Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov, known in the art world simply as Dubossarsky & Vinogradov, are two Russian artists who have worked on the stereotypes of popular culture, media civilization, politics, glamour and the wild blending of themes, icons and subjects, according to a typical pattern of post - modern culture, combining the language of Soviet social realism, pop art and kitsch with which contemporary society is permeated. Their dreamlike and fairy - tale paintings, full of citations from the history of art, politics and culture, seem to propose, with a strong sense of seduction and irony, the ideal of modern Arcadia captured in fantasy style and populated by apparently happy and carefree beings.
Dubossarsky & Vinogradov
Artists
Colourful, cheerful and painted with a style that refers to the popular illustrations of the twentieth century, Dubossarsky & Vinogradov's paintings describe bucolic, vaguely surreal scenes, often based on the aesthetics of appearance, money and sensuality. The faces of their characters seem to be taken indifferently from the advertisements of popular magazines and from the political propaganda posters of the last century, from the world of fashion, television and entertainment. In a process similar to collage Dubossarsky & Vinogradov have adopted the bright blue skies and pristine smiling faces of escapist magazine spreads and combined them in large - scale compositions inhabited by Hollywood stars, fashion models, the star system and international politics, strange picnics populated with celebrities in impossibly pastoral scenes, encounters between splendid models with bears, wolves and other wild animals, fantasy scenarios, children in celebration and dolls, flowers, enchanted landscapes or dazzlingly unreal snow storms over pristine cityscapes. Theirs is a subtle and ruthless criticism, conducted with great formal elegance and an impeccable and fluid style, of consumer society and the seductive power of advertising and fashion, seen in terms of modern forms of power and aesthetic and cultural homologation.
Vladimir Dubossarsky (born in 1964) and Alexandre Vinogradov (born in 1963) are two Russian artists who have been working together since 1994. They have been invited to exhibit at many exhibitions and public events such as the 50th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennial, the Sao Paolo Art Biennial, Valencia Biennial and other important international art shows. Their works are in the collections of major museums including: Hausder Geschichte (House of History) Museum in Bonn, Germany; Centre Georges Pompidou, France; Duke University Museum of Art, USA; Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, USA; MACI Museo Arte Contemporanea Isernia, Italy; Museum Of Contemporary Art of Avignon, France; Museum of Conte mporary Art of Valencia, Spain; Secession Museum, Austria; State Tretyakov Gallery and State Russian Museum, Russia; and others. In 2014 the Vinogradov& Dubossarsky project came to an end and the two artists continued to work separately.