BORIS ORLOV | Sailor and Girl

signed in Cyrillic and dated '1976' l.r.mixed media on paper 'Sots Art' was the Soviet response to Pop Art, ‘with the difference being that the Sots artists reflected in their work not the avalanche of images endlessly reproduced in consumerist society, but the highly hierarchical ritual imagery enforced on its citizens by the ideological state’ (K.Akinsha quoted in 'Moscow Conceptualism in Context', 2011). Orlov was a foremost proponent of this movement. He trained as a sculptor under the famous Soviet monumentalist and author of Moscow metro bas-reliefs, Georgy Motovilov; in his work he weaves in the grandiose elements of Soviet Imperialism, twisting the imagery for ironic effect. 'The subject of Soviet state power was forbidden to critique: by portraying its top echelon I crossed out my official career as an artist forever' the artist recalled in an interview. He did not however, emigrate. He currently lives in Moscow and was a finalist for the Kandinsky Prize in 2008.

The sheet has been laid down on another sheet. There are minor areas of staining in places throughout including an area of adhesive staining near the right edge. There is a minor curving surface crack to the enamel paint above the lower right edge. Held in a simple wooden frame behind plexiglass. Unexamined out of frame.
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