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A traditional Russian Orthodox Church with golden domes is depicted enclosed by dark and maze-like apartment buildings, lit with windows of uniform yellow light. The influx of identical Soviet apartment complexes in cities across the Soviet Union characterized the architecture of the Soviet period, often overshadowing the once eye-catching presence of churches in cityscapes. The painting might also reference the suffocation of spiritual life in the Soviet Union by the strict rationalism of socialist planning in all aspects of life.
Alexander Utkin, Untitled, 1990
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A hazy red sun rises over a Soviet city made up of a few scattered buildings nestled among links of sausages. The title of the piece, written above the sunset, reads, “Good morning, dear city,” a reference to a famous Russian song entitled “Moscow May,” in which the capital city is praised as a model city and the heart of the Soviet Motherland. The abundance of outsized sausages strewn about Moscow is a reference to the sausage as a national symbol of affluence. Once conceived as food for the poor, in Soviet times dining with sausages was a sign of the good life.
Suleiman Kadyberdeev, Good Morning, Dear City, 1990
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A gramophone resting on a pile of potatoes, sausages, and paper money is playing the words, “Eh, what a good life in the Soviet State!,” referencing the song “Oh, Good” by Russian composer Isaak Dunaevsky, written to be performed by the Young Pioneers, a mass youth organization in the Soviet Union. The gramophone contains a photo of Moscow and the Kremlin painted on one side. The positive message of the song playing over this pile of Soviet symbols of affluence pokes fun at the idea that there ever was a “good life” in the Soviet Union.
Alexei Rezaev, Oh,What a Good Life in the Soviet State!, 1991
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