(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov's Participation in the Second TEII Exhibition (1983). Chapter 7: Paintings: WASP (1983)

Chapter 7: Paintings: WASP (1983)

In (late) 1982, Kozlov started developing a, new partly realistic style in painting replacing his earlier abstract-impressionistic ‘Russian’ period, of which he nevertheless kept certain stylistc features, especially that of coloured shadows. He discussed the first two of these paintings, ‘Musicians / Commissars‘ and ‘Tuaregs / Noli Me Tangere’ in his diaries, ‘Musicians’ on p. 4-03 (dated 2 February 1983 more >>) and ‘Tuaregs’ on p. 3-59 more >> and p. 3-79 (dated 24 January 1983 more >>).

E-E-183001 (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov First title: Туареги / Tuaregs / Last title: Noli me tangere. Tempera, gouache, watercolour, collage on canvas, 93 x 106 x 5.5 cm, 1982. First title: Музыканты / Musicians (p. 3-80, dated 27. 1. 83); Full title: В ударных бригадах были свои музыканты’ / The Strike Brigades Had Their Own Musicians. (p. 4.03 dated 2.2.83)
E-E-183001
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
First title: Музыканты / Musicians (p. 3-80, dated 27. 1. 83);
Full title: В ударных бригадах были свои музыканты’ /
The Strike Brigades Had Their Own Musicians. (p. 4.03 dated 2.2.83)
Last title: Комиссары / Kommissars.
Gouache, tempera, and watercolour on canvas, 93 x 128 cm, 1983
See also: Chapter 10

E-E-182002 (early version) (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov First title: Туареги / Tuaregs / Last title: Noli me tangere. Tempera, gouache, watercolour, collage on canvas, 93 x 106 x 5.5 cm, 1982.

E-E-182002 (early version)
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
First title: Туареги / Tuaregs / Last title: Noli me tangere.
Tempera, gouache, watercolour on canvas, 93 x 106 x 5.5 cm, 1982.
Reproduction of the last version: see Chapter 10 and diary p. 3-59 more >>

As a matter of fact, in his diary entries, Evgenij Kozlov approaches the question of the novelty in a composition repeatedly. He does so looking at the great masters of different epochs and styles – Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velazquez, David, Goya, Degas, Renoir, Manet – coming to the conclusion ‘Но все они сходились на почитании «возвышенного реализма» ВЕЛАСКЕСА и РЕНЕСАНСНОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ. / But they all agreed on the veneration of the ‘sublime realism’ of VELAZQUEZ and RENAISSANCE CULTURE. (pp. 3-57-59)

The entry continues on the next page

‘TUAREGS’ is an appeal to future breakthroughs in art. The technique itself must reveal the compositional concept in the work / Rembrandt's ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’, Hermitage / and not the literary part of the image which the artist can introduce through his own efforts as the author of the idea.

Some pages later, in an entry on pp 3-76-77, we read:

In the latest paintings, a style reflecting the twentieth century is being formed more clearly. These are contemporary paintings — most likely they are what I've been looking for and what I wanted to come to. Much depends on the novelty of the subject and the search for new solutions in relation to the pictorial range of the surface of the painting.

In Kozlv's appraisal of ‘Tuaregs’ (p. 3-78), there is a keyword summing up his satisfaction with his new appraoch: audacity.

‘Tuaregs’ is a masterpiece. It's brilliant. I like everything about the canvas. More than a month after completing it I‘m checking the relationships between the spots, their places, the overall impression, the pleasure of looking at the surface in any light, the audacity in painting, new relationships and forms – I'm satisifed with everything…

Although both ‘Musicians / Commissars‘ and ‘Tuaregs’ appeared in a first list of paintings selected for the exhibtion (see Chapter 3), another ‘new style’ painting made it to the exhibition – ‘WASP’ (W.A.S.P), dated 20 March and thus achieved not long before the opening. It was included into the fourth list.

WASP, also written ‘W.A.S.P’, is a well-known abbrevation of ‘White Anglo-Saxon Protestant’, a formula that fascinated Kozlov as a reference to a society different from his own. Speaking in general terms, WASP refers not simply to the West, but to the West of the West. To him, it had no negative connotation at all and appears in his diary as early as May or June 1980, on p. 1-52 more>>. Later, a photograph taken by a friend in the streets of London inspired Kozlov first to an untitled work on paper, and then to the painting. He mentions the photographic film in his diary: ‘ 23, 24 и 25 печатал с Л. пленки из Англии’ / On 23, 24, and 25 L. and I printed the film from England. (Diary III, p.3-31: / more>>). The approximate date of the entry is end of August 1982.

L. = Lena, was a girl from Kozlov's neigbourhood who had the privilege to go to London for an advanced medical training. Since Kozlov had his own photo laboratory, he helped her printing the black and white negatives she had shot there. No other negatives from this film seem to be in Kozlov's archive, and it looks as if he had asked to keep just this one. By common standard, the image might be regarded as botched: an man is seen running into the picture, covering most of the background scenery with his head and shoulders cropped by the frame. His head, turning away from the viewer, is totally underexposed and partly black.

E-E-pho-ES11 The streets of London, 1982. Photo: Lena

E-E-pho-ES11
The streets of London, 1982. Photo: Lena

Kozlov obviously felt intrigued by such аn unexpected combination of an ordinary street view – a still life with passengers and houses – and the ephemeral appearance of a nonidentified ‘object’. It perfectly fitted his concept of art expressed on p. 3-54:

It is necessary to make the work such that people enjoy it / at a minimum / or take delight in it / at a maximum / and to put at least one element of the mystery of the soul into each work .

E-E-182003 (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Untitled, mixed media, paper, 26.5 x 34.7, 1982
E-E-182003
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Untitled, mixed media, paper, 26.5 x 34.7, 1982

The drawing from 1982 that followed takes up the main features of the photograph, adding colour in a rather discreet way – when compared to the Peterhof Book of Hours series Kozlov was creating at the same time. Yet there are some parallels between these works, for instance the use of water colour, gouache, and aluminium powder. But in the first place it is the large brown, irregular frame surrounding the composition up to the edges of the paper that makes one think of the Peterhof Book of Hours. Such painted frames can be seen in Folio V and in ‘Sunshine in the North’. Kozlov burnt away the edges of the paper to make the border irregular, thus aging the paper artificially.

E-E-182003, reverse. Detail of the lower border with patterns of of smoke from burning the paper

In the painting ‘WASP’, the colours have become brighter, and the atmosphere is reminiscent of that of a southern town. The compostion shows the background slightly simplified, with some transparency in the upper right part. Here, the buildings metamorphose into a sky, and branches of trees look are quite ornamental, almost like garlands.

E-E-182004
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
WASP
Ink, gouache, fluorescent water colour on canvas, 64 x 100 cm

The interplay of coloured shadows is particularly strong on the head. Filled with gently curved vertical stripes of brown, white and sepia, it dominates the composition. Kozlov adapted this feature from the work on paper, rendering the colours more saturated. Behind the head is a yellow translucent plane, probably created with fluorescent water colour; it forms a kind of distant halo. ‘WASP’ was undoubtedly one of the most modern paintings at the Second TEII exhibition.