Project: Two-Faced
Author: Brad Downey, Igor Ponosov
Client: LL'Editions
Type: Packaging Design
Year: 2022

Brad Downey (American) and Igor Ponosov (Russian) are artists from two hostile powers. Despite this fact, Downey and Ponosov have tried to construct their own alternative scenario of collaboration and friendship. With their unauthorized actions, they have been mocking established clichés, combining and remixing cultural and national symbols, creating an illusion of friendship and strong relations between their countries. Today, during the escalation of political tensions, with a world on the verge of a global war, this model seems utopian. However, the two friends remain true to themselves.

Lundgren+Lindqvist designed the packaging, including the foil embossed wallet, and certificate for this edition, published by LL’Editions.

These coins (as a prototype) were originally created and presented in 2016 for an exhibition titled The Thaw in Moscow at CCI Fabrika. The coins, like many other art-objects from the exhibition, simultaneously symbolize an illusory bonding between USA and Russia and the growing tension between the two countries.

This collaborative artwork literally embodies the “two-faced-ness” of state relations and the duplicity that have been accompanying the artists throughout their friendship. The edition emphasizes the contradictory nature of politics, which Downey and Ponosov have been highlighting for many years through a range of, in equal measures, ironic and absurd gestures.

The multiple, which is editioned in 20 sets (+ 9 AP), features two coins; an American quarter dollar and a Russian 5 ruble. The American quarter dollar is engraved with the Russian coat of arms, and the Russian 5 Ruble with the American equivalent. The two engraved coins are held in the coin department of a foil embossed leather wallet. A Swedish 20 kronor banknote, which functions as a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity is held in the wallet’s cash pocket. The wallet comes in a bespoke, foil embossed and corner stapled greyboard box which is numbered by rubber stamp a tergo.