Back in the post-U.S.S.R.

Stalin arm wrestles Gorbachev in a work called "?" by Mikhail Nikolaevich Rozhdestvi.

Images of post-communism are coming to the Craft and Folk Art Museum for Deconstructing Perestroika, an exhibit that displays hand-painted political posters from the fall of the Soviet Union and its aftermath.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) lifted restrictions on artistic expression in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One result of these policies was art that began to sharply question political norms. For example, one poster depicts Marx, Engels and Lenin as children’s party balloons.

The public opening of the exhibit is Saturday, January 28, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. A DJ will perform as guests browse  24 original works by thirteen artists.

Máximo González: Playful, an exhibit featuring political and culturally-tinged craftwork, opens the same night. A performance installation involving a soldier and a desk will be staged to mark the occasion.

The Craft and Folk Art Museum is located at 5814 Wilshire Boulevard. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and children over 10 years old and free for kids under 10. Admission to the opening party is $10. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Posted 1/25/12