Komar & Melamid Lenin, 1992 set of four ceramic candlesticks 10 x 6 x 3 inches, each edition of 100 $850 WORK DETAIL PDF VIEWS1  2 Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid were both born in Moscow on the heels of World War II and the ensuing Cold War era. The Cold War was, first and foremost, a conflict of political ideologies between the democratic powers of the west and the communist super power of the east, and it was during this political climate that the artists, whose collaboration began while attending the Moscow Art School from 1958 to 1960, started making work that exemplified this political dynamism, rigorously testing the boundaries of their own civic identities with humor and sharp satire. Komar & Melamid, the identity the duo would come to adopt, immigrated to America in the late 1970's, where they continued to examine the political implications of communist society through numerous projects. Komar & Melamid have created an editioned set of four white ceramic candlesticks entitled, Lenin (1992). An existing statue of Lenin, which the artists brought with them from Russia, was appropriated and modified to accommodate a one-half inch standard candle. With this edition the statue of Lenin has been transformed from domestic monument to banal consumer commodity; Lenin reveals the war that has since endured - the war of market economics. More tabletop / desktop << >>