Lot 61: mf - Semen Faibisovich , b.1949 on the moscow street oil on canvas

signed and titled in Latin and dated 1991 on the reverse oil on canvas

200 by 170cm., 78 3/4 by 67in.

Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, USA
Moscow based artist and writer, Semen Faibisovich initially graduated as an architect. In the 70s he became acquainted with American contemporary art, and in this found a strong affirmation of his own artistic vision: as a painter he is primarily a photorealist. For a decade (in 1995 he abandoned painting to work in multimedia) he produced large scale images of everyday Soviet life, the most emblematic being images taken of people on the streets of Moscow or on her transport system, metros, trams and buses. In the 80s he came into contact with Western collectors and gallerists who visited his basement apartment on Malaya Gruzinskaya selecting works for export. This led to significant exhibitions in the US, Germany, as well as Moscow. The slightly out-of-focus, yellowish tint to his paintings is employed as a conscious effort to imitate the low-grade quality of Soviet film reel.