Andrei Molodkin

Victor and Margarita Tupitsyn (eds.), Andrei Molodkin: Cold War II, Kasha Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich, 2007

The work is in good overalll condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The work was executed in 2007 in an edition of 5 and the offered lot is the artist's proof.

Andrei Molodkin's YE$ deconstructs the affirmative power of the word "yes" and the dollar sign, by filling it with today's most controversial and politically charged material - crude oil. By using oil in his work, Molodkin returns to modernism's roots and its attitude towards art as resource. The idea of its utilization is comparable to the utilization of oil products, and even though oil, as raw material, is an inalienable part of "modernity," it has never been mythologized by modernists. They have used other oil-mediated images—airplanes and automobiles—but no one has ever perceived oil as the "blood" that feeds world economies. The exploration of this new medium is Molodkin's contribution to the "unfinished project" of modernism. One is left to wonder if acquiring YE$ turns a nobody into a yesbody.

 Margarita Tupitsyn, 2007