Erbossyn Meldibekov's Mutating Lenins. (Lenin as Giacometti, Lenin as Patrice Lumumba etc)

The Kazakh artist Erbossyn Meldibekov on his Mutating Lenin's:

The mass-produced monumental bust is given a new interpretation in the Mutations (2008-11) series as four bronze figures of Lenin are contorted to replicate Giacometti, Patrice Lumumba and a great local hero with mongoloid features exemplifying a return to roots. In Meldibekov’s opinion: ‘in the conditions of post-Soviet nationalism, all our numerous new heroes are very monotonous: they are heroes of the past, invoked to confirm the historical credibility of our new governmental forms. But since nobody knows what these heroes looked like, there is a mushrooming of ethnic characteristics.’

Lenin as Giacometti