Boris Mikhaïlov
Luriki (Soviet colored portraits) (1985)

As seen in ‘Boris Mikhaïlov: Ukrainian diary’ at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris

‘As an average person, I could understand an average life, and this helped me reimagine and reuse materials I had collected to create a series of Soviet-style painted portraits, trying to imitate popular taste. ‘Luriki’ exposed the iconography of the Soviet way of life. Together the images were like a Soviet family album, a collection of surreal, ridiculous situations. They made people smile, amused by the irony, but from my point of view, they were subversive’ - Boris Mikhaïlov

#found material, #kitsch colors, #retouch