Mikhail Kulakov. Theatre. Graphic Arts. Painting

The personal exhibition of Mikhail Kulakov, one of the first heroes of the Soviet unofficial art, the artist of the Russian avant-garde’s second wave and a bright representative of the abstract expressionism, is held from April 12 to May 13 at the Theatre Salon on Tverskoy Boulevard.

Mikhail Kulakov belonged to the same cultural movement as I. Kabakov and E. Bulatov; he was widely known as an «underground» artist. Kulakov was a pioneer and an innovator: for example, he was one of the first artists to turn to the practices of modernism and non-objective art in the postwar period.

In 1960’s, he participated in apartment exhibitions, graduated from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, collaborated with Moscow and Leningrad theatres and publishing houses, illustrated the books of his friends A. Bitov, G. Gorbovsky, V. Sosnori. With his friend P. Fomenko he designed theatrical productions and literary nights at the Moscow State University. Mikhail also designed productions in scientific research institutes and academic towns for his friend P. Kapitsa, who collected the artist’s works and helped to organize the exhibitions. On the recommendation of Lilya Brik, Kulakov was invited by V. Pluchek to design the second edition of the performance «The Bathhouse» at the Sovremennik Theatre.

The theatre wasn’t the main priority of his work, however, he has never left it. While living in Italy in later years, he designed together with his students of the University of Florence a production of Gogol’s «Marriage».

Like many artists of his generation, Mikhail Kulakov reinterpreted and combined the artistic and cultural experience : his theatrical education, the Russian icon, Roerich, mysticism, various practices that seemed extravagant at the time like a semi-ritual or meditative spray paint. According to E. Crispolti, Kulakov’s work represents «the experience of the reunification of the arts and cultures of Eastern and Western Europe».

In 1970’s, Mikhail Kulakov emigrated to Italy, where he participated in the resonant Venetian «Biennial of Dissent». Then his exhibitions were held in Rome, New York, Vienna, Munich. There are two mosaic panels made by Kulakov at two stations of the Rome Metro. In USSR his name as an artist of the protest movement hasn’t been mentioned and has almost been forgotten until 1989, when afterwards his major personal exhibitions have taken place at the Manezh Museum, the Pushkin Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery. Today the works of Mikhail Kulakov are kept in many museums and private collections of the world.

The exhibition presents objects from the personal collection of Francesca Fici and Enrico Giusti, the collection of the A.A. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, the archives of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the collection of the Pushkin Museum, photos from the personal archive of Marianna Kulakova, the artist’s widow. For the first time the original graphic design on the Gogol’s play «Marriage» will be shown as well as the early abstractions of the artist, kept at the Pluchek Apartment Museum.