Oleg Kulik
Encyclopedia
Oleg Kulik is a Russia
n performance artist of Ukrainian
ethnicity, sculptor, photographer and curator.
Kulik was born in Kiev
, graduated from Kiev Art School (1979) and Kiev Geological Survey College (1982), and was awarded a scholarship by the Berlin Senate in 1996. He lives and works in Moscow
.
For his performances, Kulik creates a symbolic set of parameters to define the environment which he will inhabit in the persona of a dog, and then devises a series of actions that unfold as a response. The artist describes the dialogue within his practice as “a conscious falling out of the human horizon” which places him on hands and knees. His intention is to describe what he sees as a crisis of contemporary culture, a result of an overly refined cultural language which creates barriers between individuals. Thus, he simplifies his performance language to the basic emotional vocabulary of a domestic animal.
At the Interpol group exhibition in Stockholm
in 1996, he performed in the gallery chained next to a sign labelled ‘dangerous’. An international scandal occurred when he not only attacked members of the public who chose to ignore the sign, in one case biting a man, but also attacked other artworks within the exhibition, partially destroying some pieces. For Kulik this was an excusable act, as there was a warning label attached to his performance which people chose to disregard. His intention was to divulge his angst at the current cultural crisis through the violent anger of a dog.
Artist Susan Silas
wrote "A Love Letter to Oleg Kulik, A Prince among Men, a Man among Dogs". She describes visiting Kulik during his performance of "I Bite America and America Bites Me", in which Kulik references Joseph Beuys
with an updated reference to the current cultural setting of America. Again, Kulik performed as a dog, this time in a specially built cage, which the spectator would enter wearing protective garb.
A recent retrospective of Kulik's work was "Oleg Kulik: Chronicle. 1987-2007" at the Central House of Artists, Moscow.
As curator of the Regina Gallery, Kulik became known for his unorthodox approaches such as putting paintings on wheels and hiring people to carry the artworks.
Kulik considers his best curatorial endeavor to be "Leopards Bursting into a Temple" by Anatoly Osmolovsky in 1992. In this exhibit, two naked people were put into a cell with live leopards walking around them. He had said that he thought the exhibition was a "metaphor for everything new and lively that appears in our life".
In 2009, Kulik curated the "Kandinsky Prize in London" at the Louise Blouin Foundation.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n performance artist of Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
ethnicity, sculptor, photographer and curator.
Kulik was born in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, graduated from Kiev Art School (1979) and Kiev Geological Survey College (1982), and was awarded a scholarship by the Berlin Senate in 1996. He lives and works in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
For his performances, Kulik creates a symbolic set of parameters to define the environment which he will inhabit in the persona of a dog, and then devises a series of actions that unfold as a response. The artist describes the dialogue within his practice as “a conscious falling out of the human horizon” which places him on hands and knees. His intention is to describe what he sees as a crisis of contemporary culture, a result of an overly refined cultural language which creates barriers between individuals. Thus, he simplifies his performance language to the basic emotional vocabulary of a domestic animal.
At the Interpol group exhibition in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
in 1996, he performed in the gallery chained next to a sign labelled ‘dangerous’. An international scandal occurred when he not only attacked members of the public who chose to ignore the sign, in one case biting a man, but also attacked other artworks within the exhibition, partially destroying some pieces. For Kulik this was an excusable act, as there was a warning label attached to his performance which people chose to disregard. His intention was to divulge his angst at the current cultural crisis through the violent anger of a dog.
Artist Susan Silas
Susan Silas
Susan Silas is a visual artist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Silas is a dual American and Hungarian national who has built a diverse career as an artist during the past two decades...
wrote "A Love Letter to Oleg Kulik, A Prince among Men, a Man among Dogs". She describes visiting Kulik during his performance of "I Bite America and America Bites Me", in which Kulik references Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
with an updated reference to the current cultural setting of America. Again, Kulik performed as a dog, this time in a specially built cage, which the spectator would enter wearing protective garb.
A recent retrospective of Kulik's work was "Oleg Kulik: Chronicle. 1987-2007" at the Central House of Artists, Moscow.
As curator of the Regina Gallery, Kulik became known for his unorthodox approaches such as putting paintings on wheels and hiring people to carry the artworks.
Kulik considers his best curatorial endeavor to be "Leopards Bursting into a Temple" by Anatoly Osmolovsky in 1992. In this exhibit, two naked people were put into a cell with live leopards walking around them. He had said that he thought the exhibition was a "metaphor for everything new and lively that appears in our life".
In 2009, Kulik curated the "Kandinsky Prize in London" at the Louise Blouin Foundation.