signed in Cyrillic and dated '1972' l.m.collage on paperBakhchanyan grew up in Kharkiv in Ukraine and moved to Moscow in the mid-1960s where he produced caricatures for 'Literaturnaya gazeta'. In 1974 he emigrated to New York City. 'Through collages, artist’s books, and other mixed media objects – which the artist minimally altered from their everyday appearance – he revealed the fine line that can separate normality from madness, banality from absurdity, platitude from blasphemy. Through experimentation and the development of inventive artistic strategies, Bakhchanyan broadened the range of expressive possibilities for other nonconformist artists. Many of his puns became an intrinsic part of Soviet dissident culture.' (Julia Tulovskaya in 'Vagrich Bakhchanyan: Accidental Absurdity', the 2016 exhibition at the Zimmerli Art Museum).

St Petersburg, The State Russian Museum; Moscow, The State Tretyakov Gallery; Frankfurt am Main, Städel et al., 'Nonkonformisty: vtoroy russkiy avangard 1955-1988', 1996-1997, illustrated on p.78 of the catalogue
Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern, 'Avantgarde im Untergrund. Russische Nonkonformisten aus der Sammlung Bar-Gera', 3 February - 24 April 2005, illustrated on p.153 and listed on p.163 of the catalogue
Bratislava, The Slovak National Gallery, 'Nonkonformisti. Druhá ruská avantgarda 1955-1988. Zbierka Bar-Gera', 14 November 2008 - 22 February 2009, illustrated on p.78 and listed on p.169 of the catalogue  

There is tear to the edge, just below the left-hand figure. There is creasing to the edges and corners and the upper edge is undulating slightly. There is a layer of light surface dirt. There are adhesive stains visible along the edges of the cut-out figures. Held in a simple wooden frame, mounted and behind plexiglass. Unexamined out of frame.
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