Andrei Molodkin

Andrei Molodkin works and lives between Paris and Moscow. His work is much politicised and has been categorised as provocative by critics. This strong political engagement is due to his military experience as a young man in Russia when he had to transport oil. His early experience marked him and later formed his vision as an artist. The symbolic installation showing a dollar sign filled with real oil and called Petrodollar was realised in 2005 and addressed an ironic message regarding the newly established symbols of power in Russia during Perestroika. He has pursued the same idea with his three-dimensional words in plastic that are filled with oil which spell strong words such as DEMOCRACY, G8 or HUMAN RIGHTS. His exhibitions were limited to Russia until 2001. He then became recognised within the scope of the growing Russian contemporary art scene and exhibited in France, Europe and in the US. His sculpture titled Victory of Samothrace which is a copy of the original Greek sculpture in transparent glass filled with real blood and Chechen oil was exhibited at the Russian pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale and ultimately consecrated his international reputation.