Pawel Kowalewski, MON CHÉRI BOLSCHEVIQ, 2007.

serigraphy, paper, 89 x 66 cm (clear passe-partout) ed. 12/20 signed and inscribed p.d.: PAWEŁ KOWALEWSKI 12/20

The serigraph, for which the 1984 painting of the same title was the model, depicts a Soviet
special forces soldier with a passionate, red mouth and impassive, cold eyes. In his work, Pavel Kovalevsky comments on the perversity of the Bolshevik soul and its illusory temptation, allegorically depicting it in the attractive beauty of the Soviet youngster. His painting is a sarcastic humor, an ironic allegory of Russia and Bolshevism with all its consequences. It is also a warning from the artist, who predicts that the moment passion passes, only the cruel, inhuman eyes of the totalitarian system remain. The canvas has been presented at important issue exhibitions on the history of Poland, as well as reproduced in numerous publications, including the album "In the circle of masterpieces. Art Collections in Poland". This iconic painting is in the collection of the Starak Family Foundation.

BIOGRAM: Pawel Kowalewski - artist, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, founder of the legendary Gruppa, icon of Polish art in the 1980s. His works, created during the period of political transformation, are an important commentary on the communist era. The author of such famous works as: "Mon Cheri Bolscheviq," "Totalitarianism Simulator" and "Europeans Only." He has participated in a number of exhibitions at home and abroad. His works are in the largest Polish collections, including the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Cracow, Zachęta - National Gallery of Art, the Jerke Museum, as well as the ING Polish Art Foundation and the Starak Family Foundation. Pawel Kowalewski's paintings combine individual, social and political themes in a unique way, and are an anticipation of the critical art of the 1990s. In 1984, the artist painted the painting "Mon Cheri Bolscheviq," depicting a Soviet special forces soldier with passionate red lips and impassive cold eyes. In his work, the artist referred to a text by Polish philosopher and historian Marian Zdziechowski, born in 1861, who commented with surprise on the joy and delight of Parisians over the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917-20. In Parisian bistros, they literally toasted "Mon Cheri Bolscheviq." The obscenity, anti-aestheticism, embarrassment and self-irony about the perversity of the Bolshevik soul, characteristic of Pavel Kovalevsky's work, are rooted in the experience of martial law, which left a strong mark on the artist's works. The activities of the legendary Gruppa in the 1980s, of which Pawel Kowalewski was a co-founder, were salt in the eye of the communist authorities. After the fall of communism, Pawel Kowalewski's critical activity, had its continuation in the form of subsequent works, which were the artist's cynical commentary on the latest political and social events. At the opening of the famous and important exhibition entitled. "Warsaw - Moscow 1900 - 2000" at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, in which the artist was invited to participate by Anda Rottenberg, Kowalewski distributed postcards with "Mon Cheri Bolscheviq 2005." Russians looked at him as if he was crazy, as he unknowingly handed a postcard with Putin to the Minister of Culture and Art of the Russian Federation.