However, we will never know it now. In 2013, 43-year-old Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe was found dead in a swimming pool in Bali.

1970s UNOFFICIAL ART

ORLOV Boris Konstantinovich (1941) The Musician (blue) 1978. Porcelain, overglaze painting. 45.5 × 37

Boris Orlov is a member of the younger generation of unofficial art, a branch of Sots Art, the creator of a unique style of “social heraldry”. Orlov calls himself a “political artist” and an “imperial” artist, emphasizing his passion for parades and external effects, which is characteristic of empires. He explains his long choice of the imperial role as follows: “I have seen that the whole visual experience of the Soviet Union is based on the visual legacy of all the world empires: from Alexander the Great through Rome, Napoleon, Stalinism and straight on to Brezhnev. The theme of power has always been very important for me, but I have never been involved in politics myself, so it would be wrong to say I am a political artist. I am more of a researcher, an observer, a political scientist”.

Orlov's characters are often devoid of faces, their figures are conventional, and in the foreground there are insignia, uniforms, symbols and emblems. That is, they are not people, but a manifestation of their social roles and position in society. The same metamorphosis is noticeable with our musician. He is not a person, but a function. The head is small, the body is bloated. Not a trumpeter, but a playing uniform! And, as expected, with a large orchestral insignia on the armband.

Porcelain sculpture “The Musician” is made in small series (8 copies) on the German manufactory “Höchst”. Inside — the author's signature. And the date — 1978. In fact, this is the year of creation of the original sculpture. And the circulation itself is made almost 40 years later. This is not a mistake, but the author's decision. A large work of exceptional beauty. Rarity. In short, pay attention!

KAZARIN Viktor Semyonovich (1948–2021) Rooster and Bell Tower. 1993–2018. Oil on canvas, enamel. 80 × 120

Viktor Kazarin was an artist of the 1970s, a prominent neo-expressionist, a member of the City Committee group “21”, and the founder of the group “Molot (Hammer)”. The painting “Rooster and Bell Tower” was painted in two stages, 25 years apart, so there are two dates for it: 1993–2018. Three years ago Viktor Kazarin made a powerful cycle, which he himself called “jazz improvisations”. How did it come about? The artist selected old works from his collection, took up his brush, and added new energy to them. The degree of intervention varied — just as much as was needed. Sometimes Kazarin limited himself to details for general reinforcement, and sometimes he even completely reworked the subject. In our case this was just a reinforcement, because the basis was originally a powerful painting with an exhibition history. New details went to the picture's advantage — we are facing a clear success in the series of inspired experimental cycle.

RABIN Alexander Oskarovich (1952–1994) Before a Thunderstorm. 1989. Oil on canvas. 33 × 41

Alexander Rabin (Rabin-Kropivnitsky) is the son and pupil of Oskar Rabin from the Lianozovo group. An introvert and a romantic, he found himself in the thick of the confrontation with the authorities. Together with his father he took part in the Bulldozer exhibition. And he held the blow while provocations continued against him. The authorities tried to use Alexander to put pressure on Oskar. As punishment for his father's political activism, criminal proceedings were initiated against his son for being a parasite, they threatened to take away the apartment he had bought with his “unearned income” — they bullied him as best they could.

After emigrating to France with his family, Alexander Rabin continued to paint in an independent, romantic manner. “Landscape before a thunderstorm” is a very characteristic work of this period: a fairy-tale city, over which the clouds are draping the sky. In 1994, Alexander Rabin fell out of the open window of his apartment. Most likely, there was an accident. The artist was 42 years old.