The Saatchi Gallery is unveiling their new exhibition featuring 18 emerging contemporary Russian artists whose work draws from the country’s history in the 20^th century.

“Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union: Art from Russia” takes its show title from a 1935 speech given by Joseph Stalin. Many of the artists, who work in painting, photography, sculpture, and installation, featured have never shown their work outside of Russia.

The 20^th century has been both an interesting and tumultuous time in Russian history. The work being showcased reflects life and its complexities in Russia following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the perestroika years. Some artists have drawn from Russia’s tradition of political satire, while others take their inspiration from the country’s modern masters, Malevich, Rodchenko, and Ilya Kabakov.

Russian photographer Boris Mikhailov will show his prolific series “Case Study”, which is an intricate documentation of his hometown Kharjov, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Dasha Shishkin, who was born in Moscow but lives and works in New York, is another artist that will be displayed at the Saatchi Gallery. Shishkin’s paintings have garnered much attention, and have been compared to Goya and Brueghal.

“Their art is multifocal and transcendent, poetic and hypocritical, politicized and romantic. It is probably the most global art in the world but still very much related to its origins,” said Dimitri Ozerkov, director of the Contemporary Art Department of The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

“Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union: Art from Russia”, November 21 – May 5, 2013 at the Saatchi Gallery, free entry.