American Dreams

Komar & Melamid

Oct 17 – Nov 14, 1997

Komar & Melamid

George, Vladmir, Isadora and Marcel, 1996-97

Description

The American Dreams installation aims to create, in the Komar and Melamid socialist realism style, the "new cult of personality" of George Washington. The artists see history as a dream-like reality similar to the Halloween parade on Washington Square where real and not real heroes of different eras and nations superimpose to take on the same identity. According to Komar & Melamid, any image of a state leader is Pop Art.

The installation includes paintings, sculpture, sketches, and collages with merging images of patriotic symbols of the former Soviet Union and the United States; the artists' collection of George Washington memorabilia; and sketches for The Naked Revolution, an opera with sets by Komar & Melamid, to premiere at the Kitchen in October.