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Artists A-Z
Vlad Monroe (1969 - 2013)
Vladislav Mamyshev, called Vlad Monroe was born in 1969 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia).
Vlad Monroe is declared by critics to be one of Russia's most prolific and well-known contemporary artists whose artistic career started in Leningrad in 1989 with taking part in the exhibition "Women in Art" at the City Museum. In 1989 Vlad Monroe founded in collaboration with Timur Novikov the independent telecommunication company called "Pirate TV".
Vlad Monroe morphs with the help of make-up into a multitude of different personalities. Vlad Monroe's first impersonation was that of Marylin Monroe – an icon not just for Hollywood, but, thanks to Andy Warhol, for modern art. Since the 1980s Vlad Monroe has cast himself as Jesus Christ and Dracula, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong, Joan of Arc and Mona Lisa, Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden.
Vlad Monroe involves as contemporary artist with the difficulties the Russian Federation had in redefining its concept of culture after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Vlad Monroe deals with issues of identity search, totalitarianism, political and cultural changes after the end of the Cold War and critically examines the restorative tendencies of cultural policy. Ironically subversive, he analyses the totalitarian aesthetic of the so called "state-supporting" art and the revival of the cultural heritage of the 19th Century.
Vlad Monroe has participated in major group exhibitions, including "Kunst im Verborgenen"(1995-1996) in Ludwigshafen, Kassel, Altenburg and Moscow, "Neues Moskau" (1999-2000) in Berlin, Stuttgart and Bonn, and "Russia!" (2005-2006) in New York and Bilbao.
Vlad Monroe died in 2013 in Bali.
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