Weapons and military vehicles hold a heavy context as historical artifacts. Rarely do we see war supplies—with its clear function—as anything other than military equipment. Meanings and materials change during wartime, though, and this is embedded in Maxim Kilderov’s artwork Land Lease. 

During the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the Ukrainian artist was not able to buy art materials. Nova Kakhova was occupied by the Russian army, and the bridges in his town were destroyed and occupied. When Kilderov saw an abandoned infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), he decided to cover it in art. He described the IFV as his canvas, and wrote “art object as it is” in his calligraprimitive style onto it. He began to collect disabled weapons too. This collection of 16 disabled weapons form Land Lease. Kilderov paints the objects black, and then meticulously covers the entire surface of the tubes with repetitive patterns in white. The mark making does not conceal the weapon but it provides another layer of meaning. 

Recontextualizing the metal, the artist opened a space for conversation in Ukraine that continues globally today. Land Lease is a commissioned and ongoing work that holds the past, present, and future in its materiality and multiplicity of meaning. Land Lease directly connects us to the artist, the war, the loss, and the military materials made from American, British, German, Swedish, Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet-era weapons.