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Vitaly Komar
Vitaly Komar (b. 1943) is an American conceptualist artist, originally from Moscow, USSR, who lives in New York since 1978. Komar is best known as one-half of [a=Komar & Melamid] tandem, in which he extensively collaborated with [a=Alexander Melamid] from 1972 to 2003. Vitaly attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1958–60. He met Alex Melamid at Stroganov Institute of Art and Design, they graduated together in 1967 and soon after started working in co-authorship. In 1972, Komar and Melamid established a new [i]Soz Art[/i] (соц-арт in Russian) movement, combining official 'Socialist Realism' aesthetic doctrine with elements of Pop art and Dadaism. Such political art drew attention of Soviet authorities and international audience. The duo was arrested during one of the performances, and their [i]Double Self-Portrait[/i] was destroyed with other non-conformist paintings at infamous 'Bulldozer Exhibition' in September 1974. Two years later, [l=Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc] in New York hosted first V.Komar/A.Melamid joint international exhibition, which the authors couldn't attend since the Soviet government denied them permission to leave USSR. In 1977, Komar's immigration request was finally approved, and he left the country to 'reconnect with his relatives' in Israel. Soon after, both Vitaly and Alexander moved to the USA and settled in New York City. In 1988, Komar and Melamid became US citizens. After working together for over 35 years, the artists dissolved K&M project in 2003. Komar continued working solo. Since 2005, KomarandMelamid.org website started displaying Vitaly's works, while also providing selected chronology and images from K&M 1972-2003 studio archive. In 2007, he had a personal exhibition during a [i]Three-Day Weekend[/i] at Galerie Sandmann in Berlin, while [i]My Choice – Landscape with Lenin's Tomb[/i] was presented at the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art at Marat Guelman Gallery in Moscow, Russia. Vitaly Komar also participated in a few notable group exhibitions, including [i] Medium Religion[/i] (2008) at [l=Zentrum Für Kunst Und Medientechnologie] in Karlsruhe, Germany, [i]New Symbolism[/i] (2009) at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY, and [i]Counterpoint, Contemporary Russian Art — From the Icon to the Avant-Garde by way of the Museum[/i] (2011) at [l=Musée Du Louvre] in Paris, France. His works are in the permanent collection of [l=Metropolitan Museum Of Art], [url=https://www.discogs.com/label/72301]MoMA[/url], [l=Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY], [l=Victoria And Albert Museum] in London, and [l=Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam]. Name variations: Vitaly Komar-Gelman, Виталий Комар, Виталий Анатольевич Комар, Vitaly Anatolyevich Komar