Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
For example, I would assume that in Liberation of Baghdad, he intended to compare the Bush administration's portrayal of the war with [ominous music] SOVIET PROPAGANDA!!!

On the other hand, "parody" by nature assumes that the audience is generally familiar with the source being copied, and I doubt that the Volkov painting of Minsk is known to most Americans.
There are several level of message. Most people will take it serious. Some will find that it is too cheesy to be serious. And very few will recognize the reference. Most probably the effect of all levels together is what was intended. This kind of art is called "postmodernism" even though this term is a bit old-fashioned (new-fashioned term is "trolling" ).

I suspect that most works of Birk have such hidden references to poorly-known pieces of art of different times and cultures. So his fans can train erudition and search for deeper sense.

But technically it can be a plagiarism, yes.