Moscow Express

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Moscow Express
by Andrey Kovalev
The Russian artist Oleg Kulik is a guy who knows how to create an
"event" -- he slaughtered a pig in the Regina Gallery in Moscow, he bit
people while acting like a caged dog in Moscow, New York, Stockholm
and Vienna. At the same time, Kulik is a serious artist who takes
deliberate care with his final product. For instance, in his new show at
XL Gallery, titled "Museum," everyone can easily recognize the figure
of Anna Kournikova, the Russian tennis star (though her name is never
mentioned, as we shiver with fear before American lawyers).
Oleg Kulik putting the finishing touches on
his show at XL Gallery, Moscow
So this sculpture -- a kind of sportswoman's dummy in the shape of
Kournikova -- turns out to be frighteningly lively, with beads of sweat on
her forehead, a gum-baring grin, real sneakers covered with real sand
and an uplifted skirt exposing mighty muscles. Enclosed in a glass box,
the wax figure drifts above the floor in spite of the laws of gravity.
Those interested in the mysteries of art as well as Anna's sexy thighs
can discover that it is the beauty's natural braid attached to the ceiling
that keeps the object aloft.
The combination of the wax's deathly shine and natural hair produces a
shocking effect that is intensified as soon as one notices the taxidermic
stitches covering the figure's hands, legs, neck and abdomen. Kulik's
activities with wax figures began with a series of large photographs of
his cynical sexual assault against Rasputin, Nicholas the Second and
the whole of Russian history, as exhibited at the St. Petersburg affiliate
of Mme. Tussaud's.
Oleg Kulik
Lolita 1
2000
Oleg Kulik
The Family of the Future 3
Though Kulik has not given up his old tactics of epatage and scandal,
the wild '90s in Russia, when Kulik acted a mad dog, are now over. His
history of aggressive actions is increasingly associated with a notion of
"wild money in Russia being made basically by those who embrace
violence as a lifestyle." The quotation belongs to Victor Tupitsyn, the
Russian-born American critic and philosopher who supports Moscow
conceptualists with Ilya Kabakov as their head and bitterly attacks
those of the neo-NEP movement.
In truth, Kulik's achievements in the 1990s mirrored the Russian
Capitalist revolution, and reflected step by step the intensive
transformations of the new class's collective body. Oleg Kulik, the bad
dog of young Russian capitalism, now concerns himself with legal
decoration of offices and informational flows. There are rumors that
Anna may be joined by several other figures, resembling Madonna,
Bjork and the cosmonaut Gagarin, and the lot of them might somehow
appear in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
1997
I can also add that Anna Kournikova, a simple Russian girl embodying
the American dream, is not that great of a model. After all, Kourni has
not yet won a single championship and her worldwide fame basically
survives owing to cheap tabloids. For his part, Kulik, despite his nave
belief in omnipotent mass media, hasn't yet succeeded in becoming a
Damien Hirst-like superstar either.
ANDREY KOVALEV is a Russian art writer.
27.11.2013 19:22
artnet.com Magazine Features - Moscow Express
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Kulik performs Pavlov's Dog at Manifesta
1 in Rotterdam in 1996
27.11.2013 19:22