Michael Chernishov

Composition, 1980’s
Tempera and oil pastel
on paper mounted to canvas

96.5 х 142 cm

The Russian and American artist, who many art critics consider one of the most important figures on the Soviet art scene in the second half of the 20th century, simultaneously worked in the directions of pop art and geometric abstraction and was one of the pioneers of performance art in the USSR, is Michael Chernishov.
Chernishov's style and primary interests began to take shape in the late 1950s, distinct from other artists, groups, and schools. He consciously started pursuing art at the age of 15 after seeing the works of abstract expressionists at the American National Exhibition in Sokolniki in 1959.
In the 1960s, he was friends with artists Mikhail Roginsky and Vladimir Yakovlev. In 1962, Chernishov had his first apartment exhibition titled "Red Truck," which took place in the Mnevniki district of Moscow at Mikhail Roginsky's residence. Two years later, Roginsky and Chernishov organized a joint exhibition at the "Disk" cinema in Moscow.
In the early 1960s, Chernishov studied at the Zagorsk Art and Industrial Technical School for Toys, and later he enrolled in the Department of Art History at the Historical Faculty of Moscow State University. However, after two years, during the study of Byzantine art, he lost interest and was dismissed.
In 1974, he participated in the "Second Autumn Review of Paintings" in Izmaylovsky Park in Moscow, known as the Izmailovo Exhibition. In 1975, he conducted the happening "30th Anniversary of the United Nations" with a group of artists in Moscow, and in 1976, he collaborated with Boris Bech on the happening "Doubling I" in Vorontsov Park (Moscow). Two years later, in 1978, Michael Chernishov, Boris Bech, Konstantin Zvezdochotov, Vitaly Dlugy, and A. Vlamov organized the happening "Doubling II."
In 1978, a retrospective of his works from 1961 to 1978 was held at the Moscow Graphic Artists' Union (Gorkom of Graphic Artists). In 1980, he emigrated from the USSR. In 1987, he wrote a memoir, "Moscow 1961-67," about the early years of his artistic career. He currently lives and works in New York.

Michael Chernishov's works can be found in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), the Zimmerli Museum (New Jersey, USA), and other museums.

Tatiana Andreeva
Structure, 1974
From the ‘Fire’ series
Gouache on paper

89 x 65 cm

A mathematician and artist renowned for her experimental projects involving optical patterns.

Born in Moscow, she is the daughter of a renowned textile designer and leading artist at the "Krasnaya Roza" factory named after Rosa Luxemburg. She studied theoretical and mathematical physics at the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University. In 1970–1971, she worked at Grisha Bruskin’s studio. In 1975, she graduated from the Textile Institute and was assigned to the Applied Arts Combine.

She received a medal for the "Gradient" collection at the Tallinn Fashion Days and a medal for the "Wave" collection at the Riga Fashion Days. Key projects include "Squares," "Insects," "Gradient," "Gorodets," "Hello!," "Union-Apollo," "Wave," "Electrification" (in collaboration with Anna Andreeva), and "Four Rooms of Total Design" for the Central House of Tourism. Recent exhibitions include: "Art from the USSR" (Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin, 1998), "Fabrics of Moscow" (Moscow Museum, 2019), "The Future Laboratory: Kinetic Art in Russia" (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2020), "Everyday Soviet" (Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, 2020), "History of Russian Design: The Highlights" (Museum of Design, Moscow, 2021), and "Building Socialist Spaces" (Museum of Decorative Arts, Berlin, 2022), "Square and Space. From Malevich to GES-2" (GES-2, Moscow, 2024).

Tatiana Andreeva

Januaries Come to Meet Decembers, 1974
From the ‘Fire’ series
Gouache on paper

88 x 50 cm

A mathematician and artist renowned for her experimental projects involving optical patterns.

Born in Moscow, she is the daughter of a renowned textile designer and leading artist at the "Krasnaya Roza" factory named after Rosa Luxemburg. She studied theoretical and mathematical physics at the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University. In 1970–1971, she worked at Grisha Bruskin’s studio. In 1975, she graduated from the Textile Institute and was assigned to the Applied Arts Combine.

She received a medal for the "Gradient" collection at the Tallinn Fashion Days and a medal for the "Wave" collection at the Riga Fashion Days. Key projects include "Squares," "Insects," "Gradient," "Gorodets," "Hello!," "Union-Apollo," "Wave," "Electrification" (in collaboration with Anna Andreeva), and "Four Rooms of Total Design" for the Central House of Tourism. Recent exhibitions include: "Art from the USSR" (Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin, 1998), "Fabrics of Moscow" (Moscow Museum, 2019), "The Future Laboratory: Kinetic Art in Russia" (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2020), "Everyday Soviet" (Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, 2020), "History of Russian Design: The Highlights" (Museum of Design, Moscow, 2021), and "Building Socialist Spaces" (Museum of Decorative Arts, Berlin, 2022), "Square and Space. From Malevich to GES-2" (GES-2, Moscow, 2024).
He lives and works in Moscow and Frankfurt.

Igor Skaletsky

Builders, 2024

Oil and oil pastel on canvas

199 × 106 cm

Igor Skaletsky’s creative career can be roughly divided into two periods. During the first ten years after graduating from the Surikov Institute, the artist developed methods of analog and digital collage, creating intriguing puzzle-like dioramas. These works are featured in one section of the exhibition. In these pieces, various artistic elements are boldly combined into absurd, illogical compositions that “tear apart the proper order of spatial connections.”

Since 2019, Skaletsky has moved away from post-digital practice and turned to painting, which has become large-scale since 2021. He populates his grotesque, richly colored canvases with paradoxical anthropomorphic phantasms that stir the imagination.

Skaletsky’s viscous surrealism is a layering of personal memories, landscapes floating in the depths of memory, and echoes of literary and cinematic sources. These elements spontaneously project onto the canvas, embracing the energy of chance — a factor of great importance to the artist, which he strives to preserve.
Skaletsky works spontaneously and intuitively, often following the material and the paint: “an unplanned brushstroke leads to other worlds.” On one hand, this approach aligns him with the surrealist tradition of automatic writing, aimed at capturing drifting images from the subconscious. At the same time, the mystical or even spiritual aspect of this process plays a significant role for Skaletsky. The artist rarely explains the meaning of his works, believing they should speak for themselves. What matters most to him is the emotional imprint, so that the coloristic solutions are perceived at first impact. The narrative content, however, is left open to interpretation.

“If someone needs a key, if a painting takes them out of their comfort zone and understanding — then I’ve done everything right.”

Lev Povzner

Love, 2003
From the ‘Hidden Faces’ series
Oil on canvas

35.5 x 28.5 cm

Lev Povzner is a Russian artist, painter, and poet. He was born in 1939 in Moscow. Since childhood, he has been passionate about drawing and attended an art studio, later continuing his education at the Moscow City Art School. He dreamed of becoming a book illustrator, which would allow him to combine his two main passions: literature and drawing. After finishing school, he served in the army. From 1962 to 1968, he studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute in the art and graphics faculty while simultaneously working on contracts for publishing houses.

After graduating, he got a job as an artist at the "Sanprosvet" publishing house, which specialized in materials for polyclinics. For many years, up until Perestroika, he was involved in teaching—giving lessons to children and adults both privately and in art schools and cultural centers.

Lev Povzner's development as an artist traces back to the mid-1960s when he became part of Moscow's artistic underground. As a child, he met Alexander Vasiliev, a future bookseller, art dealer, and collector of unofficial art, who later introduced him to Vladimir Yakovlev and Vladimir Pyatnitsky.

Lev Povzner

March 8, 2000
From the ‘Hidden Faces’ series
Oil on canvas

203 х 307 cm

Lev Povzner is a Russian artist, painter, and poet. He was born in 1939 in Moscow. Since childhood, he has been passionate about drawing and attended an art studio, later continuing his education at the Moscow City Art School. He dreamed of becoming a book illustrator, which would allow him to combine his two main passions: literature and drawing. After finishing school, he served in the army. From 1962 to 1968, he studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute in the art and graphics faculty while simultaneously working on contracts for publishing houses.

After graduating, he got a job as an artist at the "Sanprosvet" publishing house, which specialized in materials for polyclinics. For many years, up until Perestroika, he was involved in teaching—giving lessons to children and adults both privately and in art schools and cultural centers.

Lev Povzner's development as an artist traces back to the mid-1960s when he became part of Moscow's artistic underground. As a child, he met Alexander Vasiliev, a future bookseller, art dealer, and collector of unofficial art, who later introduced him to Vladimir Yakovlev and Vladimir Pyatnitsky.

Natalia Turnova
Untitled, 2024
Oil on canvas

190 x 160 cm

Natalia Turnova is an artist and sculptor who holds a special place in contemporary Russian art.
After graduating from the Moscow Higher Art and Industrial School (formerly Stroganov School) in 1983, she met Boris Orlov, an artist who recognized the affinity of her art with the unofficial art scene, which largely determined her future path. Since the 1990s, Natalia Turnova has become one of the most sought-after artists. By this time, she had developed her own recognizable style: an expressionist manner, bright colors, large format, and precise form.
Turnova has always been true to her intuition, not seeking to belong to any particular art movements or groups, and as a result, she became an original artist and philosopher for whom creativity is what grows out of life. This is why any statement she makes, born out of long contemplation and numerous "trial and error" experiences, is a declaration of existence, of essence, made by a subtle observer and researcher.

Natalia Turnova's works can be found in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Far Eastern Art Museum, the Oklahoma Museum (USA), the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz (Poland), and others.

Natasha Habarova
Untitled, 2024
Acrylic and watercolor on paper
120 × 84 cm


Born in Latvia, Natasha Habarova currently lives and works in St. Petersburg. She is often associated with the representatives of the new generation of St. Petersburg painters. She studied monumental painting at the Novosibirsk State Academy of Architecture and Fine Arts. Since 2013, she has regularly exhibited her work in independent venues and galleries in St. Petersburg. She is also a participant in the performances of the "School of Active Painting and Performative Posing" of the "Sever-7" group. Since 2020, she has been a member of the Russian Artists' Union.
In Habarova's style, neo-expressionism prevails, inheriting the expressionist lineage of St. Petersburg art. She often uses damaged canvases, embracing various defects, abrasions, and holes as attributes of her works. In her art, the artist tells a very personal story of urban bodily solitude, fragility, and vulnerability. She finds inspiration in form, individual characteristics, and small details, which is why each of her works becomes a statement. As the artist herself says: "The body is a collection of receptors, fleshly power, pleasure, and satisfaction. The body is God." Habarova paints exclusively from life, increasingly abstracting from the representation of the figure in favor of its sensual and intimate image. Critic Mikhail Borisov characterized her art as follows: "Natasha Habarova elegantly steps from the figurative into abstraction and metaphysics."

Tim Parchikov

Moscow. White Mountain, 2007

From the ‘Suspense’ project

C-print mounted to plexiglass, wooden frame

110 x 165 cm

The laureate of the Kandinsky Prize and the Moscow Art Prize, Tim Parchikov (born 1983), is one of the few Russian artists long represented by European and Asian galleries.
Parchikov works with photography. His works stand out due to the influence of his education in the cinematography department at VGIK, cinematic elements, and a cinephile aesthetic. Tim Parchikov's solo exhibitions have been held in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Cologne, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.
He participated in the Venice Biennale (2011), the Thessaloniki Photo Biennale (2014), and the Lianzhou Photo Festival (2016). His works are regularly exhibited at prestigious art fairs such as Art Basel, Frieze, and ARCO.

Tim Parchikov

Toscany, 2008
From the ‘Suspense’ project
C-print mounted to plexiglass, wooden frame

120 x 180 cm

The laureate of the Kandinsky Prize and the Moscow Art Prize, Tim Parchikov (born 1983), is one of the few Russian artists long represented by European and Asian galleries.
Parchikov works with photography. His works stand out due to the influence of his education in the cinematography department at VGIK, cinematic elements, and a cinephile aesthetic. Tim Parchikov's solo exhibitions have been held in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Cologne, St. Petersburg, and Moscow.
He participated in the Venice Biennale (2011), the Thessaloniki Photo Biennale (2014), and the Lianzhou Photo Festival (2016). His works are regularly exhibited at prestigious art fairs such as Art Basel, Frieze, and ARCO.