In Stalin's glory days, the Soviet Union staged VDNH, a grand exposition of Soviet produce. The annual extravaganzas included the work of artists who painted giant murals centered on Stalin receiving the bounty of the land.	Post VDNH brochure cover (detail) (click image for enlarged view)
Artist Bulnygin	This year the art and business communities of Ekaterinburg, a city en route from Novosibirsk to Moscow, staged the exposition Post VDNH. The businessmen supplied the product, and the artists furnished the excitement.
DMITRY BULNYGIN is one of two Novosibirsk artists who participated in Post VDNH. His installation We All Love To Live (1998) includes Toblerone chocolate bars arrayed as a Star of David on a chair. A platter of beef rests on a chair nearby. The beef represents the meat-loving Russians, says the artist. The two easy chairs are arranged as if the Jewish Toblerone were in conversation with the Russian meat.

Jewish Toblerone and Russian meat (video still)	Bulnygin sees Russians and Jews as polar opposites that have to reconcile their differences. We All Love To Live documentation video (0:12 min. RealVideo clip. You'll need RealPlayer to see and hear these clips)
KONSTANTIN SKOTNIKOV is an art teacher at the Academy of Art and Architecture in Novosibirsk. He recently had a one person show in Akademgorodok, a suburb of Novosibirsk noted for academic institutes. The exhibition, a single installation titled Dolls Devour (1998), included color Xeroxes among other mixed media parts.
Artist Skotnikov	Color Xerox (detail) click image for enlarged view
Skotnikov supports Freud. He claims there is not enough psychoanalysis in Russia. His dolls provide a playful means of reaching a Freudian denouement. Dolls Devour documentation video (0:51 min. RealVideo clip)	Russian doll (still)
The Russian doll is a version of the toy that cannot be knocked down. No matter what happens, it always rights itself. Skotnikov has placed this toy in a motorized sculpture along with a set of doll arms, and a rotating bust of Lenin. The symbolism seems clear, especially the implication that Lenin is spinning in his grave because of perestroika.

Menyailo with their awards	PAVEL MENYAILO has forsaken art for the advertising world. The commercials he produces with Director Dmitri Avrorin are mainstream.
A plumbing commercial has a woman examining male fixtures. Bathroom fixture commercial (0:53 min. RealVideo clip)	Plumbing review (still)
KOMOK newspaper (still)	KOMOK, Russian for kiosk, is a regional liberal newspaper. Newspaper commercial (0:37 min. RealVideo clip)