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(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: Exhibitions >> Leningrad 80s >>
E-E Kozlov – Oleg Kotelnikov – Nikolai VeinertLENING-ACCEE–RAD
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Page 1: Introduction |
Page 2: E-E Kozlov‘s paintings |
Page 3: E-E- Kozlov and Oleg Kotelnikov: The creation of LENING-ACCEE–RAD |
Page 4: Documentation |
Examining the black and white photographs, I identified the following four of Kozlov's paintings: The fact that these paintings are all from 1987 (although the dating of AEROKOBRA is approximative) first made me think that the exhibition took place 1987. The imprints close to the film perforation helped me to determine a different date, since they tell us when film manufactuer СВЕМА (SVEMA) produced the films. BR displays an imprint 3 СВЕМА М3 88 г., and the other one, EX, displays an imprint 14 СВЕМА М3 88 г., which means that both films were produced in March (M3, the third month of the year) 1988. Accordingly, the exhibition must have taken place in spring or, most likely, summer 1988 – it must have been warm outside, as Oleg Kotelnikov was painting bare-chested. This later date has also allowed me to identify another one of Kozlov‘s paintings, a large portrait of Tolstoy from 1988. Furthermore, it is plausible to assume that Kozlov exhibited some large works on paper from 1988. The paper rolls next to the painting CCCP (Computer) in E-E-pho-X16 support this assumption. The number of Kozlov's works displayed at the exhibtion may not have been very large, yet these works show the diversity of the artist‘s stylistic approaches, especially when we include Kozlov‘s joint work with Kotelnikov presented on the next page: we thus notice folk art, graffiti art, portrait painting, and constructivist figures. That diversity is all the more interesting as we are not speaking about stylistc changes developing over a certain period of time – say, from folk art to graffiti art the next year and to constructivism thereafter. Rather, we notice these styles as co-existing simulteaneously, to use such a tautology. What unites these styles is the way Kozlov always combines his precise and elegant drawing technique, on the one hand, and his intution for colours, on the other hand, with some other feature I would call an element of compositional strangeness – something that has no simple or obvious explanation, but possesses a lot of charm.
I will try to explain this "strangeness" with the help of one of the paintings from the Peterhof exhibition, the painting Любофь / Lofe. It is one of the Kozlov's "easier" compositions: the work displays the figure of a soldier walking from the right to the left. The reason why soldiers (and army) became a subject matter of Kozlov's work however requires an explanatory note. Peterhof has several military schools, and in the 1980s, there was a small stadium for competitions and gatherings in the park next to "Galaxy Gallery", Kozlov's flat and studio. The sports ground was supplemented with an obstacle course – walls to climb over, holes to jump through, and a rusty metal wall serving as a target for grenades. All of this was publicly accessible.
One of these objects, a large metal sheet set into a iron frame, had no particular function other than that of a being a work of art: some local craftsman working for the army had adorned it with a muscular shotputter wearing white sneakers with three stripes along the sides. Whether or not the artist's boss was aware of the fact that the stripes were a reproduction of the famous Adidas logo we don't know. But Kozlov much appreciated the naive style of this local Pirosmani. For his own portrait for the catalogue of the New Artists exhibition De Nya från Leningrad / The New from Leningrad at the Kulturhuset, Sweden (August 1988), he chose this very location.
The anonymous painter's shotputter inspired Kozlov to a small sketch on a triangular piece of paper which led to an ink drawing: Любофь / Lofe. Although Kozlov's soldier is wearing a uniform and boots as a reference to the soldiers training at the obstacle course, yet he is depicted in the same simple, naive way as the shotputter.
The painting exhibited at Peterhof University reproduces the triangular shape of the sketch. Here we return to the question of "strangeness": such an irregular shape is certainly strange, although if we compare it to the rectangular shape of the ink drawing, it turns out to be perfect for this very composition.
The next strangeness or oddity is the word Любофь / Lofe. It contains a deliberate spelling mistake: it should be Любовь / Love with a v, not with an f. Just as strange is the object carrying the inscription: is it a huge loaf of bread? A gigantic grenade? And what is the function of the curly tail attached to it? And why are there several arrows pointing from the head into different directions? The arrow pointing left is obviously indicating the line of vision. But what about the other arrow pointing backward – surely nothing can be seen from the back of one's head? While technique and colours both attract the viewer, such curious "surplus" features allow us to find for each work of art our own personal interpretation. I call them "surplus" features because they are not dominating the compositions, but simply invite us to create an individual relation to a specific work of art. Below are the other works I identified, presented without addtional comments.
A detail of picture E-E-pho-ЕХ16 displays some rolls of paper – most probably Kozlov's rolled up works on paper from 1988. He painted a number of such works on the reverse – white – side of wall paper, devoloping a special technique similar to that of a monotype print (see next page). Five such works have been documented in E-E‘s photo archive for the year 1988; the whereabouts of the original works are unknown. All works are in a horizontal format of 102 cm height (the width of the wall paper) and between 250 to 400 cm long. Below are two examples: Headhunters and The River of Forgetfulness, the latter being the only work documented with a colour reproduction.
Text and research: Hannelore Fobo, October 2020
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