{"product_id":"pusenkoff-mona-lisa-goes-russia-2002","title":"Mona Lisa Goes Russia","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eHeidelberg,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eKehrer Verlag, [2002]. In German and English.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eOblong 4to. 87, [1] pp., ill. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first catalogue devoted to this conceptual-photographic project.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1974, Leonardo da Vinci’s \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e was exhibited in Moscow for 45 days, in what became one of the most remarkable cultural events of the Soviet era. The painting had travelled to Moscow after its exhibition in Japan, and its appearance in the Soviet Union was made possible through a remarkable diplomatic arrangement. The exhibition attracted enormous public attention: visitors reportedly waited in line for 7–10 hours to enter the Pushkin Museum, while attendance figures range from more than 310,000 to as many as 1.5 million visitors, depending on the source. It was the last time the \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e left the Louvre for a public exhibition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGeorge Pusenkoff \u003c\/strong\u003e(b. 1953) emerged from the milieu of Moscow's nonconformist art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, receiving important impulses from the avant-garde surrounding Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov. In 1990, on the invitation of gallerist Hans Mayer, he relocated to Cologne, where he has lived and worked ever since, developing a signature idiom that merges digital image-making with icons of art history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeorge Pusenkoff’s \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa Goes Russia\u003c\/em\u003e is deeply connected to the memory of that extraordinary exhibition. Beginning in 1997–98, the Russian-German artist travelled across Russia with his own painted version of the \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e, created in the tradition of Pop Art, particularly that of Andy Warhol. The artist photographed it in a wide variety of urban and rural settings — from Red Square and museums to provincial villages, private interiors and everyday scenes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Hans Gercke writes in this 2002 exhibition catalogue accompanying the project, “\u003cem\u003eit is not the art believers who make pilgrimages to the Mona Lisa, but rather she herself makes her own missionary pilgrimage across the country.\u003c\/em\u003e” Pusenkoff’s \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e was deliberately created through digital manipulation: the artist based the image on a reproduction found on the Internet, transforming the canonical masterpiece into a black-and-yellow, computer-age icon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe resulting photographs explore not only the creation, reproduction and perception of images, but also questions of intercultural communication and the dialogue between old and new, East and West, the Russian icon and the Western “icon”, the digital and the real. By placing Leonardo’s most famous image against the rapidly changing landscape of post-Soviet Russia, Pusenkoff creates a surreal and often ironic portrait of a country caught between the remnants of the Soviet past and the uncertain possibilities of a new era. The \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/em\u003e becomes both an outsider and a witness, carrying the cultural weight of European art into unfamiliar surroundings while absorbing new meanings from the places she encounters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe project had a sequel: on April 15, 2005 (Leonardo’s birthday), the painting was delivered to the International Space Station by Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori and returned to Earth on April 24, 2005. The project was subsequently presented as part of the 51st Venice Biennale under the title \u003cem\u003eMona Lisa Goes Space\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eBinding \u0026amp; condition\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eOriginal pictorial boards. Good: light rubbing to corners and spine edges; bookseller’s label to rear board.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Syrovatskaya Books \u0026 Curiosities","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58919997309276,"sku":"SYR-012","price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1048\/0654\/7804\/files\/DSC00402.jpg?v=1789486153","url":"https:\/\/syrovatskaya.com\/products\/pusenkoff-mona-lisa-goes-russia-2002","provider":"Syrovatskaya Books \u0026 Curiosities","version":"1.0","type":"link"}