(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
“ART from the USSR / ART for the USA.”

When the artist completed his message with “ART для USA” (“Art for the USA”) in the bus stop series, his target audience became clear: the USA, the main or perhaps only reference point in Soviet ideology.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov. ART из СССР / ART для USA • ART from the USSR / ART for the USA (Comintern Street / Lenin Boulevard) two-sided, mixed media on wood 42.5 x 59.9 x 2 cm, 1988

Kozlov's use of words a main graphic and semantic element of the compostion bears ressemblance to Moscow conceptualism.
There is, however, an important difference between Kozlov and Moscow conceptualists. For Moscow conceptualists such as Erik Bulatov and Ilya Kabakov, the question concerning the limitation of social space has become a lifetime concern.

Kozlov dedicated himself to this question during a short period of time – the late perestroika period – and at that moment he was also involved in other projects. His major project from 1989/1990 ”New Classicism” more >> shows that Kozlov approaches art from a philosophical, not from a social point of view.

We may also say Kozlov transforms his subjective experience as a social being into images according to his theory of “Two Cosmic Systems”, whereby the second cosmic system “implies a view of creation as a whole from the Cosmos, as if the artist had been born in space and had completed their complete path of development and formation solely in it.” more >>

Erik Bulatov VKHODA NET / No Entrance Canvas, oil 230x230 cm The Saatchi Gallery website presents this version from 2006 more >		(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Не ходиь / Don't go Oil, marker, and ink on wood 37 x 55.5 x 2.7 cm, 1988