Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe. Two paintings from 1990 for Evgenij Kozlov's "Collection 2x3m"

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Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe "Это не любовь. (Объединению Германии посв. русскому-у полю-ю 1990”) / “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification.To Russkoee Polee 1990)". Oil, canvas, 2 x 3 m, 1990	Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe "Отравилась? Нет, затравили!!! (Евгению Козлову)" / “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov”) Oil, canvas, 2 x 3 m, 1990
Top: film stills from Evgenij Kozlov video "Collection 2x3m", 1991, filmed in his studio "Russkoee Polee", Leningrad. The video also presents three paintings from his cycle "New Classicals". to the video >>

Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe "Отравилась? Нет, затравили!!! (Дорогому Пьеру)” “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To dear Pierre)". Photo: Hannelore Fobo, Manifesta 2014, St. Petersburg

Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe "Отравилась? Нет, затравили. (Евгению Козлову. Владик Monroe)" “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov” Vladik Monroe 90) Lower right corner with title and signature . Photo: Hannelore Fobo, 1991

The same fragment of the painting with the new dedication "Дорогому Пьеру” (To dear Pierre)". Photo: Hannelore Fobo, Manifesta 2014, St. Petersburg

Evgenij Kozlov started his  “2x3m” collection, inviting artists to create a work of this size in his legendary studio “Russkoee Polee” on Fontanka embankment 145.

At the “2x3m” gatherings, Kozlov gave each artist a two by three meter sized canvas and paint and, most importantly, offered his companionship. The idea was to challenge their artistic vision with an unusually large format, and, indeed, for many of the more than 40 artists in his collection, the “2x3m” work has remained their largest work.

more about Evgenij Kozlov's "Collection 2x3m" >>

Among the earliest paintings in his collection were two paintings by Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe from 1990:

• "Отравилась? Нет, затравили! (Евгению Козлову)" / “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov)"
• "Это не любовь. (Объединению Германии посв. русскому-у полю-ю)” / “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification. To Russkoee Polee)".

With additional specifications to the titles "to Evgenij Kozlov" and "To Russkoee Polee", respectively, Vladislav Mamyshev stated his appreciation for the commitment of his creative development by Evgenij Kozlov.

“Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov)" is signed "Владик Monroe 90", and “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification. To Russkoee Polee)" is signed "Владик Monroe (Мамышев)". As we see, Vladislav Mamyshev played with identities and languages. Interestingly, the re-worked posters from the series "Members of the Politburo", a gift to Evgenij Kozlov also from 1990, were signed "Marilyn Monroe", and what is more, in Latin letters more >>. It seems that he chose and adapted his signature in accordance to what seemed more natural to him. We might conclude that in 1990 he used his birth name Владик (Vladik) for works that demanded a larger intervention on his part.

These two paintings were probably the largest Mamyshev ever painted.
As part of the "Collection 2x3m", “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov)" was exhibited three times
• at the first exhibition on the Palace Bridge in St. Petersburg (July 1990, see below >>)
• at "Tenderness and Virility. I love California" Leningrad, 1990, more >>
• at "Nevsky Prospect Underground", Nantes, France (1991, see below >>)

The exhibition in Nantes also presented “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification.To Russkoee Polee)". see below >>

“Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!!" served as a plot for Andrius Venclova's video clip with Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe "Смерть Монро" ("Death of Monroe") more >>

After the exhibtion in Nantes, both paintings sadly disappeared from Kozlov's collection. Whether they did not return with the other paintings from the collection or were lost after their return E. Kozlov has not been able to find out. “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!!” was exhibited at Manifesta 10 (2014) in St. Petersburg at the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage Museum. It was one of the central pieces of the exhibition, which shows the perfect result of Kozlov’s commitment. Interestingly, the dedication to Evgenij Kozlov is now hidden under a new dedication to “Дорогому Пьеру” (To dear Pierre). In 2015, art collector Pierre Brochet informed Evgenij Kozlov that he acquired this painting from Vladislav Mamyshev Monroe in 1994, and that the artist changed the dedication in 2007, prior to an exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Whether V. Mamyshev told Mr. Brochet about the history of the painting E. Kozlov could not find out.

Not surprisingly, this setting was chosen for the cover of a book on Eastern Europe edited in 1991 by Edition Stemmle, a Swiss publishing company. In front of the paintings stands Vladislav Mamyshev as Marilyn Monroe, holding a poster with Gorbachev from his "Politburo" series. Nothing could be more seductive to the potential buyer of the book.

In 1994, Evgenij Kozlov reinterpreted the photo with a drawing. It captures the exact moment of the shooting whilst showing both the photographer and himself.

Book cover of "Der Wilde Osten" (1991), showing Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe in front of his painting “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!! (To Evgenij Kozlov)” To the right (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov's painting "The Great Le-yeh-nin" Mamyshev holds the poster of Gorbachev from his series "Members of the Politburo". more >> Photo taken by A. Reiser at Evgenij Kozlov's studio "Russkoee Polee", 1990	Evgenij Kozlov's interpretation of the photo shooting in a drawing from 1994.

Vladislav Mamshev-Monroe “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification. To Russkoee Polee)”. Central part of the painting. Picture published by Kommersant, 2001 The captions present the painting as картина "Гитлер и Монро" (1992)" / painting "Hitler and Monroe" (1992) http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/269386

Of the second painting, “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification. To Russkoee Polee)” there are several existing pictures taken at "Russkoee Polee", which show it in various stages of completion. The blood on Hitler's fingers and Monroe's pudenta, the birds (with Swastika and SS symbols), the leaves of the trees, the signature and the dedication were the last elements Mamyshev added to his work.

Together with “Self poisoned? No, been hunted!!!", the second of Mamyshev's works for Kozlov's "Collection 2x3m" was lost to in the mid 1990s. An interview from 2001 with Moscow art critic and curator Andrey Erofeev for the Russian Newspaper "Kommersant" shows "This is not Love" as part of Erofeev's collection of his museum "Tsaritsina". However, the title and year indicated differ from original. In the article it is called "Hitler and Monroe" and dated 1992.

Andrey Erofeev explains in the interview that the collection was to be transferred to the Tretyakovskaya Gallery, but an official answer from the Tretyakovskaya Gallery's general director from 2013 informed us that “This is not Love. (Dedicated to the German Unification. To Russkoee Polee)” was not at this museum.

When Evgenij Kozlov moved to Berlin in 1993 / 94 and Vladislav Mamyshev settled in Moscow, they lost contact with each other. In 2010 they were finally able to re-establish correspondence through facebook. At that point, Kozlov was still unaware of the fact that both paintings had new owners, but he wanted to inform Mamyshev of the fact that he had not made money with the works Mamyshev had donated to his collection 2x3m" in 1990. He therefore told Mamyshev that the two paintings had "left" the collection without his knowledge, let alone approval, and that the collection had lost, in this way, a substantial contribution. To this Vladislav Mamyshev answered somewhat cryptically on April 2, 2010

"Я с тобой абсолютно согласен, Женя, я должен признаться, что я очень много лет пребывал в наркотическом невмeнозе, и не отреагировал адекватно на эту ситуацию раньше. Теперь же я готов буду с радостью возместить тобою утраченное, и нарисовать ремейки обеих тех работ, только улучшенные (потому что качество тех работ хромало, я видимо нарушил какую то технологию, и обе те работы, а я их видел, находятся в плачевном состоянии, на половину осыпались) или сделать в твою коллекцию совершенно новую работу, естественно в формате 2х3."

"I completely agree with you, Evgenij, and must admit that I was many years drug-insane and didn't react appropriately or in time to this situation. But now I am ready and happy to replace what you have lost and paint remakes of both works, only in better conditions (because the quality of these works has suffered, I obviously did not pay attention to some technical requirements, and both works, when I saw them, were in a pitiful state, half of the paint has fallen off) or make a completely new work for your collection, naturally in a 2x3m format."

In view of the information E. Kozlov received from Pierre Brochet in 2015, the strangeness of Vladislav Mamyshev's phrase "I didn't react appropriately" has a very logical explanation: V. Mamyshev sold at least one of the two paintings he had originally donated to Evgenij Kozlov's "collection 2x3m". How they came into his hands after the exhbition in Nantes (1991) will remain for art-historians to discover, but it was very nice of Vladislav that he suggested to replace them.

For a number of reasons, the execution of this proposition was postponed and, ultimately, has not been realized. It is with deep regret that Evgenij Kozlov learnt of Vladislav Mamshev's death in 2013. He thinks that Vladislav had all the potential to become a star not only in Russia, but internationally – an equal to Charlie Chaplin – and wished he had had the means to support Vladislav to this end.

The two paintings by Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe for Evgenij Kozlov's "Collection 2x3m" will continue their history outside the collection, but we hope that they can join the collection for an exhibition. And when the "Collection 2x3m" finally becomes a museum collection, they might be donated by their current owners to this museum to unite with the other works from the "Collection 2x3m", works by Timur Novikov, Oleg Kotelnikov, Viktor Kuznetsov & Oleg Maslov, Bob Koshelokhov and many other gifted artists from Russia.