The artwork features a bold, minimalist design with prominent white lettering on a vibrant red background. The text "Malevich" and "Marlboro" are displayed prominently, creating a visual interplay between the artist's name and the well-known cigarette brand. The geometric shapes and high-contrast colors evoke a modernist aesthetic, suggesting an artistic exploration of consumerism and branding. The piece likely comments on the intersection of art, commercialism, and popular culture, reflecting the artist's intention to challenge conventional perceptions and provoke thoughtful discourse. ...
At the height of the Cold War, Alexander Kosolapov developed an approach to reappropriation and diversion, combining symbols from Soviet political propaganda with American commercial advertising.
The idealization of the masses is at work in both of those domains – for its purchasing power in the West and its productive power in the East. The misappropriation of religious symbols and major figures from western art history also enters into his practice, forming the structure of ideological systems that question him and make him react.
Kosolapov was one of the first to perform that kind of operation, which has since been taken up by many other artists and even by advertising. Yet he is still the object of censorship in Russia, and though he had been able to continue working there, at least partly, he recognizes that it has recently become impossible. We can also remark that recent events in the West have targeted artistic license and criticism of the sacred.
While Kosolapov’s practice visually resembles Pop Art, it does not have the same essence. Warhol wrote that democracy was the fruit of consumerism. Even so, caviar – as emblematic of Russia as Coca-Cola is of the USA – is a luxury product that has not modified the verticality of power but is its very image. That is the intention and subtlety of Alexander Kosolapov’s work which, by apparently simple operations, crystallizes the complex dialectic of the second half of the 20th century. ...
Founded in 2012 in Geneva, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand primarily represents emerging international artists, while also collaborating with more established figures.
Many of the gallery’s artists have held their first solo or European solo exhibitions there. Acting as both an incubator and a springboard, the gallery is committed to fostering artistic development and facilitating collaborations with prominent institutions.
