Marina Busel is a renowned interior designer and decorator whose unique projects have been realized in various countries around the world. Inspired by natural phenomena, ancient artifacts, primitive art, and the works of creative geniuses from the past and present, Marina has been creating collectible design and art objects since 2023. The proportions of Marina's objects are encoded with the Fibonacci sequence, which is fundamental to nature itself, resulting in objects with a harmonious emotional aura. The use of handcrafted techniques, visual simplicity, and natural materials adds a unique sensory experience to each object. Minimalist design and sculptural forms go beyond traditional images and structures. The concept's meaning is free and has a wide range of associations. The objects combine the natural and symbolic, the sensual and the conceptual, which are essential components of contemporary art and design.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS:

• 2025 — Exhibition "50/50", FINEART Gallery, Moscow
• 2025 — Exhibition "Circular Design", Muzeon, Moscow
• 2025 — International ARTDOM Exhibition, Moscow
• 2025 — Solo exhibition "SILUR", BUSEL gallery art space, Moscow
• 2025 — Solo exhibition "Sunny Circle", WE ART Gallery, Nikolina Gora
• 2025 — Exhibition "50/50", A-O Gallery, Ufa
• 2025 — blazar Contemporary Art Fair, curated by Sample gallery, Moscow
• 2024 — Art Moscow 2024, exhibition of the Polyot gallery, Moscow
• 2024 — Yuri Zlotnikov "Neoconstructivism", pop/off/art Gallery, Moscow
• 2024 — All-Russian Museum of Decorative Arts, festival of Contemporary Russian Art and Design "Games of Color", Moscow
• 2024 — Personal exhibition "Beauty Lives", BUSEL gallery, Moscow
• 2024 — Personal exhibition "Sun in the Garden", WE ART gallery, Nikolina Gora
• 2024 — Exhibition "EMOVEO", FINEART gallery, Moscow
• 2024 — blazar Contemporary Art Fair, curated by Sample gallery

Veronica Smirnoff is a British artist of Russian origin, (born Moscow, Russia, 1979). She gained a BA from the Slade School of Art and a post graduate diploma from the Royal Academy of Arts. She had her first solo show with Galleria Riccardo Crespi in Milan (2008). Smirnoff has exhibited in Moscow, Paris, Berlin, New York and London. She was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize UK (2010). She lives and works in London.

 

Constantly reassembling and alluding to pre renaissance and icon painting, folklore and Asian tradition, paintings are constructed with traditional elements - the fragility of gesso and solidity of wood, with pigment ground from semi-precious stones, mixed with egg yolk and wine to make the paints. The wooden supporting boards are made of oak in Russian monasteries and blessed. Layer by layer, the surface is encrusted with texture and then sanded down to its sedimentary surface. Smirnoff is fascinated by the idea of the "Icon" as the object of worship and its close relation to "popular art" with a wide repertoire of signs: the flat moulding of figures, conventional space and the abstract effects of colours.

 

EDUCATION:

• 2004-2007 — Royal Academy of Arts - Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art
• 1999-2004 — Slade School of Fine Art, UCL - BA in Fine Art with 1st Class Honours
• 1998 -1999 — Wimbledon School of Art - BTEC Foundation Diploma in Fine Art and Design

 

PRIZES, SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS:

• 2006 — Alumni Award, Royal Academy of Arts
• 2005 — Boundary Prize
• 2004 — Terence Cuneo Prize in Fine Art
• 2003 — Rodney Burn Prize in Fine Art
• 2001-2002 — Scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna

SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 

• 2018 — Tales of Bright and Brittle, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan
• 2017 — The Greater and Lesser Ways, Jessica Carlisle, London
• 2013 — Beyond The Shore, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan
• 2012 — The Madding Spring, Vela Gallery, London
• 2010 — Zhar, Stanislas Bourgain Gallery, Paris
• 2008 — Morozka, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

• 2019 —Heat, 58th Venice Biennale, Venice
• 2019 — Walking Dream, MiArt, Milan
• 2018 — Painting Now 2, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan
• 2016 — Sting & Trudie Styler: The Composition of a Collection Christie’s, London
• 2015 — Painting Now, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan

Oleg Dou is the pseudonym of artist Oleg Douryagin.

Born in 1983 in Moscow. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, specializing in economic programming. Since childhood he was interested in art, became interested in creating computer graphics. In 2005 he took up photography and began to combine it with post-processing. He works in various media from digital images and video to sculptures.
Winner of International Photography Awards (2007), International Color Awards (2008) and Arte Laguna Art Prize (Italy, 2009). Nominee of the Kandinsky Prize in 2007 and 2008.
Oleg created a Photoshop cover commissioned by Adobe, participated in the “Leaders of Public Opinion” program, creating works at the invitation of the Culture Department of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has collaborated with brands such as Givenchy, Juun J, David Koma. 
His works are in museum collections of Luxemburg Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg; Ekaterina Foundation, Russia; Jan des bouvrie, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, France; Samawi Collection, Dubai; Jeju museum of art, Korea; 21 cMuseum, USA; Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, Russia; FRAC Reunion, France; Sollo Collection, Spain and others. As well as in private collections in Russia, America and Switzerland. 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

• 2025 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia.
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| April, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2019 — “Mutant”, solo exhibition , Osnova Gallery, Moscow, Russia 
• 2018 — “Looking Back and Beyond”, group exhibition, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, USA 
• 2018 — “Elèctric i llunyà”, group exhibition, Tecla Sala Cultural Center, Barcelona, Spain
• 2017 — “Elegance”, group exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris, France 
• 2016 — “On behalf of baboushka”, group exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris, France 
• 2016 — “All eyes on me”, group exhibition, Pechersky Gallery, Moscow, Russia 
• 2016 — “Lonely Narcissus”, solo exhibition, Osnova Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2014 — “Faces”, solo exhibition, Galerist, Istanbul, Turkey
• 2014 — “8 years. Retrospective”, solo exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris, France
• 2012 — “Another Face”, solo exhibition, Museum of Multimedia Arts, Moscow, Russia
• 2012 — “Tears and Toy Story”, solo exhibition, Museum of Regional Arts of Krasnodar, Russia
• 2012 — “Another Face”, solo exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris, France
• 2012 — “Reboot”, group exhibition, Red October Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2012 — “I am who I am”, group exhibition, KIT Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany
• 2012 — International Photography Festival, Republic of Korea
• 2012 — “Perestroika”, solo exhibition, Fotofest 2012 Biennial of Photography, Houston, USA
• 2012 — “Photography: Russia, China, Czech and Slovak Republic” group exhibition, Allen Center, Houston, USA
• 2011 — “Cubs”, solo exhibition, Espace Art 22 gallery, Brussels
• 2011 — “Cubs”, solo exhibition, Senda Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
• 2011 — FotoArtFestival, BWA, Bielsko, Twarze, Poland
• 2011 — “Cubs”, solo exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris, France
• 2011 — “Gevaarlijk Jong”, group exhibition, Dr. Ghislain Museum, Ghent, Belgium
• 2011 — “F for Fake”, group exhibition, Belvedere Palace, San Leucio “Smell, Colour, Chemestry, Art and Education”, Santa Monica Museum, Barcelona, Spain
• 2010 — “Toystory”, solo exhibition, Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
• 2010 — “Toystory”, solo exhibition, Senda Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
• 2010 — “Russian Tales”, group exhibition, EXPRMNTL gallery, Toulouse, France
• 2010 — “Russains! Photographic portrait 1970-2010”, group exhibition, OREL ART gallery, Paris, France
• 2010 — “Atopia”, group exhibition, Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• 2010 — “inSPIRACJE”, festival, Poland
• 2010 — “L'exquis et l'obscur”, Galerie D.X, Bordeaux, France
• 2009 — “Tears”, solo exhibition, Art Espace 22, Brussels, Belgium
• 2009 — “Les Visages”, group exhibition, Interalia, Seoul
• 2009 — “Look me in the Eyes”, group exhibition, RTR Gallery, Paris
• 2009 — Pingyao International Photography Festival 2009, China
• 2009 — “Visage. Image. Timps”, group exhibition, Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow

Fair |catalog| April 2023, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Artguide - Year Three: the results of art fair 1703
  
• Photoplay - Talks. Oleg Dou
  
• Moskvich Mag - This is my city: artist Oleg Dou
  
• ArtInvestment - Artist of the Week: Oleg Dou
• U magazine - Artist Oleg Dou - about fashion, design and art collaborations
  
• BURO. - The Carol Christian Poell store will host an exhibition of artist Oleg Dou
• Next Level - Oleg Dou. Sketches

1975 — 2022

Член Московского Союза Художников, отдела скульптуры.

• 1998 — Окончил МПГУ, художественно-графический факультет
• 1996-2002 — Работал в творческой мастерской скульптура В.В. Сидоренко
• 2011 — Член секции скульптуры Московского союза художников и Объединения московских скульпторов
• 2018 — Входит в топ-100 русских художников, по версии «InArt»
• 2020 — Финалист XIV Международной премии «Arte Laguna»

Скульптурную практику Валентина Коржова можно охарактеризовать как абсолютную пространственность, устремленную к динамической эстетике пространства. Под влиянием феноменологии Хайдеггера и его необычной концепции ничтожности как фундаментальной основы существования, Коржов помещал свои скульптурные интервенции - загадочные нарративы о материи и самости - в онтологическую точку ноль, в пустоты. Через противопоставление зловещих скульптурных композиций и физических пустот бесплодных полей и пустых поверхностей возникает третье пространство неограниченной пространственности.

Коржов родился в Москве, получил образование по скульптуре в художественной академии и начал свою профессиональную карьеру в мастерской скульптора-мастера Виктора Сидоренко. В его работах неоклассические изображения тела сливаются с постмодернистскими идеями о материальности, происхождении и реликвиях, создавая объекты, которые одновременно и присутствуют, и являются симулякрами археологических обломков из неопределенных, отдаленных времен, будь то в прошлом или будущем. В многодисциплинарных инсталляциях, которые манипулируют пространственностью как медиумом, художник занимался созданием иммерсивных опытов, черпающих вдохновение не только из ресурсов искусства, но и из современной философии и науки.

Темпоральность в работах Коржова смещена; он читает палимпсест цивилизации как сложный гобелен из переплетенных текстов, образов и архетипов, уходя от историцизма скульптуры к изначальному мифографическому пространству, которое охватывает и отдаленное будущее. В его пространственных конструкциях различные темпоральности сливаются, открывая новые пути для интерпретации истории образов через текст, теорию, визуальную культуру и сенсорное восприятие. Как практик, основанный на исследованиях, художник был постоянно вовлечен в диалоги с мыслителями прошлого и настоящего, уникальным образом пересказывая дискурс современной культуры.

В практике художника сложно выделить одно направление - каждая из его работ является сочетанием скульптуры и художественной композиции, расставленной с театральной точностью и запечатлённой на фотообъектив. Коржов превращает каждый свой проект в масштабную коллаборацию с участием признанных международных фотографов, кинорежиссёров, актёров и профессиональных техников. Конечный результат для зрителя являет собой многоплановые инсталляции с эффектом глубокого погружения, с сочетанием кульптуры, видео и фотоискусства.

Валентин Коржов был членом секции скульптуры Московского союза художников, его персональные выставки проходили в Фонде культуры «Екатерина», Государственном Музее им. Дарвина, Центре Современного Искусства «Винзавод», Воронежской Академии Искусств и других. Экспозиция «Археология Памяти» демонстрировалась в качестве параллельной программы в ходе V Международного Московского Биеннале Современного Искусства. В 2018 году проект «BEING & TIME» вошел в состав основных проектов VIII Ташкентской Международной Биеннале современного искусства, а в 2020 году Валентин стал финалистом XIV Международной Премии Arte Laguna и в марте представил свою инсталляцию «THE BRAIN THAT PASSED AWAY» в Венеции.

Коржов жил и работал в Москве. Трагически погиб в 2022 году в результате автомобильной аварии.

О ПРОЕКТЕ «DARVIN VS DARVIN»:

Проект «Darwin vs Darwin» – оригинальная попытка синхронизировать законы биологического и духовного развития человека. Фантастический мультимедийный проект Валентина не просто сталкивает между собой начало и финал эволюции всего живого, но и заставляет прожить эту драму как мгновенную эволюцию сознания, зрения, самого искусства. В рамках проекта были созданы гиперреалистичные анималистические и человекоподобные скульптурные объекты из силикона, выполненных в FX технике, что производит впечатление абсолютной достоверности происходящего, а также произведения фото- и видеоискусства.

О ПРОЕКТЕ «BREAKFAST AT CRONUS»:

Проект «Breakfast at Cronus», сосредоточенный на основополагающих нарративах Древней Греции, рассматривает античный миф о Кроносе – прародителе времени – и ряде других архетипических персонажах, чтобы раскрыть расширенную основу реальности; видимость, заключённую в чистой действительности. Коржов отталкивается от хайдеггеровского понятия поэзиса – акта создания или творения, тождественного метафизике и поэзии, а также непосредственной данности материального мира, готового к преобразованию нами. Это открытие ведет к истине или сущности, лежащей в основе нашего технологического воображения и помогающей чему-то возникнуть.

О ПРОЕКТЕ «VIA SACRA» и «THUS SPOKE HEAVEN»:

Если в ранних его проектах подчеркивается животное начало человеческой сущности (Darwin vs Darwin), то со временем в работах все больше отражается начало духовное. Валентин очень долго искал, нащупывал путь, позволяющий изобразить чувства, эмоции, тонкие, неосязаемые в скульптуре материи и при этом уйти от прямого цитирования. И если в первых проектах для художника характерна прямолинейность высказываний, то в последних работах он пришел к компромиссу иносказательности и фигуративности. Он берет слепки с греческих статуй как форму для отлива скульптуры и использует эту форму как ячейку, ракушку — она символизирует наше тело. Это сосуд для нематериального содержимого — того, что ведет нас к сверхчеловеку (по Ницше), — души.

О ПРОЕКТЕ «BEING AND TIME»:

Проект «Бытие и Время» представлял варианты земного воплощения геометрии космических тел. В качестве прототипа для своих произведений Валентин использует фотоснимки скоплений галактик, туманностей и астероидных поясов. Для моделирования объектов художником был разработан специальный метод соединения точек источников света на фотографиях космоса. Работы словно «космические слепки», в которых едва можно угадать рукотворность, повествуют зрителю о формах бытования в Галактике. Коржов материализует в объектах космические пустоты. Манифестируя первичность «идеального закона» бытия над временем, он даёт предметное представление о связи цивилизации с космосом. Творчество художника апеллирует к архаическим знаниям о Вселенной. Тогда представление об «объёме жизни» зависело от воображения. Такой подход может быть актуален и в наши дни как опыт познания бытия и времени.

О ПРОЕКТЕ «ANIZOTROPIA»:

Проект ANIZOTROPIA, состоящий из скульптур и объектов, исследует тему пространства и формы в контексте небытия как наследие метафизики формы Хайдеггера. Само название проекта связано с представлением древних греков об уникальной, невидимой и непредсказуемой траектории роста различных объектов в природе. Этот термин широко используется в физике твердого тела, химии и кристаллографии для определения зависимости характеристик объекта от его анизотропного состояния. Если сказать проще: материал считается изотропным, когда его свойства во всех направлениях одинаковые. Если же с изменением направления свойства материала изменяются, материал считается анизотропным. Точно так же скульптура из металлических труб и предметов повседневного обихода в процессе творчества принимает внутреннюю непредсказуемую форму, а конечный результат неизвестен до последнего момента. Следуя внутренней естественной логике художника, реди-мейды, использованные в инсталляциях, теряют свою четкость и функциональность, превращаясь в чистую форму.

ИЗБРАННЫЕ ВЫСТАВКИ И ПРОЕКТЫ:

• 2025 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Москва, Россия
• 2025 — The way to Cronus, галерея a—s—t—r—a, Москва
• 2023 — Darwin vs Darwin. Zimova Art Buro, Москва
• 2022 — Breakfast at Cronus. Nadya Kotova Gallery, Антверпен, Бельгия
• 2021 — Observer of Immense Space. Public Art. Зарядье, Москва
• 2020 — Anizotropia. Центр искусств «Artcatch», Нидерланды 
• 2020 — Round around. Галерея Gridchinhall, Cube Moscow, Москва
• 2020 — ROUND AROUND Совместно с Олегом Хвостовым, Gridchinhall Moscow, Арт-центр Cube, Москва. 
• 2019 — Being and Time. Asia Contemporary Art Show, Gallery Bruno Massa. Гонконг.
• 2019 — Being and Time. Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center. Манама, Бахрейн.
• 2019 — Across Borders, Бахрейн
• 2019 — Being and Time, культурный фонд «Екатерина», Москва
• 2018 — Международная Биеннале Современного Искусства, Ташкент
• 2018 — Последний Иов, Фонд Михаила Шемякина, Санкт-Петербург
• 2018 — Flesh And Sky, Галерея 11.12, куратор Аттилия Фаттори Франкини, «Винзавод», Москва
• 2017 — Уроки Естественной Истории, Государственный Музей им. Дарвина, Москва
• 2017 — «Актуальная Россия: игра в классиков», совместно с Государственным центром современного искусства. Саратовский государственный художественный музей имени А.Н. Радищева
• 2016 — «Актуальная Россия: среда обитания», Государственный музей современной истории России, Москва
• 2014 — Белый Курган, Академия Искусств, Воронеж 
• 2013 — «Археология памяти», Параллельная программа V Московской биеннале современного искусства, куратор Владимир Потапов. «Гоголь-Центр», Москва. 
• 2013 — Проект V Московской Биеннале Современного Искусства, Москва 
• 2012 — Zeta-потоп, Гоголь-центр, Москва
• 2009 — Серые Экраны, Центральный Дом Художника, Москва

Born in 1983 in Kemerovo.

Graduated from St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry named after A.L. Stieglitz at the Department of Monumental and Decorative Painting, workshop of Prof. V.G. Lekanov (2004-2010) and Kemerovo Art College at the painting and pedagogical department (1999-2004). The works of the artist are in the Russian Museum.

In his works Kirill considers the idea of globalization as a metaphor for biblical subjects, using a stylistics referring to the aesthetics of the High Renaissance. Koteshov dissects the aesthetics of classical body image, exploring a motif reminiscent of Michelangelo's late sculptures from the Slaves series - spiraling bodies, somewhere unfinished, hardly carved from stone. 

The artist also creates industrial landscapes transformed into futuristic images of the city, using Kuzbasslak - coal tar, which refers to the industrial context of his small homeland.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

• 2025 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — “Cosmopera”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow 
• 2010 — “Stolpopotvlenie”, Atelier No. 2 Gallery, Moscow
• 2010 — “Vive la jeune Garde”, Atelier du vent, Rennes
• 2010 — “L'Exposition d'Ilya Gaponov & Kirill Koteshov”, Maison du ventes Leclere, Marseille
• 2010 — “Summer snow”, Maison du Loir-et-Cher, Blois
• 2008 — “Three Days”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2008 — “The Last Snow”, Globus Gallery, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — “UNDER GROUND”, Manezh, Small Hall, St. Petersburg
• 2007 — “Kuzbass Parallel”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2007 — “Position”, Museum of St. Petersburg State Art and Design Academy, St. Petersburg

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

• 2024 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| April, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2021 — “Answer 42” in the framework of the International Women's Forum, Kuzbass Ice Palace, Kemerovo, Russia
• 2020 — “Realism: yesterday and today. Art and Truth”, the branch of the Russian Museum in Malaga. Spain, Malaga
• 2020 — “Artists and collectors to the Russian Museum.Gifts.1898 - 2019. Selected” State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2019 — “Beauty: PLUS-MINUS”, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”.
• 2018 — “Project of interregional cooperation in the field of contemporary art NEMOSKVA”
• 2016 — “Ark”, as part of the V International Biennale of Young Art, Moscow.
• 2016 — “Changes”, Ural Vision Gallery, Budapest
• 2015 — “Russia. Realism XXI century”, State Russian Museum, Benois Building, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Newer than New” as part of the Baltic Biennale, New Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Strictness and Beauty”, Ural Vision Gallery, Yekaterinburg
• 2014 — “The Other Capital”, Moscow Museum, Moscow
• 2014 — “Actual Drawing”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Waterline” installation, as part of the parallel program of the biennale “Manifesta10”, Rizzordi art foundation, St. Petersburg
• 2013 — ICONS. Creative space Tkachi. St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2011 — “Gates and Doors”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2010 — ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2010 — “Vive la jeune Garde”, Atelier du vent, Rennes
• 2010 — Summer Snow. Maison du Loir et Cher. Blois, France
• 2010 — “Hero of Our Time”, Moscow International Biennale “Stop! Who's Coming?”
• 2010 — “Futurology”, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow.
• 2009 — Kandinsky Prize Exhibition. Louise Blouin Foundation. London
• 2009 — ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2009 — VIII Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale, Krasnoyarsk
• 2009 — Festival of Contemporary Art ART Zavod, Yekaterinburg (GTSI)
• 2009 — “Topology of Happiness”, Historic Architectural Museum Tsaritsyno, Moscow
• 2009 — “Russian Beauty”, GTSI, Moscow
• 2009 — Europe Art Fair 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
• 2009 — Art Basel Selection, Basel, Switzerland
• 2008 — “Death.net”, Art Gallery “Victoria”, Samara.
• 2008 — “White Space” Gallery, London
• 2008 — Festival of Contemporary Art ART Zavod, Yekaterinburg (GTSI)
• 2008— ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2008 — “Pereuchet” Manege, Small Hall, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — “Memory of Fields”, loft-project “Etazhi”, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — Festival of contemporary art “Snegarry”, Kemerovo
• 2007 — “The Most New”, Atelier Gallery No. 2, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
• 2006 — Festival of contemporary art “Art - Status”, Kemerovo
• 2006 — First Biennale of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg
• 2005 — Exhibition of competitive works “The Nutcracker”, Exhibition Hall of the State Opera and Ballet Theater of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
• 2003 — Work of the Year, Kemerovo Union of Artists, Kemerovo

ABOUT THE PROJECT “TREE OF LIFE”:

The main goal of the exhibition is to show the specifics of the functioning of drawing in contemporary Russian art. The main focus is on works from the 1990s-2000s, but earlier material, mostly related to conceptualism, is also included. The exhibition demonstrates various ways of actualizing drawing and drawing technique.

The intention of the work reflects the contemporary artist's distrust of the proper degree of grandeur of the space around him. The desire for the “great” inevitably leads to the element of monumental art organized according to classical laws. The idea is realized using the plot of the most daring creative event in the supposed history. The Tower of Babel, not the authentic stone steps of the ancient temple, but its mental construction, has penetrated the structure of memory and language as a multidimensional symbol. The creative act of erecting the tower can be regarded as a pure desire for greatness. The transformation of desire into action generates architectural splendor, allowing man to order nature according to the rules of supports and slabs. The creation of the tower (pillar) is the technological magnification of human civilization, and it continues to this day. Peoples, institutions, cultures and subcultures, overt and covert societies are equivalent as elements of the structure, the removal of one of them provokes instability of the puzzle. The personification of social realities turns into a metaphor of the construction process, where each character becomes an architectural block. It becomes clear that the piled bricks, which fall into place on their own, may not be aware of the existence of the Architect. Meanwhile, there is an Architect. In his role for a moment appears an artist creating virtual architecture. The scale and risk of this endeavor is deliberately high. An enthusiastically begun tower has turned into a construction frozen for lack of funds; a creation of grandiose utility risks turning into an aimless pandemonium of the crowd. And so, as a reminder of the great collapse of great ideas, the spirit of the titanic frescoes of the Renaissance inevitably accompanies the building. Considering the idea of globalization as a metaphor for biblical stories, the author uses a stylistic style that in its formal features refers to the aesthetics of the High Renaissance to build a sharp compositional structure. The body in this work merges one with the other. The body becomes at the same time a living matter, an inanimate object, a fragment, a puzzle, a detail of a mechanism that extends beyond the space of the canvas. By dissecting the aesthetics of the classical image of the body, the author thereby explores a motif that in some ways resembles the moment of Michelangelo's last sculptures from the “Slaves” series - these are spiraled bodies - somewhere unfinished - almost not carved from stone.  One can notice such a modernist gesture in them - the body both is and is not. In the same way, the body in Corpus II becomes a kind of refrain and continuation of the classical story of man, his spirit and struggle. The span of time of which we are participants and observers is a time of tectonic shifts of concepts and paradigms, like the Renaissance. Global structures absorb identities, leading to unification - of languages, images, worldviews. But can total equation be avoided? can a compromise between identity and the global emerge? can nations remain? Mixing and equation seems to be inevitable, but polyphony is always deeper and more complex. The paradox of globalization is the realization of identity. The tower cannot be completed. The general will still collapse into the particular. 

Actual Drawing Exhibition, 2014, Marble Palace, Russian Museum

Space Opera” exhibition, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Moscow, 2024

“The Tree of Life is a complex image that exists in various cultures and is one of the monumental symbols of life, the planet and all living things. Kirill Koteshov reinterprets this image in the form of a large pictorial installation, enveloping the entire space and completely absorbing our visual perception. The monumental pictorial installation, which was created in the Russian Museum for the exhibition “Actual Drawing”, really combines monumental painting, which practically turns into wall painting. The drawing is executed so qualitatively that it creates a feeling of the work of old masters, nevertheless, the theme of the Tree of Life and its realization by Kirill Koteshov remain relevant today.  In Kirill Koteshov's work, the tree is formed by the intertwined figures of people, the bodies touching and connecting with each other, creating a sense of a tree crown, a monolithic mass moving upwards and uniting all things into a single bond. The bodies are devoid of faces, gender, individual characteristics, but they are physically ideal, perfect and identical. The figures support each other, make each other bend, move, assume certain poses - but all together they form a single chain of being, a life taking shape, a mass that seems indestructible.”

Kirill Koteshov

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Artguide - Year three: the results of art fair 1703
• Artguide - Cosmoopera. Imaginary Architecture by Kirill Koteshov
• Vedomosti - Classics and contemporaries: four new exhibitions of spring
• BURO - Who's new? Participating artists worth coming to Cosmoscow 2023 for
• Playbill - What to see at the new contemporary art fair |catalog|

«A new door to art begins with a new search for the boundaries of this garden. Her vision happens approximately the way Vernadsky saw his biosphere. It is necessary to create your own language, your own method for going abroad. For example, the language of perspective: Egypt depicted landscapes in the form of diagrams and maps. The linear begins with Giotto. Rauschenbach and his followers began analyzing the prospects of individual masters. And he came to the conclusion that everyone has their own vision of space. That is, the garden opens up to everyone in their own way."

— Mikhail Krunov, artist

An artist, a representative of the generation that replaced the nonconformist sixties. Graduated from the Art and Graphic Faculty of the Pedagogical Institute in Moscow (1984). He was a student of Alexei Kamensky (1927-2014) and Yuri Zlotnikov (1930-2016). He has been exhibiting since 1979 in Russia, Europe, America, India, and China.

In the 1980s, he began working professionally with a palette of smoky gray and white shades in the genre of landscape, developing the ideas of escapism and minimalism in painting. The landscape in Krunov's vision acquires signs of generalization with horizontal hills, parks, and perspectives. At this time, the artist develops a technique of multi-layered painting and seeks to shade the boundaries of the image and paste in the structures of the strokes. From the point of view of the emotional, sensual, and content of the artist's paintings during this period, he was fascinated by the transmission of thoughtful moods and the effect of meditative practices of Indian yoga.

In the 1990s, Krunov worked, forming his sacred symbolic palette based on the scientific ideas of V.I. Vernadsky and N.V. Fedorov. He paints images of human figures and birds, this series of works was presented by the artist in the Italian city of Padua. Since 1996, Krunov has been a member of the presidium of the Russian-Indian Friendship Society, founded by the indologist and writer A.N. Senkevich. The main areas of work are the organization of artistic, literary projects and expeditions in Russia, India, and France.

The Key Exhibition (1989) The artist considers a personal project at the Biological research center in Pushchino on the Oka River, where communication with major Russian biologists influenced his creative worldview and became the beginning of a new geometric series of works, The Genetic Code. In the 2000s, Krunov's artistic method was an analog abstract painting in the classical medium of oil on canvas.

In the 2000s, the artist's conceptual doctrine was shaped by the Vedic idea of Kalpa cycles, a system of calculating time in the universe. Influenced by the practice of yoga and Eastern philosophy, the artist begins the Kalpa Cycle project, in which he paints a visualization of the cyclical movement of time. At the same time, color compositions in painting are shown as vast epochs: the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age (Kali Yuga, 432,000 years) of human existence.

From the point of view of art criticism, in 2025, the artist exists as part of the science art tradition. Close figures include Vyacheslav Koleychuk (1941-2018), Francisco Infante (1943), Alexander Pankin (1938-2020), Mikhail Chernyshov (1945). Since 2020, together with curator Alexander Korytov, he has been working to popularize the concepts of Russian cosmism, discoveries in the field of particle physics and new materials.

Russian Russian art From 2000 to 2020, Krunov has been working with Russian art in the European and Russian markets as the art director of Nadya Brykina galley in Zurich and Moscow. As a result of the gallery's work, a galaxy of important Russian nonconformist artists from the 60s and 70s became famous and collected among European collectors.

In the 2020s, Nadia Brytkina Galleries (Zurich), the Museum of Nonconformism (Moscow), the ULM Gallery (Moscow), the Prometeus Foundation (Moscow), the JART Gallery (Moscow), the a-s—t—r—a Gallery (Moscow) are working with the artist.

Since 1979, Mikhail Krunov has presented his work at Moscow, regional and foreign exhibitions (Poland, England, Turkey, Italy, Israel, India, New Zealand, Korea).

THE WORKS ARE IN INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTION:

• The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 
• Museum of Nonconformism, Moscow 
• Nadja Brykina Gallery, Zurich
• Ministry of Culture of Russia, Moscow
• Foundation of the All-Russian Directorate of Exhibitions
• The Museum of Modern Art, Moscow 
• Civico Museum (Italy)
• M. Chagall Museum (Vitebsk)
• The Sara Vinits Foundation
• Bakhrushin Theatre Museum
• Collection of George Kostaki, Greece, Thessaloniki

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS: 

• Catherine and William McDougall Collection (London, UK)
• Haner Urs (Zurich, Switzerland) 

SELECTED PERSONAL PROJECTS:

• 2025 — "The Supra—cultural Absolute or the sensual exploration of time", a-s—t—r—a Gallery, Moscow
• 2022 — "Arithmetic Combinatorics", Moscow 
• 2018-2019 — "Surface", Nadia Brykina Gallery, 2015 — at the representative office of the auction house MacDougall's "arithmetic combinatorics"
• 2008 — Personal exhibition Mikhail Krunov, Nadia Brykina Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
• 1993 — Mikhail Krunov Personal exhibition House of Scientists, Pushchino, Russia
• 1990 — Personal exhibition Izograf Gallery.
• 1991 — Solo exhibition Les Oreades Gallery

SELECTED GROUP PROJECTS:

• 2021 — "Not the slightest sign of haste", JART Gallery, curators Svetlana Kerro, Alexander Korytov, Moscow
• 2019 — "25 years in nonconformism. Exhibition in honor of the creation of the Nadia Brykina Foundation, Nadia Brykina Gallery, Moscow
• 2017-2018 — "Collection", Nadia Brykina Gallery, Moscow
• 2016 — "Formula of the form", Central House of Artists, Moscow
• 1991 — "Seventh Triennial", Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi
• 1991 — "ART MYTH 2.", Moscow International Art Fair, Central Exhibition Hall "Manege", Moscow
• 1990 — "NTR in Fine Art", House of Artists on Kuznetsky Bridge, Moscow
• 1990 — "Soviet-British Group Exhibition", Central House of Artists, Moscow
• 1990 — "The Origins. Action", exhibition on the cities of the Mediterranean, Turkey, Italy, Israel
• 1990 — Asia-Europe Biennale, Ankara
• 1990 — "Painting on Paper", Moscow, London
• 1989 — "Andreenkov, Borodin, Krunov", Padua, Italy
• 1989 — "Ecology-89", 1st International Exhibition-manifestation, Warsaw
• 1988 — All-Union Youth Exhibition, Moscow
• 1988 — "Still Life and interior", Leningrad
• 1984 — "Spring Exhibition of Moscow Artists", Moscow
• 1983 — "We are for peace. Spring Exhibition of Moscow Artists", Moscow
• 1982-1988 — 14th-18th Youth Exhibitions, Moscow

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• THE ART NEWSPAPER RUSSIA - Exhibition of Mikhail Krunov's works at MacDougall's Moscow office
• ArtAndYou — Mikhail Krunov: “There are two parallel processes in art - doing and seeing”
• MyDecor — Mikhail Krunov: “I believe in quantum reality, alchemy and magic wand”

Grigory Orekhov is an artist and sculptor, born in Moscow in the family of the outstanding Soviet sculptor, academician, People's Artist of Russia Yuri Orekhov. His work is characterized by perfection of form and metaphorical depth. One of his significant works is the sculpture "Tumbler Agatha", created in honor of the artist's daughter. Agatha's birth was an inspiring and significant event in Gregory's life, vividly reflected in this work.

Grigory Orekhov is known for his projects in the field of public art and land art.

Grigory Orekhov is a regular participant of the Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair. In 2017, he participated in the international exhibition "Start" at the Saatchi Gallery in London. 

In 2017, Grigory Orekhov installed the 4-meter-high sculpture "Agatha" at the main entrance to GUM on Red Square, and two years later it decorated the architectural ensemble of Stoleshnikov Lane, becoming the central element of Moscow's urban space.

In 2019, Grigory Orekhov became the first contemporary artist to present his work in the historical space of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve – the sculptural composition "Eternity", dedicated to the 220th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin. Also in the same year, at the 58th International Venice Biennale, he presented the site-specific installation "Salvation" in the garden and on the facade of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia.

In 2020-2021, his sculpture OVOID 7.1 was presented on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin as part of the exhibition "Carl Faberge and Fyodor Ruckert. Masterpieces of Russian Enamel" in the Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.

Grigory Orekhov also created Russia's first modern sculpture dedicated to Kazimir Malevich in the park of the same name in 2020.

In 2021, he presented a large-scale land art project "Crossroads" on the Moskva River, drawing attention to the problem of building protected areas in the Moscow region.

In 2022, Grigory Orekhov took part in the first land art project "White Forest" in K. Malevich Park with his work "Nowhere", a 250-meter red carpet laid out in a snow-white forest along linden alley.

In 2023, he created a unique sculpture “Talmud” in the middle of Lake Senezh among thickets of reeds as part of the state program for landscaping the territories of the Moscow region.

He actively participates in solo and group exhibitions. His works are in the collections of the Russian Museum, MAMM and in private collections. In addition, Grigory Orekhov holds the post of General Director of the Sculptor Foundation of the Russian Academy of Arts and is a member of the Moscow Union of Artists.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

• 2024 — Dream Shuttle, Toile Blanche Contemporary, Saint-Paul-de-Vence
• 2024 — Echo, Land Art project in Malevich Park, Moscow Region
• 2023 — Red Vertical 2022, a land art project in the Moscow region
• 2021 — Crossroads, a land art project on the Moskva River, Moscow Region
• 2020 — Harvest, Land art project, Moscow region
• 2019 — Eternity, Peterhof State Museum, Saint Petersburg
• 2019 — Major Tom, installation at the Skolkovo Golf Club, Moscow
• 2019 — Salvation, Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice, Italy
• 2018 — Undoubtedly, the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
• 2017 — Agatha, GUM, Red Square, Moscow

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

• 2024 — Group exhibition, Gallery in the East, Compiegne, France
• 2022 — White Forest, Malevich Park, Moscow region
• 2022 — New exhibition "90th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists", Moscow
• 2022 — Created in Moscow, Jart Gallery, Moscow
• 2021 — A shadow of the soul, but a little sharper, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
• 2021 — Through and Through the Looking Glass, Museum of the 20th and 21st Centuries, St. Petersburg
• 2020 — Another reality, Gallery "O", Moscow
• 2020 — Exhibition of works by the nominees of the First Moscow Art Prize, Zaryadye, Moscow
• 2020 — Ovoid 7.1, for the exhibition of CARL FABERGE and FYODOR RÜCKERT at the Kremlin Museums, Moscow
• 2020 — Artists and Collectors at the Russian Museum, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2019 — Personal Structures-Identities, Palazzo Mora, Venice
• 2018 — Breakthrough, Ekaterina Foundation, Moscow
• 2018 — Lilac Ladies, O Gallery, Moscow
• 2018 — KANON, O Gallery, Moscow
• 2018 — RGB, O Gallery, Moscow
• 2017 — Start, Saatchi Gallery, London
• 2017 — Reflexion, O Gallery, Moscow

SELECTED FAIRS:

• 2025 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Cosmoscow, Timiryazev Center, Moscow
• 2024 — BAD, Bordeaux Art+Design, Bordeaux
• 2023 — Art Moscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2022 — Art Moscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2022 — Cosmoscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2021 — Cosmoscow, Manege, Moscow
• 2020 — Cosmoscow, Manege, Moscow
• 2019 — Cosmoscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2018 — Cosmoscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2017 — Cosmoscow, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow

AWARDS:

• 2024 — Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts

Sergey Sonin

Born in Smolensk in 1968. Artist, director, screenwriter, producer. Studied at Semyon Aranovich's workshop for film directing at St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television 

Elena Samorodova

Born in Moscow in 1973. Architect, production designer and photographer. Studied at Moscow Art School №1. Graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute, Experimental Design Group in 1998.

Sergey Sonin and Elena Samorodova (Partnership "Lead and Cobalt") are multimedia artists, working in two capitals: Moscow and St. Petersburg, founders of several art associations. Their works are in the collection of the Museum of Moscow, Krasnoyarsk Museum Center "Peace Square", Multimedia Art Museum and in private collections.

For the last decade and a half, the artists have been continuously experimenting, playing with imaginary reconstructions of the world's cultural and historical present, past and future in their works, filling them with new content. In their mystifications they also refer to time, shortening or prolonging its course, establishing “their” author's perceptions and frameworks.

SELECTED PROJECTS:

• 2024 — “Utopia and Uchronia”, personal project, MMOMA Museum, Gogolevsky b-р. 10/2 , Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2024 — KONTUR Graphics Fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
• 2024 — 1st GRAUND Biennale “Textile in Contemporary Art”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, GRAUND Solyanka, Moscow
• 2023 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg
• 2023 — “Utopia and Uchronia. The Dream of a Landowner of the Middle Strip”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2022 — "Northern Arcadia", solo exhibition, City Sculpture Museum, St. Petersburg.
• 2022 — "Utopia and Uchronia", solo exhibition, Navicula Artis Gallery, St. Petersburg.
• 2019 — "Procession" video premiere, Karo-art, Oktyabr cinema, Moscow
• 2018 — "Razvilka. Personal exhibition, Krokin Gallery, Moscow
• 2016 — "Trapper's Fragment. Russian Stereo". Solo exhibition, Krokin Gallery, Moscow
• 2015 — "Russian Realism XXI century", Museum of Modern History of Russia, Moscow.
• 2015 — "Now&After" video festival.  Film "Egyptian flock".
• 2015 — "Kvadratura", - "Strategic Heritage", Tenishev ECC, Smolensk
• 2015 — auction PIASA. Russian & soviet photographs. "Gogol. Rome. From the Third to the First", Paris
• 2015 — "Enrichment of Reality", - "Strategic Heritage", A3 Gallery, Moscow
• 2015 — "Victory as a new epic", - "Strategic Heritage", Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, Moscow
• 2014 — "Gogol. Rome. From the Third to the First", Museum of Moscow. Personal exhibition
• 2013 — "Egyptian flock", Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, personal exhibition, Krasnoyarsk
• 2013 — "Shelter for Sniper", Transatlantic Gallery, Moscow, Parallel program of the 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Solo exhibition
• 2013 — "Strategic Heritage", Polytechnic Museum, Moscow. Solo exhibition
• 2012 — "Hot Cold. Loft Floors, St. Petersburg
• 2012 — "Egyptian Pack. Part 1", gallery POBEDA, Moscow. Solo exhibition
• 2010 — "Divine Wind", Marble Palace, St. Petersburg
• 2009 — Exhibition "Divine Wind", Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
• 2007 — "Generals of the 70s", Yakut Gallery, Moscow
• 2005 — "Generals of the 70s", Festival "Fashion and Style in Photography", Moscow

“The universe of Elena Samorodova and Sergey Sonin is a “Russian invisible Empire”, either a post-apocalyptic world or a parallel reality, fixed in aesthetically perfect video frescoes and artifacts, such as, for example, stove tiles, which make us believe that all this happened in reality. The ordinary viewer risks getting lost in these quantum movements and, waving his hand, giving himself over to emotional and aesthetic experiences, but now we have the opportunity to talk to the authors and untangle this tangle of meanings.”

Quoted from the article “Elena Samorodova, Sergey Sonin: Over the Russian Void, through Russian Zen”

The project "Utopia and Uchronia. Dream of a Landowner of the Middle Strip"  was represented by a—s—t—r—a gallery in 2023.

“The exhibition-installation, to be more precise-a visionary interdisciplinary performance of 'Utopia and Uchronia. The dream of a middle-class landowner” is one of the variants of the embodiment of the large project of the Partnership ‘Lead and Cobalt’. It is dedicated to the Indian campaign (the turn of the 18th-19th centuries) of Emperor Paul I and Napoleon Bonaparte (then First Consul of France, and soon, in 1804, crowned Emperor of all Frenchmen).  This campaign and alliance of the two emperors almost failed to materialize in 1801. Only the assassination of Paul (in our usual linear history) stopped the advance of Russian troops towards India and put an end to the Russian-French rapprochement aimed at destroying the British dominance in the world economy and politics of the 18th-19th centuries. In the space of the project “Preparing for the Indian Campaign” the fate of the sovereign Paul the First was quite different, and the villainous conspiracy suffered a complete fiasco.”

Ivan Chechot

Exhibition “Utopia and Uchronia. Dream of a Landowner of the Middle Strip”, 2023, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Artguide - Year Three: the results of the 1703 art fair
• Forbes - Results of St. Petersburg art fair “1703”
• Snob - “Art owes no one anything”. A conversation between gallery owner Alina Kryukova and art historian Ivan Chechot
• BURO - New exhibitions in “HES-2”, MMOMA, “Zotov”: where to go and what to see in museums in May
• ART Knot - “I want to escape from the leveling and simplified monotony of the modern world's offerings”