Taking the essay "Dealing with the Past through Art" (Routledge 2025) as a starting point, the proposed paper focuses on the trajectory Russian art has taken after the events of 24 February 2022. In this respect, the projects developed by the artists Matvei Kaif (b. Matvei Shapiro, 1987) and Ėlia Vinokurova represent a particular, as well as meaningful, point of view. On the one hand, the value of their work can be appreciated if read against the background of the art created by such conceptualist as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. On the other hand, though, their poetic and visual grammar display close ties to the Russian Avant-garde, hence representing their "return", a phenomenon recently theorized by Bozovic (2023). Ultimately, this research aims at testing Bozovic's theory, extending it from the field of poetry to that of art. Arguably, foregrounding the ties these artist entertain with previous artistic experiences opens up a useful window on contemporary developments in Russian culture.