Hand-made and -decorated album of photographs and art, dating from the mid to late 1980s and commemorating the artist’s time in the Soviet Air Force. Photos show the artist with his fellow servicemembers, formally posing in uniform and in a variety of casual settings: lounging shirtless on supply trucks, playing at acrobatics and martial arts, smoking, dancing, with children, putting a fur hat on a friendly dog. The elaborate rear endpaper painting reads “Yerevan,” most likely the artist’s home.

Photos alternate with spectacular drawings and paintings: many in a comic-book, pop-punk style, showing military scenes (target practice, bellowing drill sergeants, a mess hall with one soldier playing a frying pan like a banjo) with humorous captions; others have the style of magazine ads, depicting pretty girls, fighter jets, and references to wine and popular songs. In the Soviet Union, as in many countries from the Eastern bloc, serving the army was mandatory for young men. Most joined the army after finishing high school, and would usually be sent for a training to the other side of the country, as far as possible from home, to avoid dissertation and the spreading military secrets, but also to toughen up the young men and encourage a multicultural exchange in such a large and diverse country. Although conditions were rough and training sometimes severe, many of the young men returned home with nostalgic memories of their friends, who returned to distant parts of the country after their service was finished.  

Made with great care and flair, generally cheerful in its representation of clandestine activities (while still taking occasional jabs at the Soviet state), a spectacular artifact of the later years of the Cold War — offering valuable insight in the army life before the founding of an independent Armenia, and showing the influence of western pop culture aesthetics even in remote areas of the Soviet Union. Must be seen.

$5,500