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      (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: exhibitions >> • Leningrad 80s >>

Kulturhuset's New Artists project 1987-1988

De Nya från Leningrad / The New from Leningrad,
Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 27 August – 25 September 1988

Synopsis and Introduction

Part One: Outlining the festival project

Chapter 1. The four phases of the Kulturhuset festival project

Chapter 2. Stockholm’s invitation of Leningrad artists and musicians

Chapter 3. The correspondence between Kulturhuset and the Swedish Consulate, Leningrad, April-September 1987

Part Two: Photo documentation and selection of artworks

Chapter 4. Photo copies with selected works (1987)

Chapter 5. Colour pictures in Sara Åkerrén’s photo album

Chapter 6. Kulturhuset archive colour pictures

Chapter 7. Catalogue reproductions

Chapter 8. Table of works per artist, 1987 and 1988

Chapter 9. Concluding remarks

Exhibtion views, Kulturhuset, 1988


Text and research: Hannelore Fobo, January / February 2022



Chapter 8. Table of works per artist, 1987 and 1988

In order to better understand the findings, I created a table allowing to compare the figures and to draw some conclusions; figures in square brackets lead to footnotes.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Number of works displayed
1988

Of which selected in 1987

Of which in catalogue

Total catalogue

Number of works selected
1987

Bugaev. Sergei (Afrika)

28 [1]

4

2

2 [2]

27 [3]

Gurianov, Georgy

1

3

Gutsevich Vladislav

1

1

3

Kotelnikov, Oleg

9

1 [4]

6

Kozlov, E-E

7

7 [5]

2

Krisanov, Andrei

2

1 [6]

1

1

Maslov, Oleg and Kozin, Alexei

2

1

2

Novikov, Timur

7

1

1

9

Novikov / Bugaev

1

Ovchinnikov, Vadim

3

1

10

Savchenkov, Inal

4

2 [7]

13

Sotnikov , Ivan

8 [8]

1 [9]

9

Tsoy, Viktor

1

1

2

Yufit, Evgeny

3

1

2

2

2

Kurmayartsev, Andrey

1 [10]

Zaika, Oleg

1

Kuryokhin, Sergey (jacket)

1

Total

79

6

8

26

81

The first column lists, in alphabetical order, the artists contributing to the Kulturhuset exhibition. It is based on the pictures I received from Fredrik Vogel. Apart from the 1988 “newcomers” Tsoy, Guryanov, Krisanov, and Maslov/Kozin, it also includes two artists who are not mentioned in the Kulturhuset line-up, although their paintings can be seen in the pictures.

From left to right: Works by Viktor Tsoy, Goergy Guyanov and Andrei Krisanov  from Sara Åkerrén's collection  "The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition view courtesy Fredrik Vogel

From left to right: Works by Viktor Tsoy, Goergy Guyanov and Andrei Krisanov
from Sara Åkerrén's collection
"The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition view courtesy Fredrik Vogel

Two works by Oleg Maslov and Alexei Kozin. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel "The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Two works by Oleg Maslov and Alexei Kozin. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel "The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.

Two works by Oleg Maslov and Alexei Kozin. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel
"The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.



A portrait most likely by Andrey “Mertvyi” Kurmayartsev, was erroneously attributed to Evgeny Yufit, so it seems. Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel On the rear wall "Moscow Soup" by Oleg Zaika The other works are by Sergei Bugaev. Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel.

A portrait most likely by Andrey “Mertvyi” Kurmayartsev, was erroneously attributed to Evgeny Yufit, so it seems. Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel On the rear wall "Moscow Soup" by Oleg Zaika
The other works are by Sergei Bugaev.
Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel.



One of the "unidentified newcomers" is Andrey “Mertvyi” Kurmayartsev, whose work was erroneously attributed to Evgeny Yufit, so it seems. Unfortunately, I cannot read the label next to the painting in the picture, and I don’t remember whether it was Kurmayartsev himself who told me so. Yufit and Kurmayartsev were both in the same group of “Nekrorealists”, and perhaps it was a joint work. Finally, a painting by Oleg Zaika from his series “Moscow soup” can be seen in the background of a picture displaying several of Bugaev’s works. Oddly enough, the wall with Zaika’s painting is not documented otherwise, which means that there could have been more of Zaika’s paintings. As stated in Zaika's consignation document for Fredrik Vogel dated 25 September 1988, two versions of “Moscow soup” – Soup 2 pieces – left Stockholm (and ended up in Liverpool). Although there is no hint as to whether “Moscow soup” was presented under Zaika’s name at the Kulturhuset, I would assume so, given the contract signed between Vogel and Zaika after the exhibition ended.

Another picture presents a jacket Kuryokhin often wore on stage. In the context of the exhibition, it may be considered as Kuryokhin’s “object”. In this way, there are nine “old” and eight “new” artists – a total of seventeen artists.

Installation with a jacket Sergey Kuryokhin used to wear on stage Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel

Installation with a jacket Sergey Kuryokhin used to wear on stage
Picture courtesy Fredrik Vogel



The second column indicates the number of works per artist in the exhibition, assuming that the pictures Fredrik Vogel sent me show all works displayed (which may not be the case). Apart from two joint works by Maslov and Kozin and another one by Novikov and Bugaev, some of Bugaev’s works might also have been collective works with Kotelnikov or Novikov; in the table they were attributed to Bugaev. The total number of exhibits is 79.



The third column indicates how many of these 79 works were in the 1987 photocopy pre-selection – a mere six, of which four are Bugaev’s, while a fifth, also attributed to Bugaev in the 1987 selection, is actually a work by Krisanov, judging by stylistic criteria. The sixth work is by Yufit. It goes without saying that works of those eight artists included only in 1988 were new by default, but the number of their works isn’t very large. On average, it’s one per artist. What surprises is that almost all works of the “old” artists from the 1987 selection were also new.

"The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel
The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Sergei Bugaev The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Sergei Bugaev
Sergei Bugaev Sergei Bugaev

The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Sergei Bugaev The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Sergei Bugaev
Sergei Bugaev Sergei Bugaev


The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Andrey Krisanov (attributed to Sergei Bugaev in the Xerox copy selection) The New From Leningrad, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Exhibition views of six works previously selected in 1987 (Xerox copy selection).
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Evgeny Yufit
Andrey Krisanov (attributed to Sergei
Bugaev in the Xerox copy selection)
Evgeny Yufit



Column 4 and 5, were added for the sake of completeness. They refer to catalogue pictures.

The fourth column explains how many of the 79 exhibits were reproduced in the catalogue: eight (see previous chapter).



The fifth column sums up catalogue reproductions of works by artists. The total amount of these pictures is 26 (small or large, black and white or colour).



Finally, the sixth column gives an overview of works per artist in the Xerox copy selection. Provided that the photocopies indeed display the 1987 selection and that the second column lists all 1988 exhibits, two facts immediately catch one’s attention. First, the number of works selected in 1987 and the number of works exhibited in 1988 is almost the same: 81 and 79, respectively. Second, with about one third of all exhibits in either list, Sergei Bugaev’s works prevail.



A detailed analysis of works per artist yields more interesting results.

With less than ten works, the “newcomers” from the extended line-up of artists (including those not mentioned) didn’t change the previous concept fundamentally, but due to their individual styles, their works were nevertheless a substantial addition to the display. In this respect, Sara Åkerrén’s contribution was important not only for the catalogue, but for the exhibition itself: the four paintings by Gutsevich, Guryanov, Tsoy, and Krisanov came from her collection. The “newcomers” Guryanov, Tsoy, and Krisanov were musicians playing with the band Kino, whose members performed with Sergey Kuryokhin’s Pop Mekhanika. To show that Leningrad’s artists were active in a number of fields was in line with the festival’s concept. However, none of the three actually travelled to the Stockholm festival.

Regarding the artists from the 1987 line-up, there were some remarkable changes in 1988. With respect to the previous year, the number of works had dramatically dropped for Savchenkov (from 13 to 4) and Ovchinnikov (from 10 to 3), while Kozlov was the shooting star with 7 works up from a previous 2, plus the catalogue cover and poster.

Seven paintngs by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov exhibited at "The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel
Seven paintngs by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov exhibited at “The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel, From left to right "Anna Karenina 2" (1988), "The World (Lev Tolstoy)" (1988), "Anna Karenina 2" (1988) Seven paintngs by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov exhibited at “The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel, "I want her (and I I)” (1988)
From left to right "Anna Karenina 2" (1988), "The World (Lev Tolstoy)" (1988), "Anna Karenina 2" (1988) "I want her (and I I)” (1988)

Seven paintngs by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov exhibited at “The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Smiling Sickle (1987, displayed rotated by 90 degrees) Seven paintngs by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov exhibited at “The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Exhibition views courtesy Fredrik Vogel, Star (1987)
Smiling Sickle (1987, displayed rotated by 90 degrees) Star (1987)

CCCP (USSR), (1987) Left: CCCP (USSR), (1987)



Regarding those artists ranking in the middle of the scale in 1987 – Kotelnikov, Novikov, Sotnikov – there were only minor changes in the range of one or two works (plus or minus). Likewise, the difference is small when it comes to the lower end of the scale: Yufit, who was also presented with his films, went up from two to three, while Gutsevich went down from three to one, a painting of a cock from Sara Åkerrén collection.[11] Yet changes are noticeable when considered from an individual point of view: Yufit went up by fifty per cent, while Gutsevich went down to a third.

Vladislav Gutsevich's painting of a cock. “The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988. Courtesy Fredrik Vogel
Vladislav Gutsevich's painting of a cock.
“The New From Leningrad”, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1988.
Courtesy Fredrik Vogel




[1] Incl. two triptychs = 6 works and three works that might have been collective works with Kotelnikov or Novikov

[2] Incl. the reverse of the catalogue cover

[3] Incl. three joint works with Kotelnikov and a work by Krisanov attributed to Bugaev

[4] Selected 1987 as Ovchinnikov’s work

[5] Including the cover. Four portraits of Guryanov and Novikov are in a single picture from Kozlov’s archive

[6] Selected 1987 as Bugaev’s work

[7] Both pictures from the 1987 selection

[8] incl. 1 triptych = 3 works

[9] Picture from the 1987 selection

[10] Erroneously attributed to Yufit at the Kulturhuset exhibition

[11] In a private message from February 2022, Sara Åkerrén told me that she finds it “strange” that Gutsevich’s painting with the buffaloes printed in the catalogue wasn’t in the exhibition




next page: Chapter 9. Concluding remarks


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Uploaded 23 February 2022
Last updated 21 September 2023