Lot 115: - Anatoly Osmolovsky , b. 1969 Untitled (from the Bread series) wood, mixed media

signed and titled in Cyrillic and dated 2007 on the reverse wood, mixed media

49.5 by 34.5 by 4cm., 19 1/2 by 13 5/8 by 1 1/2 in.

Moscow, Vinzavod, Verju [I believe], 27 January - 31 March 2007

Kassel, Dokumenta Kassel, Documenta 12, 16 June - 23 September 2007

Riga, History Museum of the Latvian railroad, Exhibition of the Kandinsky Prize Nominees 2007, 05 April - 14 April 2008

Exhibition catalogue Verju [I believe], Moscow: Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007R.M. Buergel, R. Noack (eds.), exhibition catalogue Documenta 12 Bilderbuch, Kassel: TASCHEN, 2007, p.118Exhibition catalogue Kandinsky Prize Nominees 2007, Moscow, 2007, p.8

Acquired by the present owner directly from the artist.

The underlying principles of the series "Bread" are the unification of figurative and conceptual ideas and the development of a new form of sculpture (including easel painting), which harks back to key traditions of Russian art - primarily, the production of icons. The three-dimensional carvings on the wooden boards are covered with a layer of dust, lending the impression of a patina of age, and are cut by machine rather than hand-carved, allowing the artist to express his ideas about the unique nature of this art form in an age of technology. Above all each piece provides the artist-theorist with an opportunity to reflect on the problems of artistic creation and to muse on the emergence of sacred matter from the simplest forms. In view of their allusions to the various images of bread including the Eucharist, and the references to icons, these pieces have been interpreted by an international audience as universal metaphors for the newest forms of Russian art and its spiritual dimension.