BULATOV Erik

1933 Born, Swerdlowsk, Ural;
1952 - 1958 Studied at the Surikov Art Institute, Moscow, Russia;
1960 - 1969 In the 1960s Bulatov formed the Sretensky Boulevard Group with Ilya Kabakov, Eduard Shteinberg, Vladimir Yankilevsky, and Viktor Pivovarov;
1980 - 1989 His `philosophical Sots art` in the second half of the 1980s earned him wide renown as the `artist of perestroyka` (political and economic transformation), whose work symbolized the advent of a new stage in Russian art;
In 2008 Bulatov became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts;
Lives and works in Paris, France.

Collections featuring the works

Museum Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris;
Museum Ludwig, Cologne;
MUDAM - Musйe d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
Art4.ru - contemporary art museum;
Moscow National Center For Contemporary Art (NCCA) - Moscow Branch;
Moscow The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow;
Schaulager, Mьnchenstein / Basel;
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ;

Exhibitions and auctions

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBTIONS:
2009 Erik Bulatov - Arndt & Partner - Berlin + Zurich, Berlin;
2008 Erik Bulatov - The Vault of Heaven - Galerie Piиce Unique, Paris;
2007 Day-Night - Galerie Skopia, Geneva;
2006 Look! - State Tretyakov Gallery, Моscow;
2006 Eric Boulatov - Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover, Hannover;
1999 Erik Boulatov - Musйe Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris;
1989 Erik Bulatov - The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL;
1988 Erik Boulatov - Centre Pompidou - Musйe National dґArt Moderne, Paris;
1998 Paintings - De Appel, Amsterdam;
1998 Erik Bulatov - Ilya Kabakov - Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn;
1998 Erik Bulatov - Portikus, Frankfurt/Main;
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2010 MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL;
2009 L`Espиce de chose mйlancolie - Mamco - musйe dґart moderne et contemporain, Geneva;
2009 GO EAST II - Mudam Collection supported by KBL European Private Bankers - MUDAM - Musйe d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg;
2009 "Das Tauwetter und die Zeit danach. Perestrojka - Moskauer Kьnstler (1986-1996)" - Teil III - Sandmann - Berlin, Berlin ;
2009 Movie Painting - National Center For Contemporary Art (NCCA) - Moscow Branch, Moscow;
2008 Russian avant-garde. Non-conformists from the Bar-Gera collections - Slovak National Gallery / Slovenskб Nбrodnб Galйria, Bratislava;
2008 La Ilustracion total - Rte Conceptual de Moscu 1960-1990 - Fundaciуn Juan March, Madrid;
2008 Die totale Aufklдrung - Moskauer Konzeptkunst - Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main;
2008 Russian Art - Danubiana - Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava;
2008Moscow – New York = Parallel Play - CAM - Chelsea Art Museum, New York City, NY;
2007 Sots Art. Art politique en Russie de 1972 а aujourd`hui - La Maison Rouge, Paris;
2007 Marilyn Monroe, Life as a Legend - Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA;
2007 Marilyn Monroe - Life as a Legend - The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH;
2007 Schцnwahnsinnig - Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen - Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig;
2006 Life as a Legend - Marilyn Monroe - Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL;
2006 Marilyn - The Women`s Museum, Dallas, TX;
2006Sammeln und Entdecken - Galerie Schrade & Blashofer, Karlsruhe;
2006 Essence of Life Art - The State Russian Museum - Marble Palace, St. Petersburg;
2006 Artists Against The State: Perestroika Revisited - Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc, New York City, NY;
2006 Rusia! - Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporбneo, Bilbao;
2005 Essence of Life Art - The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow;
2005 Angels of History - Moscow Conceptualism and its influence - MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp;
2005 Russia! - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY;
2005 Essence of Life - Essence of Art - Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art - Budapest, Budapest;
2005 The Theatre of Art - Masterpieces from the Collection of the Ludwig Museum, Colo - Villa Manin. Centro d`arte contemporanea, Codroipo (UD) ;
2004 "Eine kurze Zeit ...lang" - Dany Keller Galerie, Munich;
2004 Passage dґEurope - Musйe d`Art moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne;
2004 Non-Konformisten aus Moskau - Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus, Koblenz;
2003 Berlin-Moskau Moskau-Berlin 1950-2000 - , Berlin;
2003 Traumfabrik Kommunismus - Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main;
2003 50th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale / Biennale di Venezia - La Biennale di Venezia, Venice;
2003 "Marilyn. The life of a legend" - County Hall Gallery, London (England) ;
2001 Hypermental - Wahnhafte Wirklichkeit 1950 - 2000 - Von Salvador Dali bis Jeff K - Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg;
2000 Cosmos - From Goya to De Chirico from Friedrich to Kiefer - Palazzo Grassi - Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice;
1999 Examining Pictures - Exhibition of 56 artists links generations of painters - Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago - MCA Chicago, Chicago, IL;
1997 2nd Gwangju Biennale - Unmapping The Earth - Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju;
1990 Artisti russi contemporanei - Centro per lґArte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato.

Critique

Bulatov`s subject matter is broad. Equally broad is his perception of the government`s role in the classification and control of everything. Bulatov symbolizes the government through his use of language as a system of order and control, the foundation of written law and constraint which he then plasters on every tree and rock. It is in this sense that Bulatov`s paintings may take on a more universal accuracy and a more populist appeal. His emphasis on only the public and external aspects of life--the street, the land, the State television broadcast--reinforces the notion that one`s thoughts and feelings are (still) one`s own. the psychological and emotional are beyond the confines of words, language and law.
This literal irony and contradiction is symbolically enriched and layered through Bulatov`s deft use of Social Realism, the government`s traditional mechanism for pictorial communication. His wordless images of Brezhnev have all the trappings of officialdom: a crisp pose, a heroic gaze, the flags of the communist States. However, the calculated flatness and lack of flourish in Bulatov`s style tends to rub off on his subjects, making them seem the victims of their own constraints. Bulatov`s paintings are unflattering without being overtly critical; his sly matter-of factness is too accurate to be false.
Joe Scanlan. The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.

Bibliography

Damien Sausset. Erik Bulatov: O // Kerber (August 31, 2009)

Works 7

Light Diagonal, 1964, charcoal pencil, paper, 20.5x24.5
The Street, 1966, oil on canvas, 79.5x99.5
XX century of Russia, 1990, oil on canvas, 180x180cm
Mozart, 1991, oil on canvas, 180x180 cm
Margaret Rismondo, 1992, oil on canvas, 160x160
Il temp di Roma, 1992, oil on canvas, 175x203
The Road, 1996, oil on canvas, 160х100cm
Chevron Up