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Recycled Young Lenin #1 (2025) Sculpture by Oleksandr Balbyshev
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- Ceramics on Object
- Dimensions Height 5.3in, Width 4.7in / 0.30 kg
- Artwork's condition The artwork is in perfect condition
- Fit for outdoor? No, This artwork can not be displayed outdoor
- Categories Men portraits
About the artwork
This contemporary sculpture reclaims a Soviet‑era porcelain bust of a youthful Lenin by overlaying its austere iconography with a constellation of bright, playful polka dots. Each circle—hand‑painted in vivid hues—both disrupts the original propaganda and invites viewers to reconsider the power of symbols.
For Ukrainians like myself, Lenin stands as the architect of our first modern occupation (1917–1921) and the progenitor of seven decades of Soviet domination. Though the USSR dissolved in 1991, its specter endures: today’s Kremlin seeks once again to extinguish Ukraine’s hard‑won independence and draw us back into a deadly embrace.
By “sticker‑bombing” Lenin’s visage, I transform historical trauma into an act of creative defiance. The polka dots serve as camouflage and healing bandages alike—obscuring the dictator’s stare while highlighting the wounds of collective memory. In this playful defacement, I claim agency over a past that once felt immutable, demonstrating that even the most entrenched evil can be rendered powerless through art.
Yet this work carries a warning: humor can disarm, but vigilance must endure. True freedom demands that we remain alert, lest the ghosts of tyranny re‑emerge. Through this sculpture, I celebrate the resilience of the human spirit and affirm art’s capacity to heal, to provoke, and ultimately, to safeguard our liberty.
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Related themes
Oleksandr Balbyshev is a contemporary Ukrainian artist. The most important themes in Balbyshev’s art are male sexuality and sensuality. Artist wants the viewer to see the realm of ideas in faces and bodies, not only a realistic image of a human. He tries to combine in his paintings realities, as visions of worlds within worlds. They show us an image of ourselves and also hint that there is more to us than we know.
Oleksandr Balbyshev is famous for transforming classical Soviet-era portraits of Lenin into highly decorative and chaotic works of art. Artist finds original portraits and sculptures of Lenin made in the Soviet era on flea markets and on announcements on the Internet. He paints on top of old portraits of Lenin fragments from famous paintings or drip paint on them, cut the canvases into pieces and glue them in a chaotic manner, let them paint them for children, he paints the sculptures in funny colors and glues them with various objects. As a result of this artistic gesture, the artist erases the propaganda and ideological meanings of the image, at the same time endowing it with decorative qualities. However, with all the fun of this manipulation, the artwork acquires new meanings, an antinomical combination of play and seriousness, prompting the viewer to go beyond the accepted paradigm.
Oleksandr Balbyshev was born in 1985 in Ukraine. His paintings are in private collections in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, , Netherlands, , Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Croatia, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Mexico, and Japan.
- Nationality: UKRAINE
- Date of birth : 1985
- Artistic domains:
- Groups: Ukrainian Contemporary Artists
Oleksandr Balbyshev, bright paintings 
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