The critic Andrey Kovalev claimed Yuri Albert to be "almost the first Russian post-modernist", for whom the lack of imaginativeness formed the artistic method. His work "I AM NOT Andy Warhol" is a vivid example of that. It is a part of the series of canvases stating that the artist "is not Vadim Zakharov", nor "Joseph Kosuth", nor any other artist. Painting here is used as a general means for the solution of a single conceptual task, which is being formulated by the author in the question of the status of the artist itself. Who can be or be called "the artist" in the traditional sense? What is necessary for it? Reflection on the theme of a proper place in the history of art is clearly present here. If Albert isn't Warhol nor Zakharov, there is a question about who he is and what makes him different. The artist, starting from denial, sharply separates himself.

Nina Lavrishcheva

A fragment of an article for the "Printed Graphics of Moscow Conceptualists" collection for guidebooks of the "Twenty-five" series