Komar and Melamid

Chromogenic prints on Kodak Royal paper. Each signed, titled, numbered 4/10 and dated 1998 on the label attached to the reverse.

Our Moscow Through the Eyes of Mikki, Marat Guelman Gallery, Moscow, 1998 (another edition exhibited)

Animal Kingdom, The Russian Pavilion at 48 La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 1999 (another edition exhibited)

To the 15th Anniversary of M. Guelman Gallery and the Jubilee Exhibition of the Marble Palace of the State Russian Museum, Moscow, 2007, ill. in colour p. 351

Vitaliy Komar and Alexander Melamid are amongst the founding members of Moscow Conceptualism of the 1970s. Their practice ranges across media and includes painting, sculpture, performance and photography. Attempting to subvert the Soviet ideology through performances and appropriation, their works continued to reference the socio-political issues of their homeland well into the period of their settlement in the US from 1978, and have later evolved to address more universal concerns.

Our Moscow through the Eyes of Mikki is part of their project Collaboration with Animals, which started in 1978 with a drawing with a dog Tranda. In 1995 it took them to a zoo in Dayton, Ohio, where they painted with elephant Renee, and in 1997 the duo founded three ‘Komar Melamid Art Academies for Elephants’ in Thailand, providing an extra source of revenue for their keepers who sold their paintings to tourists. Playing on the notions of art and its value, the artists question the superiority of the human race in general and the relevance and exclusivity of the artistic talent in particular.

In the presented lot, Komar and Melamid taught a chimpanzee to take photographs. Mikki was a popular performer at the Moscow Circus. He was 15 when the artists first taught him to take photos with a Polaroid, and then by a regular analog and an antique camera. The blurry snapshots of Red Square taken by Mikki present a new perspective akin to experimental photography and reference millions of photos taken by tourists on a daily basis.

Concluding that they ‘..not only teach animals, but learn from them as well’[1], the artists add another dimension to the idea of Relational Aesthetics. Their work goes beyond the ideas of interactions and interrelationships with the viewers, and into the realm of other species. Mocking authorship and revered artistry, be it in painting or photography, their project raises awareness of other inhabitants of our planet.

Slides and reprints of Mikki's training and the artists’ collaboration were made by photographer Peter Degterev. They document and supplement original photographs made by Mikki. In 1999 the work was presented at the 48^th Venice Biennale as part of the Russian Pavilion.

[1]Komar & Melamid quoted in d’APERTutto: 48. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Venice, 1999, p. 167