As a major representative of the Sots Art movement, which he co-founded in 1973, Alexander Kosolapov's oeuvre features satirical treatments of Soviet symbols, Socialist Realist art, Communist Party slogans, and the ideologies of Soviet-style mass production. Having emigrated from the USSR to the city of New York in 1975, Kosolapov is also well versed in the American artistic traditions of Pop, Appropriation and Conceptual art.

The present lot neatly combines the artist's dual backgrounds, producing a postmodernist interpretation of the philosophical ideal of freedom represented by Malevich and Duchamp. But, by employing elements of parody and irony, Kosolapov frees these giants of modern art from their traditio...