Oleg Kulik

1961, Kyiv, Ukraine

 

Among the leading artists of post-Soviet Russia, Oleg Kulik has been producing edgy performances, sculptures, installations, and photographs since the mid-1990s.

Through his art, he comments on Russia and the West, politics and power, and humankind’s place in and relationship to nature. 

Kulik began his career as a sculptor and curator at Moscow’s Regina Gallery, where he presented unconventional exhibitions. Describing his trajectory, he has said, “When I came to Moscow, I made glass sculptures—transparent figurative things—and nobody liked them. . . . Then I became a performer, created a huge scandal with my man-dog antics, got a show at Deitch Projects, and after that I felt the freedom to go on as an artist.”

In some of Kulik’s most controversial performances, he transformed himself into a dog to reveal deeply troubling truths about human nature.

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Mad dog or last taboo I
1994
Black & White photo
60 x 90 cm

Mad dog or last taboo II
1994
Black & white photo
60 x 90 cm

Windows – gorilla
2000
C-print
90 x 112 cm

Windows – sea lion
2000
C-print
90 x 195 cm

New sermon
2000
C-print
170 x 120 cm