Konstantin Zvezdochetov

Konstantin Zvezdochetov was born in Moscow in 1958. Between 1976 and 1981 he studied at the Stage Design Department of the Moscow Art Theatre School. In 1978 he became one of the founding members of the Mukhomors Art Group and was an active participant until 1984. In 1986, he initiated the creation of the World Champions Art Group. Publisher of the Night Life anthology. Zvezdochetov’s artworks are housed at the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Pompidou Centre (Paris), the New Museum of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, the Samara Regional Art Museum, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Norton and Nancy Dodge collection, Rutgers University, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MuKHA) in Antwerp, and many others. Participant of the Venice Biennale (2001) and Documenta (Kassel).

Konstantin Zvezdochetov's cover for BoscoMagazine is not only about very personal family matters, it also philosophically contextualizes themes of unity and the struggle of opposites.

An Attribution to Konstantin Zvezdochetov

Winter 2016. Gouache, paper, 2016.

What did the hero of trans-avant-garde, postmodernism and “idiotism” Konstantin Zvezdochetov wanted to show us in his cover for the 2016/2017 Winter issue? Everything is covered in snow, we can only see the Spasskaya Tower. Nearby is a chicken in her nest. On the back of the cover is a cute yellow chick in a red cap and scarf. He is prepared to brave the winter cold! The life-affirming minimalism and kitsch are notable hallmarks of Zvezdochetov’s work.

Pavilion. Greetings from Moscow 

Pre-revolutionary Moscow was not that different from the Moscow of today. Konstantin Zvezdochetov takes us on a tour of Moscow at the beginning of the 19th century via a kaleidoscope of sign-boards styled as faded black and white photographs. The artist presents his ads with revealing titles on canvases, fiberboards, cardboard etc. It is as though these pieces were made by special order on the fly.
The full scope of Greetings from Moscow series was presented at the XL-Gallery in winter 2019. It was a continuation of the artist’s previous Regular Civilization exhibition where he pictured life abroad, or rather our vivid fantasies about the beauties of life away from home. The retrospective on Russian kitsch is blunt, but just as ironic.