Central Theater of the Red Army: First Cavalry 1930

Solomon Telingater made this collage, *Central Theater of the Red Army: First Cavalry*, with paper and gouache, though we don’t know exactly when. The muted palette and almost scientific way he’s assembled all these images create a feeling that is both chaotic and curiously ordered. I love the texture. Everything feels like it’s been carefully layered – the way the horses on the bottom left seem pasted on top of those stripes, for instance. It gives the whole thing a really physical presence, like you could peel back each layer and find a whole other world underneath. And that little blue drum – sitting there like it’s waiting for a beat to drop? Brilliant. It’s these little details that make the piece sing, bringing together all this visual information. The collage is a bit like Kurt Schwitters, but with a political punch. Instead of Dada absurdity, Telingater is playing with something more – the power of propaganda, maybe? Either way, it's a reminder that art doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful; it just has to make you feel something.