Vladimir Paperny

Vladimir Paperny (b. 1944), or Владимир Паперный, is a Russian-American writer, designer, art and architecture historian, son of literary critic and parodist Zinovy Paperny. He was born in Moscow and studied at the Stroganov Institute of Art and Design together with Vitaly Komar, Alexander Melamid, Dmitry Prigov and other emerging conceptualists, graduating in 1969. Paperny continued his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning (NIITIAG). According to Komar's 2008 interview, Vladimir 'Vadik' Paperny was the first one who singled out Komar & Melamid's early 'sots art' works as an emerging new style. In 1972, he visited Komar & Melamid's studio and immediately proclaimed some of their newest paintings as "Soviet pop art, something we all had been waiting for." Paperny also helped to find a name for the new "art movement." They rejected комарт (communist art) as too similar to Komar's name, while соварт (Soviet art) brought up distracting associations with 'savannah' in Russian. Соцарт (Sots Art) became a perfect fit – 'sots' stood for Socialist Realism, and 'art' referenced to Pop art. Since 1981, Vladimir Paperny lives in Los Angeles. He leads VPA (Vladimir Paperny & Associates) design studio and produces documentary films. Paperny wrote and published numerous articles on design, architecture, urban planning and culture clash.