Chapter 3. The travelogue of a pair of strawberries

Detail of panel 20 with strawberries, bananas, and a bunch of grapes. more on page 5

A cut-out from a magazine displays three objects with fruits made of varnished wood or plastic – red strawberries, yellow bananas, and blue grapes, respectively – aligned horizontally on small supports, possibly brooches. These small, colourful objects are quite appealing, especially the one with two strawberries dotted with yellowish seeds, the green leafy part placed on top like a spiky fringe. Their softly rounded shapes, accentuated by light reflections on a shiny surface, convey a distinctly haptic aspect that can be felt even by just looking at them. E-E Kozlov calls them tasty (вкусный, vkusnyi) in a figurative sense.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Мужская Мечта (из серии «Виртуозная Реальность») Men's dream (from the series "Virtuoso Reality") Mixed media on canvas, 209.5 x 147 cm, 1996 see Chapter 1 >>

The strawberries begin their travel in Men’s Dream (mixed media on canvas, 209.5 x 147 cm, 1996), one of thirteen paintings from the Virtuoso Reality cycle from 1996. In Men’s Dream we see them close to the lower border of the painting, placed on a globe. From the strawberries, reflecting their colours, red and orange flames are blazing upward towards a group of men. Red also dominates the lower part of the composition and a number of other features, such as the men’s gloves and blindfolds, and the soles of their feet.

The strawberries, placed firmly together on the magazine cut-out, are now seen further apart from each other, and their contours shape a “lying eight”. This very shape is partly reflected by the red heart covering the belly of a woman, the composition’s main figure. Kozlov took the feature of a “woman with a heart” from an earlier drawing from 1993 inspired by a different picture. We also notice the “woman with a heart” as the central figure in What is forbidden – it can be done, where she appears together with another “collage” image (see above).

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Милый Хочешь Все Твое, Но Возможно осторожно Превращай Себя в Нее Dearest, If You Wish… Marker on paper, 39.5 x 28 cm, 1993		(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov То, что Нельзя – то можно What is forbidden – it can be done Mixed media on canvas, 166 x 171 cm, 1996 see Chapter 1 >>

Men’s Dream was reproduced on an invitation card for an exhibition in 1997, and later, Kozlov cut out the strawberries and flares from one of the cards, integrating the piece into the collage Love from Century XX, part one (89. 92. 2004. 2007. 2008.). From there, this motif entered the composition Love from Century XX, part two (approx. 2010) and, following that, a printed painting from 2018.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov LOVE Mixed media on paper, foldable collage, heigt 29 cm, width varying 89. 92. 2004. 2007. 2008. From the cycle of works Век XX • Century XX (part 1) more >>

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov LOVE Mixed media and collage on paper, 59.6 x 42 cm, 2010, LOVE is the first of six graphic works from the no. 49 series, a subseries of Век XX • Century XX (part 2) more >>

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Left: LOVE Right: Акулы Нью-Йорка • The Sharks of New York Mixed media and print on canvas, 155 x 112 cm, 2019 (each) from the cycle of works Век XX • Century XX (part 2)

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Уголок культурного • Culture Corner Mixed media and collage on paper, 59.6 x 42 cm, 2010, Culture Coner is the first of seven graphic works from the no. 48 series, a subseries of works Век XX • Century XX (part 2) more >>

However, the flames (without strawberries), together with the group of men are also seen in the composition Culture Corner from Century XX, part two. Variations of that element continue through successive works of Culture Corner. But having shown the principle, I will stop here, though with an additional remark: I called the set of strawberries a complementary element in Men’s Dream earlier, stressing the fact that “complementary” doesn't mean “secondary”. We have seen that, indeed, the strawberries are complementary only with respect to their size and their position in the composition, while they are constitutive regarding the creation of the painting itself – in determining its main colour and a number of important features interacting with the strawberries.

Internal as well as external migration of images produce successive artefacts revealing – borrowing Hölderlin’s words – “das immerwährendschöpfrische, das Entstehen des Individuellen aus Unendlichem“[3] – that which is perpetually creative, the individual arising from the infinite. The difference between Warburg’s Bilderatlas Mnemosyne and Kozlov’s E-E Drafts panels is that Warburg started with a research of individual artefacts, while Kozlov took a perspective from the infinite, thereby constantly enlarging his resources of artefacts with their “offspring” images.  

From here it follows that Warburg worked with a large, but finite number of images (“all existing images”), while Kozlov worked with al large, but potentially infinite number of images, (“all images that might exist”). Consequently, Warburg traced the past, mapping an atlas of Mnemosyne, of remembrance, while Kozlov’s mapped an atlas of ontology, of being and becoming.

Put another way, if Warburg explored Renaissance as history being reborn, in statu renascendi – then Kozlov projected infinity to the presence, converting it into history in statu nascendi, to use such an oxymoron. In essence, this marks the difference between those reflecting on art and those creating art.

Uploaded 15 February 2021
Last updated 18 May 2024