Alexander Kosolapov

Alexander Kosolapov is one of the most remarkable “go-betweeners” of contemporary art, constantly shifting between countries, ideologies, cultures, and aesthetic languages. In 1973, he cofounded the Sots-Art movement, which is characterized by a cunning combination of Soviet communist and American capitalist iconographies. This conjunction rhymes with Kosolapov’s biography: in a nod towards symmetry, he lived 30 years in Moscow and then, in 1975, moved to New York, where he spent another 30 years. He experienced first-hand the influence of American Pop art, especially of Andy Warhol and of Hollywood, while maintaining his aesthetic affiliation with Sots-Art. Combining particulars from Russian political art with the aesthetics of American consumerism, he created such well-known images as the Lenin Coca Cola (1985), Malevich Marlborough, and Lenin McDonald’s. In his most recent works Kosolapov proposes new, nonexistent brands for Post-Soviet Russia which demonstrates that our time is ruled by ideologies and consumerism.