Russian Samizdat Art. Curated and Designed by the Gerlovins. June 9 through August 11, 1984.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, [1984].

4to, 1 folded sheet.

Near very good condition.

Ephemera from the exhibition ‘Russian Samizdat Art’, curated by the prominent Moscow conceptualists, Rimma Gerlovina (b. 1951) and Valeriy Gerlovin (b. 1945). The Gerlovins emigrated to the USA in 1979.
The exhibition explored the phenomenon of the samizdat (self-published) movement. It began in New York in 1982 and traveled to various cities across the USA and Canada. For each venue, the Gerlovins created a unique environment tailored to the space. The exhibition featured approximately 100 handmade books and artworks by Russian artists from the 1960s onward, including notable figures such as Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Komar and Melamid, Andrei Monastyrski, Vsevolod Nekrasov, Dmitri Aleksandrovich Prigov, and others.
It is known that the Gerlovins prepared several versions of the exhibition invitations. The artists recalled that this particular invitation was printed using Chinese typography in New York. The typesetters, who barely spoke English, were convinced that it was some sort of religious publication. The design of the invitation featured a photo of the entrance to the exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which included two border guards constructed from syringes and oil paint. These guards symbolized the repressive atmosphere in which the artists had to work in the Soviet Union.

OCLC locates one copy of this ephemera: in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).