The People's Choice

Additional Information

Ukraine's Most Unwanted Painting

Organized by Independent Curators International (ICI) in cooperation with the Komar and Melamid Studio. ICI is a non-profit traveling exhibition service specializing in contemporary art. Presented with assistance from the Foundation-To-Life, Inc. In 1994 the artists Komar & Melamid commissioned a public-research polling firm to conduct The People's Choice, the first poll on artistic taste in the United States. As Russian émigrés, the artists were intrigued by the idea of a consumer-research poll as an outgrowth of American democracy. At the same time, their interest in democracy lead the artists to ask what a genuine people's art would look like. Using the data collected in this survey, Komar & Melamid painted a pair of canvases, The Most Wanted and The Most Unwanted. The survey and paintings examine people's attitudes about art and what art might look like, while challenging the faith our society puts in statistics. In the past five years, The People's Choice has been conducted in fifteen countries around the world to develop scientifically accurate profiles of popular taste, including China, Denmark, Ukraine, France, Kenya and Holland. This exhibition presents the paintings from each country, as well as statistical charts and other data. Komar and Melamid have been collaborating for over twenty five years. They began their careers in Russia by taking on state-approved Socialist Realism and establishing themselves as prominent artist-dissidents in the process. Their current activities include teaching unemployed elephants to paint. They will represent Russia at this year's Venice Biennale.