VItaly Komar (1943) and Alexander Melamid (1945) are Russian-born artists currently residing and working in the United States. Though they have been working independently since 2003/04, they spent most of their artistic career working as a duo. The artists got their start in Russia’s unofficial art scene, eventually migrated to Israel and then America in the pursuit for artistic freedom. Both artists have maintained the same style throughout all their different phases and have produced artworks filled with wit and intelligence, but their start as Sots-Artists are, in my opinion, the most significant contributions to the art world.

Sots-Art merged in the 1970s alongside Moscow Conceptualism. Both movements are reactions to their contemporary social, political, economic, and cultural problems in the USSR. Therefore, the reasons for the movements are the same, but each movement follows a separate path in regards to responding and finding answers to their problems. Each movement is complex in and of itself, as well as in relation to one another. In the most basic definition, Moscow Conceptualists are interested in researching and observing Soviet consciousness through Russian literary and philosophical traditions. On the other hand, Sots-Artists take on Soviet cultural artifacts and images of political figures in order to criticize the very elements that it consists of. Furthermore, Sots-Art is considered to be the Russian reaction to American Pop Art, but rather than strictly concentrating on commodity culture, it criticizes all aspects of Soviet life, which were, in a sense, commodified.

It is almost impossible to overlook all the similarities between Sots-Art and Pop Art. However, because Sots-Art emerged as an unofficial art under a totalitarian regime, the cultural significance of Sots-Art is arguably far greater. Sots-Art was considered a threat to the regime because it was seen as anti-Soviet, but the established Soviet avant-garde also disliked it because it blended the Soviet elements that unofficial artists were attempting to ignore. Therefore, binary categorization does not suit Sots-Art, which does not necessarily conform to either group of artistic creation.

Nostalgic Socialist Realism series (1981-83), for instance, took on traditional Soviet painting techniques and depicted typical Soviet subjects through a specific manner, which did not necessarily show the Soviet Union’s greatness (which art during the time was supposed to), but rather, diminished its perceived greatness.

Melamine and Komar, Stalin in Front of a Mirror (from Nostalgic Socialist Realism), tempera and oil on canvas, 1982-1983

Stalin in Front of a Mirror from Nostalgic Socialist Realism depicts the ideal Soviet leader in a not-so-ideal fashion. The painting is often paralleled with Georges de la Tour’s portrait Mary Magdalen with the Smoking Flame. Mary Magdalen is depicted in a dark and contemplative mood. Generally she is depicted as an old lady in ragged clothing, begging for mercy; de la Tour has eliminated any emphasis on materiality, which has generally been a significant aspect of how she is represented in portraiture. The overall mood of the painting makes her seem sorrowful and depressed. Melamid and Komar’s portrait of Stalin depicts the Great Leader in a similar fashion. While previous imagery of Stalin praised him, Melamid and Komar are equating him with a historically lower class citizen. Melamid and Komar broke down Stalin’s idealized image. He is depicted without shoes, arms crossed with wrinkles all over his face, hands, and feet. There are soviet elements in the painting, such as the bright red of the Communist party, but the dark aura and contemplative mood makes Stalin look weak and old.

Georges de la Tour, Mary Magdalen with Smoking Flame, oil on canvas, 1638-1640

On a side note: as I wrote this I kept thinking of Janice Ian in Mean Girls talking about taking down the Plastics. This is probably a poor analogy, but an entertaining one nevertheless. Imagine Stalin and his posse as the Plastics, and Melamid and Komar as Janice, Damian, and Cady…totally breaking down the system by incorporating elements of the same abusive system they want to abolish!

In every sense of the word, Melamid and Komar are truly revolutionary. The more I learn about them, the more intrigued I become. I’m also a sucker for artists boldly opening up a dialogue with oppressive political systems, which they were able to do with pure wits and talent.