Angels and Demons

...no, not the Dan Brown novel of the same name...sigh...but The Angels and Demons Parade by AES + F, the Russian sometimes trio, sometimes quartet of artists: Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky and photographer, Vladimir Fridkes. Described both benignly as a photo-conceptualist group  and also a subversive art collective AES + F were all born in fifties Russia. Tatiana and Lev have backgrounds in conceptual architecture, which perhaps explain the scale of their 'big babies' and the fact that they need to be placed within an urban setting, footpaths, city squares for maximum impact. And maximum impact, I think they have, made out of black resin and assembled in parts on site, these 6 metre tall black babies have a sense of ownership to them. They own the space around them, if not whichever city they spring up in at the time. They made their entry into the world in Lille, France in 2009, and have been part of the Melbourne festival over the last two weeks...they were, in fact, the poster babies for the festival. Words such as apocalyptic...dawning of a new age...fiendish cherubs...otherworldly...are the official words used to describe these huge sculptures with bat-wings and reptilian tails pushing out from their nappies. These big babies were dotted along St Kilda Road and Swanston street in the CBD but have now perhaps taken flight to another destination.