Alexander Kosolapov

Private collection, Germany (acquired directly from the artist in 1990)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Alexander Kosolapov is one of the leading representatives of Sots Art, or Soviet Pop Art. Appearing in Moscow in the early 1970s, Sots Art is characterized by the subversive appropriation of Soviet mass-cultural and ubiquitous symbols of propaganda, similar to American Pop art and its use of images drawn from popular and commercial culture. Kosolapov, who was born in Moscow and has lived and worked in New York City since 1975, often combines Soviet propaganda imagery with that of American advertising. The central idea to his work is that the ideology of socialism and capitalism are essentially the same, even if they are usually seen as mutually exclusive.

Executed in 1988, the present work is a large and early example of the artist’s perhaps most famous image. He produced the first versions in the early 1980s, combining two of the most recognized and powerful symbols of both socialism and capitalism, Lenin’s profile and the logo and slogan of Coca-Cola. Originally intended as a work to be displayed outdoors, it was used in 1982 as a poster to advertise a performance evening by the Kazimir Passion Group, a team of Russian émigré artists organized by the curator Margarita Tupitsyn. It was pasted all over New York’s Soho and Kosolapov was soon contacted by lawyers of the Coca-Cola company, claiming a breach of copyright. In the context of Reagan’s administration, the company was not keen to be associated with Soviet socialism.