New Arrivals: works by the artist Andrei Pashkevich

The museum collection was enhanced by paintings of the famous contemporary artist Andrei Pashkevich (1945-2011). Pashkevich graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography and worked at the Gorky Film Studio as a cameraman. But he became famous due to his artistic works.

More than thirty Pashkevich's works were given to the museum by his widow Gret Van Haelst. These works are part of the author's famous series titled "Political Ecology". They reflect the artist's reaction to the changes that took place in the country during perestroika and the 1990s, as well as his philosophical understanding of political and social processes in a society.

Pashkevich's vivid images make the audience thinking. On each picture there is a hidden metaphor: on the one we see the profiles of Stalin and Brezhnev appearing from a crack in the paving stones in the Red Square; on another picture the artist depicts Gorbachev as a restorer: a layer of paint was removed from Lenin's portrait and the portrait of Nicholas II is showing below the image of the Bolshevik leader.

In his works, Pashkevich captured the realities of the time. For example, on the painting which was made in 1990 «Moscow - Pushkin Square» we see Karl Marx sitting at the empty counters, and next to him - a giant line at McDonald's. (It was in 1990 that the first American franchise restaurant opened in Russia, and on the very first day the number of customers broke records).

You can see the artist`s works at the exhibition «Save Can't Destroy» soon. The punctuation marks are set by the society». It will open for visitors on August 20 and will be devoted to the 30th anniversary of the renaming of the Museum of the Great October Socialist Revolution into the Museum of Political History of Russia. During the period of change the museum's collection of authors' posters was enlarged. Besides works by Pashkevich, the exhibition will present the author's posters, as well as graphics and paintings by artists working in the late 1980's and 1990's. Visitors will see works by Vladislav Zhukov, Alexander and Svetlana Faldins, Vladimir Filippov, Savely Lapitsky and Vasily Vdovin.