Vitaly Komar

Russian artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid formed an artistic partnership in the 1960s while students in Moscow. They were instrumental in founding the Sots Art (Pop Art) movement and collaborated on conceptual projects, including painting, performance, sculpture, photography, and music. By the late 1970s they had left the Soviet Union for New York, and were the first Russian artists to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1979, they established Komar & Melamid, Inc. for the project We Buy and Sell Souls, which included an auction of “souls” (including Andy Warhol’s) in Moscow and New York, an electronic billboard in Times Square, and an ad and poster campaign. Their partnership ended in 2004.