Recycled Young Lenin #1 (2025)

This artwork is a found original soviet-era porcelain bust of young Lenin decorated with oil paint.
It is signed, titled, and dated on the bottom.

Ships with EMS (Express Mail Service) worldwide.
All works of art are carefully packed and can be tracked online. Original artworks and mounted prints are shipped in a wooden crate. Unmounted paintings and prints are shipped in a dent-resistant tube.
Shipping times vary depending on the destination country but usually take between two and three weeks. Please allow for these up to 5 business days of preparation and packaging time before the artwork is shipped out.

PLEASE NOTE: The buyer will be responsible for paying international customs fees, determined by the country in which the artwork is being shipped to. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to making a purchase.

Each piece you purchase will come with a certificate of authenticity, a signed document proving the authenticity of the work and containing details about the artwork for your reference.

This contemporary sculpture reclaims a Soviet‑era porcelain bust of a youthful Lenin by overlaying its austere iconography with a constellation of bright, playful polka dots. Each circle—hand‑painted in vivid hues—both disrupts the original propaganda and invites viewers to reconsider the power of symbols.

For Ukrainians like myself, Lenin stands as the architect of our first modern occupation (1917–1921) and the progenitor of seven decades of Soviet domination. Though the USSR dissolved in 1991, its specter endures: today’s Kremlin seeks once again to extinguish Ukraine’s hard‑won independence and draw us back into a deadly embrace.

By “sticker‑bombing” Lenin’s visage, I transform historical trauma into an act of creative defiance. The polka dots serve as camouflage and healing bandages alike—obscuring the dictator’s stare while highlighting the wounds of collective memory. In this playful defacement, I claim agency over a past that once felt immutable, demonstrating that even the most entrenched evil can be rendered powerless through art.

Yet this work carries a warning: humor can disarm, but vigilance must endure. True freedom demands that we remain alert, lest the ghosts of tyranny re‑emerge. Through this sculpture, I celebrate the resilience of the human spirit and affirm art’s capacity to heal, to provoke, and ultimately, to safeguard our liberty.