“Happy New Year” constituted the first major “solo” group exhibition of the “New Artists’”, the Leningrad avant-garde group founded by Timur Novikov in 1982.

The list of participating artists is taken from Novikov’s article “ПРАЗДНИК ИСКУССТВ” (The Celebration of Art), a review he published under his pseudonym Igor Potapov, dated 1985. The article is available in Russian on Timur Novikov's website External link >>.

With the exception of Arkady Tager and Natalya Batisheva, all artists belonged to the “New Artists'” group. In his article, Novikov defines Arkady Tager as a member of the “New Expressionists” and Natalya Batisheva as primitivist. The case of Batisheva is, however, not so clear. Novikov might have considered her a “primitivist” within the “New Artists'” group, but since she never participated in any other of their exhibitions, it makes sense to speak of ten “New Artists”. Another argument in favour of restricting it to ten names is the fact that Novikov's typescript catalogue includes neither Tager nor Batisheva, but presents an "exhibition of ten" plus two (nameless) invited artists.

[Addendum 21 November 2023. A document from Ivan Sotnikov's archive, now part of the Garage Archive Collection, provides more information about the original line-up of artists: Заявление в Главное управление культуры Исполкома Ленгорсовета о проведении выставки группы художников / Application to the Main Department of Culture of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council on holding an exhibition of a group of artists. The document, dated 1 September 1983, holds the names of ten artists: Koshelokhov, Rozin, Figurina, Kozlov, Ovchinnikov, Tager, Batisheva, Novikov, Sotnikov, Kotelnikov. External link >> By the end of 1985, “New Expressionists” Koshelokhov, Rozin, and Figurina had left the project and instead, "New Artists" Bugaev, Cherkasov, Khazanovich, Krisanov and Yufit joined. See also: Timur Novikov's New Artists Lists page 6 • Neoexpressionists and New Artists more >> .]

Art-historian Ekaterina Andreyeva states that Novikov must have edited this small brochure in 1986, some time after the exhibition, "insofar as two 1986 articles by Igor Potapov ("The New Artists" and "Festival of Arts") are mentioned on the first page and a 1986 exhibition in the Kadriorg Museum (Tallinn) is listed in Novikov's biography" ("The New Artists", exhibtion catalogue "Brushstroke", 2010, p. 31). In fact, in the chronicle of the "New Artists“ catalogue from 2012, the Kadriorg Museum exhibition is dated to 6 March 1986 (p. 273). At that point Novikov might have come to the conclusion that the works of Tager and Batisheva had not been essential for the show, although in terms of their number they were indeed quite important. The question of whether Batisheva and Tager had been part of the New Artists or not became a controversial issue with Arkady Tager's book "В будущее возьмут не всех" ("Not Everyone Will be Taken Into the Future") from 2010 more (in Russian) >>.

An analysis of different writings by Timur Novikov demonstrates that by and large, the "New Artists" group, this steadily growing movement, had defined itself with the exhibition ‘Happy New Year’, opening on December 27, 1985, and the painting-performance at the Pop Mekhanika the same evening more>>. (An earlier version of this article erroneously dated the concert to the 29th of December). Together, the exhibition and the concert included sixteen out of Novikov’s twenty New Artists’ names from his 1998 biography – ten and six, respectively.[1]

And if we compare these sixteen names with those other sixteen from Novikov’s 2002 lecture, the overlapping of names is even more striking: fourteen are identical.  

This is a rapid growth from those five artist names almost dominating exhibitions prior to "Happy New Year": Ivan Sotnikov, Timur Novikov, Kirill Khazanovich, Oleg Kotelnikov, Evgenij Kozlov see example >>. Quite obviously, accelerated growth happened in 1984 /1985, and much of it happened with the appearance of new musical formations. These were, on the one hand, New Composers Valery Alakhov and Igor Verichev and the band KINO, and on the other hand Sergey Kuryokhyn’s Pop Mekhanika or ‘Popular Mechanics’, a platform for these and other musicians, but also for artists who performed with them on stage.
see early Pop Mekahnika performances (1984 - 1986) >>

By the end of 1985, these activities had given birth to a "second generation" of New Artists. The sixteen New Artists names from the exhibition and concert are

– at the exhibition: those five artists from the "first" generation – Sotnikov, Novikov, Khazanovich, Kotelnikov, Kozlov –, as well as, from the "second" generation, Andrey Krisanov and Sergei Bugaev[2]. Among these seven artists, Novikov, Kotelnikov, Kozlov, Krisanov and Bugaev also performed during the Pop Mekhanika concert two days later. Without links to music groups were Vadim Ovchinnikov, Evgeny Yufit, the founder of Necrorealism, and Valery Cherkasov, who died in 1984 and was made a “New Artist” by Timur Novikov posthumously.

– at the concert, from the "second generation": musicians Igor Verichev, Valery Alakhov (New Composers), Georgy Guryanov and Viktor Tsoi (KINO),[3] as well as artists Vladislav Gutsevich, and Inal Savchenkov. They all performed and painted on stage.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov’s pictures

Kozlov took the pictures prior to the opening of "Happy New Year’, when artists were still hanging their paintings. As a result, his pictures do not cover the entire exhibition.

The pictures show the works displayed in two spacious areas of the Rock Club: the foyer and the former theatre hall, where the concerts took place. The staircase was also used for the exhibition, but is documented only with Alakhov and Verichev performing on Kozlov’s large work on paper “Ya-Ya” (a total of fifteen pictures, see below).

Although Kozlov's pictures do not allow us to reconstruct the entire exhibition, they are of great value, since to date they seem to be the only visual documentation of "Happy New Year". They also complete, at least to an extent, the information given in Novikov’s "Happy New Year" typescript catalogue. The catalogue lists none of Batisheva's and Tager's works and none of Novikov's own works. Novikov's textile work "Airport" can be seen on E-E-pho-BI51 and E-E-pho-BI62, his painting "Paris. La Cité Island" on E-E-pho-BI64. Ivan Sotnikov's painting "Cosmic Flights" (E-E-pho-BI52, E-E-pho-BI65) is not on the list, either.

However, we encounter an additional problem: the original negative film, a 35 mm black and white ‘SVEMA’ film, has been lost, and we must therefore content ourselves with scans from Kozlov´s original contact print. This type of reproduction makes it difficult to determine details or small paintings. Only a few 15 x 10 cm vintage prints have been preserved in Kozlov's and some other archives, and they offer a much better resolution.

In fact, Kozlov didn't document the exhibition as such. He took pictures of artists and musicians next to a number of works, but not necessarily next to their own works. We see Sergei Bugaev, Andrey Krisanov, Evgenij Kozlov, Timur Novikov, Georgy Guryanov, Viktor Tsoy and New Composers Valery Alakhov and Igor Verichev, but only Bugaev, Krisanov, Kozlov and Novikov participated in the exhibition. The pictures with Evgenij Kozlov might have been taken by Igor Verichev.

Hannelore Fobo, January 2018, updated June 2021.

HAPPY NEW YEAR: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov‘s works at the exhibition

Novikov's typescript catalogue has five works by Kozlov, but only one is documented in Kozlov's pictures from the exhibition:
"Я-Я / Ya-Ya".
The sizes must be considered approximative.

1. Шик Шок Шоу / Shick-Shock-Show 100 х 120 cm, 1985
2. Мультфильмы / Animated Films 90 х 130 cm, 1985
3. Я-Я / Ya-Ya, 180 х 450 cm, 1985

“[картина] В нене получила разрешения на экспозицию из-за англисйского текста.” [Painting] B did not receive permission for the exhibition due to the English text.


E-E-185008

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Untitled ? (Я-Я / YA-YA)
Mixed media on canvas?, approx. 120 x 90 cm, 1985 more>>
The English text reads
“There are no nearby hills or promontories from which the art gang could admire their WORK, ЖЕНЯ.”

Кроме того, планировал показать 15 фотографий, раскрашенных фломастерами, тоже из частных коллекций, но по разным причинам они тоже не получили разрешения на экспозицию– слишком "new wave", слишком необычно. (In addition, I planned to show 15 photos painted with felt-tip pens, also from a private collection, but for various reasons they did not receive permission for the exhibition either – too "new wave", too unusual.9

Of those five works displayed, the large work "Ya-YA" is still in E-E Kozlov's collection. The whereabouts of the other ones are not known, and the same goes for the work with the English title and, obviously, the fifteen painted photographs.

1. "Шик Шок Шоу / Shick-Shock-Show"
There is a picture showing "Шик Шок Шоу / Shick-Shock-Show" at Kozlov's apartment.

E. Kozlov at his studio and apartement Galaxy Gallery, Peterhof, approx. 1985. Vintage print.
Top right:
E-E-185002 Шик-Шок-Шоу / Shick-Shock-Show,
Nitro enamel and oil on canvas ?, approx. 90 x 120 cm, 1985

Top left: E-E-182019
Солнышко на Севере / Sunshine in the North, 1982

E-E-185002
Шик-Шок-Шоу / Shick-Shock-Show, possibly also titled Кино / Cinema (see above)
Nitro enamel and oil on canvas ?, approx. 90 x 120 cm, 1985

2. "Мультфильмы / Animated Films"
In 2021, the painting was identified with the help Kozlov's letter from spring 1986 as a work formerly dated 1987 and titled "SOS".

E-E-185003

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
"Мультфильмы / Animated Films", also titled “SOS”
Mixed media on canvas, 90 x 130 cm, 1985

3. "Я-Я / Ya-Ya"

In his above-mentioned letter from spring 1986, Kozlov writes about the work

Картина — многометровая полоса с условным названием "Я-Я", посвещена музыкальному произведению новых композиторов, в технике "spray paint". (The painting, several metres long, carried out in a "spray paint technique" and with a provisional title “YA-YA ”["I-I"], is dedicated to a compostion by the New Composers.)

In the letter, he included picture BI36, one of several photographs with the New Composers Valery Alakhov and Igor Verichev performing on this large work on the staircase of the Rock Club.

“Я-Я / Ya-Ya”, spray on paper, approx. 450 x 150 cm, is indeed one of Kozlov's largest works from the 1980s, and it appears to have been done specifically for the “Happy New Year” exhibition. The paper surface consists of a numerous black light-proof paper bags for photographic paper. I discussed this work in my article "B(L)ack art". The following passage explains how it was created:

Given the size of Ya-Ya, it would have been difficult for Kozlov to apply the spray paint in his own flat, which also served as his studio (the Galaxy Gallery). The size as such was not the only problem (in fact, he had created a work that was four and a half metres long in his studio). Above all, the artist needed more distance to apply spray paint to such a large surface.Valery Alakhov remembers that this task was performed in Timur Novikov's studio on Voinov Street, the ASSA Gallery. Timur had fairly large premises; besides, there was no need to make sure that paint did not end up on the walls or on the floor. more >>

“Я-Я / Ya-Ya” – or “I-I”, its literal translation – obviously made an impact on Timur Novikov. In his article ПРАЗДНИК ИСКУССТВ / The Celebration of Arts he writes: ‘Evgenij Kozlov looked quite extraordinary upon a giant black paper’ (“Неожиданно выглядел Евгений Козлов на гигантской черной бумаге”). >>

During or after the exhibition, “Ya-Ya” lost a fragment along the right border; the size is now approximately 380 x 145 cm. The work was restored in 2012 for the exhibition The New Artists at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA). more >>

E-E-pho-BI26

Valery Alakhov and (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov during a performance with Kozlov's painting Я-Я / Ya-Ya, 1985
photo: Igor Verichev

More views: see below

Graphic works

The two graphic works are most probably Kozlov's portraits from 1984, one of Timur Novikov and the other one of E.G (Elena Gritsova). In both cases, Kozlov added a piece of paper to the top of the original drawing in order to create novel features with the upper hair section

New Composers Valery Alakhov and Igor Verichev
Performance with Kozlov's painting Я-Я / Ya-Ya, 1985
Rock Club, Leningrad, December 1985

E-E-pho-BI22

New Composers Igor Verichev and Valery Alakhov during a performance with Kozlov's painting Я-Я / Ya-Ya, 1985
Photo: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov

E-E-pho-BI31

New Composers Igor Verichev and Valery Alakhov during a performance with Kozlov's painting Я-Я / Ya-Ya, 1985
Photo: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov