(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov

“Century XX”
“Век ХХ” (Русский текст см. ниже)

Evgenij Kozlov "Century XX“ (part 1) 89. 92. 2004. 2007. 2008. Special edtion for the 55th International Art Exhibition "la Biennale di Venezia", 2013

“Century XX” (original title: ‘Век ХХ’ /’Vek XX’), is one of (E‑E) Evgenij Kozlov’s major artistic projects, which he realised between 1989 and 2015 and dedicated to the twentieth century. Combining personal and universal memories, the artist visualised the spirit of the twentieth century with a multitude of complex images, texts, symbols and quotes from his own artwork.

“Century XX” has two parts, with part one consisting of 80 collages (1989 – 2008) and part two (2008 – 2015) comprising more than 500 original graphic works and the same number of imprints of the drawings on transparent paper (‘light boxes’). For the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, a book was made, recording part one.

“Century XX”, part one, is a series of drawings combined with textual elements, poems and collages, which Kozlov began in 1989, in the style of the Leningrad art group “New Artists”, of which he was a member. They were originally drawn on the pages of a scrapbook, which have been cut from the binding to obtain a total of 39 two-sided (single or double) pages, plus the front and back covers.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Century XX, part 1, page 57 Продезинфицировано русским снегом. 89. 92. 2004. 2007. 2008. L. B. (Disinfected with Russian snow)

The artist revised these 80 collages in 1992, and returned to them again in 2004, adding drawings and newspaper clips, as well as photographs of his earlier works, from which he cut out specific motifs or features in order to create a new context. The 2003 book edition of his “Leningrad Album” clearly influenced the project and helped to develop it. Kozlov made extensive use of the figures and objects from the book, sometimes colouring them in. He turned them into central or accompanying elements of the pages, and used them as (fold-out) extensions.

He continued this process in 2007 and 2008, creating rich and intricate subtexts, until he achieved for each page, with great precision, a delicate balance of sign and colour. The essence of each narrative is reflected in curious titles, e.g. No. 47 “Пресс-конференция: … чем не портрет красавицы?” (”Press conference. Isn't this a portrait of a real beauty?”); No. 66 “Привет, сэр! Вы гуляете в холодную погоду?” (“Hello Sir! Are you going for a walk in cold weather?”)

The artist defined this result as: “Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies of contemporary art, as well as amber with flies.”

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov "Ну Юр, не улета туда“ (“Hey Yur, don't fly awry”), first of six graphic works from the no. 90 series of “Century XX”, part 2. 59.6 х 42 сm, mixed media / paper, 2011 inv. number E-E-xx-090-1

Immediately after the completion of the collages, Evgenij Kozlov began to generate new works from each of the 80 pages, thus beginning what is now called “Part Two” of “Century XX”. He chose paper in A2 format showing nudes in various poses, which a group of guests, most of them unpracticed amateur artists, had created during a life drawing session in his studio.

Selecting a key motif from each collage, he combined it with a nude drawing and evolved it in a series of five to ten graphic works of the same size, once more using a wide range of different media and elements. A new technical method allowed him not only to have the motifs unfold along the timeline, from the first to the last of a series, but also to create retroactive effects from the later to the earlier work. Every new work therefore generates its own ‘offspring’ – variations of images that enter into the narrative of the others, metamorphosing and redirecting them. In this way an individual composition manifests the artist’s conscious decision to create a specific meaning through a specific harmony, without denying the existence of other possibilities and their right to materialise.

In 2009, in order to define his approach to artistic composition – assemblage and montage without a sketch or outline – Evgenij Kozlov coined the term CHAOSE ART >> read more. CHAOSE ART defines a common style, fundamental to the development of contemporary art, which has no territorial boundaries and can be traced back to the early twentieth century (through artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, and later Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sigmar Polke, and others). This is art after the disappearance of meaning, and it represents an attempt to find this lost meaning, or rather expounds the desire to introduce new meaning into art, as into life, out of chaos.

The title of series 63 (“In furious …”) shows how chaos and the desire for harmony intertwine: