Komar and Melamid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Komar and Melamid is an artistic team made up of Russian graphic artists Vitaly Komar (born 1943) and Alexander Melamid (born 1945). Both artists were born in Moscow, emigrated to Israel in 1977 because they are Jewish, and subsequently to New York in 1978.
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[edit] Education
Komar and Melamid graduated from the Stroganov School of Design in 1967; they began working together shortly thereafter. After 36 years they separated in 2003.
[edit] Style
They are perhaps best known as the founders of Sots Art, a form of Soviet Nonconformist Art that combined elements of Socialist Realism and Western Pop Art in a conceptual framework that also references Dadaism. Komar and Melamid often create many works within a common theme. Their prolific collaboration precludes from mentioning all of their projects, however, some of their best known series and projects are: Sots Art series (1972-1973), Post-Art series (1973), Ancestral Portraits series (1980), Nostalgic Socialist Realism series (1982-1983), Diary series (1984-1986), Anarchistic Synthesism series (1985-1986), Most-Wanted series (1993-1997), Monumental Propaganda (1994), Elephant Project (1995-2000), American Dreams (1994-1999).
[edit] References
- Ratcliff, Carter. Komar and Melamid, New York: Abbeville Press, 1988. ISBN 0-89659-891-8
- Wypijewski, JoAnn, ed. Painting by Numbers: Komar and Melamid's Scientific Guide to Art, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
- Komar and Melamid. When Elephants Paint: The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants of Thailand, New York: HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN 0-06-095352-7
- Nathanson, Melvyn, ed. Komar/Melamid: Two Soviet Dissident Artists, Southern Illinois University Press, 1979.
- Komar and Melamid The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, exhibition catalogue, 1985. ISBN 0-947912-20-7
- Weiss, Evelyn. Komar & Melamid: The Most Wanted and the Most Unwanted Painting, Museum Ludwig Koln, Ostfildern: Cantz, 1997.
- "Komar and Melamid" The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art HistoryNancy Frazier (ed.) Penguin Reference, New York 2000 ISBN 0-670-10015-3 .
- "Komar and Melamid" Art since the 40's by Jonathan Fineberg
- "Komar und Melamid" Bildende Kunst im 20 Jahrhundert Edward Lucie-Smith (ed.) Könemann in der Tandem Verlags-Gmbh 2002, ISBN 3-8290-1717-0 .
- "Komar and Melamid (1945- )" Who's Who in American Art 23rd edition, 1999-2000. Marquis, New Providence, NJ;
- "Komar and Melamid" Contemporary Artists Fifth edition. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergastm (eds.) St. James Press, Detroit, 2002.
- "Komar and Melamid" The Prestel Dictionary of Art and Artists in the 20th Century Prestel Verlag, New York, 2000.
- "Komar and Melamid" World Artists, 1950-1980 Claude Marks (ed.) H.W. Wilson Co., New York, 1984.
- "Komar and Melamid" A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art Ian Chilvers (ed.) Oxford University Press, New York 1998 ISBN 0-19-280092-2 .
