WENDE
MUSEUM O F T H E C O L D WA R
INTRODUCTION No matter how authoritarian and restrictive, a political system can never completely silence voices of dissent. The 1950s in the Soviet Union witnessed the birth of an artistic dissident movement that continued to flourish in spite of relentless censorship and intimidation. During the late 1980s, the period of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reform), much of the accumulated countercultural energy found new room for expression. Thirty-eight Moscowbased artists, trained in poster design, used the opportunity to produce a unique series of paintings with a highly critical and at times ironic take on Soviet socialism. Beverly Hills High School teacher Tom Ferris and his wife, Jeri, got to know these artists and collected hundreds of their works during their regular travels to the Soviet Union. The Wende Museum acquired 234 of these paintings from the Ferrises. We present a selection of the Tom and Jeri Ferris Russian Collection here, along with glasnost and perestroika-era posters from the Ron Miriello Soviet Poster Show Collection | American Institute of Graphic Arts, San Diego, some of which are directly based on or inspired by works in the Ferris Collection. We also exhibit the central panel of Unity, a monumental 1993 installation by Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid (the founders of Sots Art, the Soviet counterpart to Pop Art), which offers an ironic perspective on both capitalism and communism. Shepard Fairey is a leading figure in street art, with his grassroots, artistic re-appropriation of public space. Fairey reflects on the societal pressures surrounding us and the questionable motivations and interests behind those pressures. He is a powerful voice in the tradition of such artistic free spirits as Francisco Goya, Gustave Courbet, Diego Rivera, John Heartfield, Ben Shahn, and Pablo Picasso, holding up a mirror to society when reality might escape our perception. Both the Ferris paintings and Shepard Fairey’s artwork are based on the aesthetics of poster design – as is Sun Mu’s work in the parallel exhibition in the West Gallery. These artists use, interpret, and appropriate symbols of power and oppression in the creation of artistic messages of liberation. By showing parallels and differences between East and West, past and present, we invite you to make better sense of the world in which we live. Numbers in red refer to works featured in the audio guide. The Wende Museum thanks Jeri Ferris, Amanda Fairey,Victoria Yarnish, Dan Flores, Ron Miriello, and AIGA San Diego. Crumbling Empire is generously supported by Stephen O. Lesser.
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