The work of Nikita Kadan (born 1982 in Kiev) centers on his artistic exploration of post-communist social and political developments, and their origins and causes in the Soviet system. Kadan produces drawings, paintings, and photography as well as objects, sculptures, and installations. The artist is a sensitive and critical observer and interpreter of historical shifts, and also of the connections and continuities between the communist past and turbo-capitalist present. He is a member of the artists’ group R.E.P. (Revolutionary Experimental Space) and co-founder of the activists’ group Hudrada. As an activist in the field of art and politics, Kadan also works with architects, sociologists, and human rights activists.
In his exhibitions, the artist addresses the visibility and function of the artistic avant-garde in Ukraine within contemporary neoliberalism, which—in the conflict with Russia—is shaped by a politics based on military goals and an ideology of anti-solidarity in the fabric of society.
Charcoal series ‘Cheap Gas Cheap Blood| STOP WAR’, 2022
Nikita Kadan, Close the Sky, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8439, unframed, € 900Nikita Kadan, Stop Putin, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8438, unframed, , private collectionNikita Kadan, Stop Putin, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8437, unframed, € 900Nikita Kadan, Stop War, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8436, unframed, € 900Nikita Kadan, Stop War, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8435, private collectionNikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8434, private collectionNikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8433, private collectionNikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8432 unframed, € 900Nikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, unframed, T8431, , private collectionNikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8430, unframed,, private collectionNikita Kadan, Cheap Gas Cheap Blood, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8429, unframed, € 900Nikita Kadan, Russian War Ship go Fuck Yourself, 2022, 29,7 x 40,7 cm, Charcoal on paper, T8442, unframed
SovMod Skull 1 – 5
Nikita Kadan, SovMod Skull 1, 2021, charcoal and collage on paper, 40,7 x 29,7 cm, private collectionNikita Kadan, SovMod Skull 2, 2021, charcoal and collage on paper, 40,7 x 29,7 cm, , private collectionNikita Kadan, SovMod Skull 3, 2021, charcoal and collage on paper, 40,7 x 29,7 cm, private collectionNikita Kadan, SovMod Skull 4, 2021, charcoal and collage on paper, 40,7 x 29,7 cm, € 2.700Nikita Kadan, SovMod Skull 5, 2021, charcoal and collage on paper, 40,7 x 29,7 cm, € 2.700
The series is inspired by the movement Save Kyiv Modernism, or Save Ukrainian/Soviet Modernism, that recently emerged in Ukraine. This is a movement of mostly young people. Soviet Modernism or SovMod refers to the Soviet architecture of 1960–80s that is being brutally destroyed or reconstructed for commercial purposes in today’s Ukraine. This movement is political because it opposes the so-called ‘politics of de-communisation’, in other words, state anti-communism, which gives its green light to the destruction of various forms of Soviet heritage. On the other hand, those who participate in the SovMod movement treat this architecture as if it represented a dead modernity, in a rather historicist way. This aestheticisation and melancholic gaze became political to the extent that they oppose an aggressive reactionary nationalism and the commercialisation of public space of Ukrainian cities. Such an encounter between aesthetics and politics contains something paradoxical. Another paradox that characterises this situation is that in the Soviet Union these buildings were never called ‘modernist’. ‘Modernism’ was only used in a strictly negative sense. The skulls painted by Pablo Picasso often served as illustrations for anti-modernist books, such as The Crisis of Ugliness: From Cubism to Pop-Art (1968) by Mikhail Lifshitz. Soviet discussions about modernism and modernity are now almost forgotten and Soviet architecture and monumental art have been turned into ‘Soviet Modernism’ for a younger generation. I picture modernist skulls by Picasso as protecting SovMod building fetishes that still remain untouched in Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa or in the war zone of Donetsk.
Nikita Kadan, Source: Afterall Journal nr 52, March 2022
Tiger’s Leap
Tiger’s Leap, 5 pieces, 2021, 190 x 35 x 35 cm [x5], price on request. as exhibited in Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, 02.05 – 29.08.2021
Children Are Surrounded by Art
Palace of Pioneers), 2021, oil on canvas, 190 x 150 cm, public collectionPalace of Youth (Waiting), 2021, oil on canvas, 160 x 195 cm, private collection WarsawRepublic of the Sun, 2021, collage, 30 x 40 cm, € 1.500Republic of the Sun II, 2021, collage, 59,4 x 42 cm, € 1.500On the notion of ‘Golden Age’ II, 2021, Collage on Soviet paper with floral print and architectural silhouettes, 22 x 30 cm, € 900On the notion of ‘Golden Age’, 2021, Collage on Soviet paper with floral print and architectural silhouettes, 22 x 30 cm, private collectionThe Library sculpture II (for the President of The Planet Earth), 2021, metal & wood covered with plaster, red paint and leaf gold, € 4.000Nadia Bogdanova (Paul Klee), 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm, private collectionSchema Boy (Joan Miro), 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm, private collectionZina Portnova (Oscar Schlemmer), 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm, private collectionBust of a Child, 2021, oil on canvas, 140 x 95 cm, private collectionThe Crossed Out Portrait, 2021, oil on canvas, 150 x 125 cm, € 11.000The Mask, 2021, oil on canvas, 140 x 105 cm, € 6.000 The Mask II (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, € 2.400The Mask IV (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, private collection BerlinThe Mask V (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, € 2.400The Mask VI (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, € 2.400The Mask I (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, private collection BerlinThe Mask III (Minska station). 2021, charcoal on paper, 64,5 x 49,5 cm, € 2.400
The Beautiful Colonizer, 2020
Difficulties of Profanation II, 2020, oil paint on canvas, 190 x 150 cm, private collectionPoet I, 2020, oil paint on canvas, 190 x 150 cm, private collection WarsawThe Beautiful Colonizer, 2020, oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, collection M HKA, AntwerpenPartisan Boys, , 2020, oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, private collectionTo the Victims of Fascism, , 2020, oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, private collection USAThe Reading Boy, 2020, oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, private collection BelgiumPark Pioneer, 2020, charcoal on paper, 42,2 x 29,3 cm, private collection USAPark Pioneer 2, 2020, charcoal on paper, 42,2 x 29,3 cm, private collection Poland The Beautiful Colonizer, 2020 In the prices is the Belgian VAT [21%] included
The Masks, 2020
The March [Torchlid Marche], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, private collectionRave, 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, private collection, ParisThe Mask [Lenin], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, € 2.400The Mask II [Demon], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, € 2.400The Mask III [Oscar Schlemmer], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, reservedThe Mask II [Demon], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, € 2.400The Mask IV [Archipenko], 2020, charcoal on paper, 59,5 x 42,2 cm, framed, € 2.400The Masks, 2020 In the prices is the Belgian VAT of 21% included
Flags, 2016 & 2017
The Serpent on a Red Flag, 2016, charcoal on paper, 197 x 145 cm, € 9.500He Cut off his Wing and Made a Flag of It [The Angel of Revolution], 2017, charcoal on paper, 197 x 150 cm, € 11.000In the prices is the Belgian VAT of 21% included
‘Dark Air’ & ‘Devils’, 2016
Dark Air 1, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 2, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 3, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, private collection LondonDark Air 4, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 5, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 6, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, unavailableDark Air 7, 2016, Charcoal on photo, framed, 60 x 42 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 8, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 50 x 71 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 9, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 50 x 71 cm, € 3.000Dark Air 10, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 50 x 71 cm, € 3.000Serpents, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 50 x 71 cm, € 3.000Devils with a Bow, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 50 x 71 cm, private collection Philadelphia, USAThe Scientist and the Devil, 2016, drawing on photo, framed, 71 x 50 cm, € 3.000Dark Air, 2016 In the prices is the Belgian VAT of 21% included
Everybody Wants to Live by the Sea, 2014 & 2016
private collectionEverybody Wants to Live by the Sea, 2014 & 2016, Gouache & inkjet print on Museum Etching Paper, 47,3 x 64 cm, € 3.600 In the prices is the Belgian VAT [21%] included0
Observations on Archives, 2015
Observations on Archives – Dacha, ed 2/3, 2015, photo in wooden frame with coal, ed 3 + 1 ea, 55 x 45 x 7 cm, private collectionObservations on Archives – New Buildings 1, 2015, photo in wooden frame with coal, ed 3 + 1 ea, 32 x 22 x 7 cm, private collectionObservations on Archives – Prof. Boleslav Ivashkevich, 2015, photo in wooden frame with coal, ed 3 + 1 ea, 32 x 22 x 7 cm, € 2.500Observations on Archives, D. Oppenheim, 2015, photo in wooden frame with coal, ed 3 + 1 ea, 32 x 22 x 7 cm, € 2.500
Delineation of the borders, 2015
Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm unique, € 1.500Delineation of the borders, 2015, watercolor and ink on two different papers, 64 x 48 cm, unique, € 1.500
Neon Sun Grid, as exhibited in Nikita Kadan’s solo show Engineering Hope in Art Brussels 2014, booth galerie Transit
Neon Sun Grid, as exhibited in Nikita Kadan’s solo show Engineering Hope in Art Brussels 2014, booth Transit galleryNeon Sun Grid, 2014, neon on wood, ed. 3, 175 x 123 x 16 cm, € 8.000, as exhibited in Nikita Kadan’s solo show Engineering Hope in Art Brussels 2014, booth Transit gallery
Procedure Room, 2009
Procedure Room, 2009-2010, hot print on porcelain | 8 plates | ed 50, diameter 28 cm, ed 19/50, € 4800