Who are You, Mr. Lenin?

This is an oil painting on the found pre-existing soviet-era Lenin portrait which I found at a flea market. A special place in my work is occupied by a series of artworks in which I reinterpret iconic symbols of the USSR, including modified pre-existing soviet-era portraits of Lenin and other Soviet leaders. In that project, I try to overcome the traumatic historical experience of Ukraine by transforming the sinister shards of the USSR into something funny and not scary. As a result of redefining these soviet portraits, I erase the propaganda and ideological meanings of the image while endowing it with decorative qualities. For many Ukrainians, Lenin is a dictator and murderer who initiated an occupation of our country in 1917-1921 and killed millions during the genocide of Ukrainians in 1921–1923. From that time until 1991, Ukraine wasn't free. Like numerous old soviet-era propagandistic images of Lenin, the ghost of a monster country called the USSR is still here. Lenin's successor from the Kremlin tries to destroy an independent Ukraine and pull it into Moscow's deadly hug.