Erik Bulatov: Train-Train (Rare edition)

Hardcover | 22.23 x 1.27 x 22.23 cm | 56 pp

Kerber | 2008 | 9783866781078

Rare & Collectible

Russian artist Erik Bulatov (1933-2025) is known for creating fearlessly non-conformist works during the Cold War era. This beautifully produced volume features paintings and drawings linking Constructivist, Concrete and typographical elements with figurative portrayals of landscapes, people and buildings. 

Bulatov's subject matter is broad. Equally broad was his perception of the government's role in the classification and control of everything. Bulatov symbolised the government through his use of language as a system of order and control, the foundation of written law and constraint which he then plastered 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.

Train-Train features both an introduction by, and an interview with, Erik Butalov.