6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – 0 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The UK press are quick to label Andrei Molodkin as the ‘bad-boy’ of Russian art, focusing at length on his macabre project of turning decomposing human bodies into crude oil. Yet they neglect to investigate the dualistic nature of his recent oeuvre.  At a time when Molodkin opens two exhibitions internationally, Transformer No. V579 at Art Sensus in London and CRUDE at Station Museum in Houston USA (click here), the following article aims to explore the bi-partite character of Molodkin’s successful artistic career. This article considers Molodkin’s controversial oil filled acrylic slogans and also the artist’s parallel pathway into Minimalism, ultimately asking whether this Minimalist quest, conversely, is more guided by socio-political concerns than his unforgiving word sculptures.

Andrei Molodkin’s solo show CRUDE opens at Station Museum of Contemporary Art on the 5^th of November, 2011. With the goal of the Museum: to encourage the public’s awareness of the cultural, political, economic, and personal dimensions of art, Molodkin will exhibit the most forthright of his recent work. A standout piece will be a biro canvas, on which he uses a technique once described by the artist as akin to hysterical masturbation, as the background to Obama’s sound-bite statement ‘YES WE CAN’. Positioned to the right of the canvas, on a stand of solid steel, is an acrylic block, hollowed out to read FUCK YOU; the letters oozing crude oil, pumping through adjoining see-through pipes. At once the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of a static utopian message of hope, and the potent, living sculpture of derision.  Also exhibited will be ‘Liberty’, another acrylic block, but this time negated with a mould of the Statue of Liberty’s burning flame infused with the corruption of dark, squalid oil.

Whilst Molodkin has been hard at work creating oil filled words such as ‘Democracy’, ‘Hope’ and ‘Justice’, he has also been in the factory working on Transformer No. V579; a tense, authoritative, machine-like installation.  Meticulously constructed from rows of steel pillars (each connect by just a single base screw) the installation is a true feat of engineering genius. On the inside of each pillar there is a balancing act of two acrylic pipes, the bottom filled with electric neon gas, and at the top, with oil.

With Minimalism acting as a reaction to Abstract-Expressionism, Minimalist art can be described as a demystification of the emotional thrust of a previous era.  As importance shifted from the ‘demy-God’ artist back to the material and development of the work of art slight compositions, unity and simplicity stepped forward. If Transformer No. V579 is to be viewed in the light of this process it becomes apparent that Molodkin has stripped back his installation to the very basics. Material becomes paramount as the factory-produced steel stands lock onto the clean lines of the acrylic tubes; the installation thereby becoming a linear structure, a meticulously engineered composition.

This return to simplicity comes as no surprise.  Minimalist practitioners of the 1960’s Dan Flavin, Robert Morris and Donald Judd referenced Tatlin, Rodchenko and Malevich respectively.  Molodkin, a Russian born artist, similarly uses the specific Art into production history of his native country in his own, unique form of artistic exploration.  Reminiscent of El Lissitzky’s claim that ‘…the pictorial line has descended regularly… 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 to 0 but at the other extremity a new line begins, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…’ Molodkin’s tubes reflect this linear fluctuation and his ability to create and reduce simultaneously.

Furthermore, ‘Transformer No. V579’ fundamentally transgresses the boundaries of Minimalism as Molodkin fills each tubular wall with oil taken directly from diverse conflict zones in the Middle-East; Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi-Arabia and Sudan. The unsettling effect of this political statement is further enhanced by the smell of oil escaping from the tubes.  When standing inside Transformer No. V579 you are surrounded by the smell of greed, a certain type of greed that only the scent of oil (and indeed wealth) can evoke.  A duality is at play, as the interchangeability of a white utopia and black dystopia is further destabilised through the placing of heavy, crude liquid above the clean electric light.

Apart from the political, there is something quite spiritual about the Transformer. When spending time in Houston in the run up to the CRUDE exhibition, Molodkin visited the Rothko Chapel and he was keen to bring this experience back to London. Standing in the middle of the chapel, he recalls how he was overcome by the strong sense of religiosity. One might not think that something manufactured in a factory could equate to the art of Rothko, yet, when standing within the walls of Transformer No V.579, dazed by the light; the smell of the oil pervades every sense.

Molodkin has stripped his work of excess, taking his sculptures and installations back to the minimum.  Conversely this skill at reduction allows the artist to impregnate his installations with socio-political, religious and physiological messages.  While his choice slogans brutalise the corruption running through their very core, Molodkin’s installations instil a subtle unnerving sense of physical awareness, as the viewer literally feels the corruption engendered by the art. Through both facets of his artistic characterisation, Molodkin reflects society’s flaws back upon itself, and by exploring the possibilities of a political-minimalist subgenre the artist has mastered the brilliance of the Black Square.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Molodkin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.