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      (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: art >>

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov • White on Red

Five paintings from 1987





"Perestroika in the Avant-Garde" festival poster (Liverpool, 1989)  featuring (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov‘s painting Star.  The Kozlov &  Fobo Collection, Berlin

"Perestroika in the Avant-Garde" festival poster (Liverpool, 1989)
featuring (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov‘s painting Star.

The Kozlov & Fobo Collection, Berlin



Red on White: Exhibitions

Between 1988 and 2018, seven exhibitions showed one, two, or more works from the White on Red cycle. It is highly probable that at least Star was also included in a 1988 New Artists exhibition at Copenhagen, but no photographs are available from this exhibition.

Thus, Star has been documented with five exhibitions, and it also became the most prominent of the five works from th cycle – as the logotype of the Liverpool exhibition “Perestroika in the Avant-garde”.

Star. 6 Figures and CCCP were exhibited three times each, in part at different exhibitions. Smiling Sickle was shown only once – it was sold the first time it was publicly presented, at the Kulturhuset, Stockholm, in 1988.  According to curator Fredrik Vogel, the work was acquired by art collector Jeannette Bonnier. Since the Jeannette Bonnier Foundation operates the Bonnier Konsthall in Stockholm, it might have been shown again, but so far, this remains a matter of speculation.

Regarding the painting The Human Being Comes First, the only documentation available are the pictures published in this article. Its whereabouts are unknown, although it is possible that the painting left Leningrad for Stockholm in 1988, together with the other four works of the White on Red cycle, and was also sold there.

The following list presents the exhibitions in chronological order.




1. Новые художники / The New Artists.
Leningrad Sverdlov House of Culture, 1988

Новые художники / The New Artists.  Leningrad Sverdlov House of Culture, 1988 Photo: A. Savatyugin

Three of these five works – Star, CCCP and Star. 6 Figures –  were first exhibited in April 1988, when the New Artists had their first official Leningrad exhibition, at the Sverdlov House of Culture. Dominating the main view of the hall – the front side with the stage – their presentation constituted the only example of a conceptual, site-specific approach towards the installation of works. 

Combining elements of Constructivism with Kozlov‘s distinct innovative features, these bright, highly aestheticised compositions immediately attracted the attention of fellow artists and curators. 
Photo: A. Savatyugin
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2. Club of Friends of V. V. Mayakovsky

Exhibition commemorating Mayakovsky‘s 95th anniversary
NchVch, Leningrad

Star. 6 Figures was featured at the exhibition celebrating Mayakovsky‘s 95th anniversary, organised by the Club of Friends of V.V. Mayakovsky aka New Artists at the Leningrad artist space NchVch  (НчВч) in the summer of 1988.

Star. 6 Figures was featured at the exhibition celebrating Mayakovsky‘s 95th anniversary, organised by the Club of Friends of V.V. Mayakovsky aka New Artists at the Leningrad artist space NchVch  (НчВч) in the summer of 1988. Left: Timur Novikov, right: Inal Savchenkov.
Photo: Ágnes F. Horváth.
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3. De Nya från Leningrad /The New from Leningrad
Kulturhuset, Stockholm (August/September 1988)

From left to right: works by Oleg Kotelnikov Madonna,  (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Smiling Sickle (1987; rotated 90 degrees clockwise),  Sergei Bugaev, (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Star (1987), and Oleg Maslov & Aleksey Kozin. Photo: Fredrik Vogel

From left to right: works by Oleg Kotelnikov Madonna,
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Smiling Sickle (1987; rotated 90 degrees clockwise),
Sergei Bugaev, (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Star (1987), and Oleg Maslov & Aleksey Kozin.
Photo: Fredrik Vogel

The curators of the first international New Artists festival “The New from Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm (August/September 1988), displayed a total of seven of Kozlov‘s works, among them Star, CCCP, and Smiling Sickle.

For some reason, Smiling Sickle was presented in in a ninety degree clockwise rotation. more >>

Star. 6 Figures was printed in the exhibition catalogue and in press reviews. (The catalogue cover was a reproduction of one of Kozlov‘s figurative paintings, “Timur on Horseback”. more >>

An interesting detail can be observed on the reverse of both Star and Stat. 6 Figures. When artists and musicians took these and other works to Stockholm, in order to avoid declaring them at the customs, they pretended them to be backdrops for the Pop Mekhanika concert. It was probably Timur Novikov who wrote ПОП МЕХАНИКА 1 К on the reverse of Star and ПОП МЕХАНИКА 2 К on the reverse of Star. 6 Figures.
Star, reverse, with inscription ПОП МЕХАНИКА 1 К  Photo © Tate (Helen Brett) Star. 6 Figures, reverse, with inscription ПОП МЕХАНИКА (along the arm) 2 К (in the figure's body) Photo © Tate (Helen Brett)
Star, reverse, with inscription
ПОП МЕХАНИКА 1 К
Photo © Tate (Helen Brett)

Star. 6 Figures, reverse, with inscription ПОП МЕХАНИКА (along the arm) 2 К (in the figure's body)
Photo © Tate (Helen Brett)



4. De Nye fra Leningrad. The New from Leningrad.
Kunstnernes Hus, Aarhus, Denmark, 1988

4. De Nye fra Leningrad. The New from Leningrad.  Kunstnernes Hus, Aarhus, Denmark, 1988

Star was the logotype of this exhibition

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5. Perestroika in the Avant-Garde
Bluecoat, Liverpool, 1989

Perestroika in the Avant-Garde Bluecoat, Liverpool, 1989

The festival of Leningrad musicians and artists featured Star as the logotype.

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The painting Star at the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool

The painting Star at the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool more >>


6. Exhibition of Banners (E-E Kozlov with Timur Novikov and Sergei Bugaev),
The Tate Liverpool, 1989

6. Exhibition of Banners (E-E Kozlov with Timur Novikov and Sergei Bugaev), The Tate Liverpool, 1989

This exhibition had (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov‘s painting CCCP as the largest single exhibit.

more >>




7. USA-CCCP-CHINA
Egbert Baqué Contemporary, Berlin, 2018

7. USA-CCCP-CHINA Egbert Baqué Contemporary, Berlin, 2018

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov‘s solo show saw Star and Star. 6 Figures with drafts and other related works from the same period.
Photo: Hannelore Fobo
more >>




Uploaded 11 May 2020
Last updated 30 November 2021