What: Portrait of V.I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock III by Art & Language
Where: Tate Britain, London, UK

Uninitiated visitors to Tate Britain have been left scratching their heads while contemplating Portrait of V.I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock III.

It is one of a series of paintings by Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden, British artists operating under the collective Art & Language. This tongue-in-cheek nod to the Cold War battle between the painting styles of Socialist Realism and Abstract Expressionism has been described as ‘an ironic proposal for an impossible picture, a kind of exasperated joke’. You can read more about the painting in Essays on Art & Language by Charles Harrison (available on Google Books).

See the painting on the Tate website or on display at Tate Britain.

Image: Art & Language (Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden), Portrait of V.I. Lenin with Cap, in the Style of Jackson Pollock III, 1980. Courtesy Tate