Anatoly Osmolovsky has earned the right to be called the ‘leading political artist in Russia’. In the course of the last two decades he has become known as a figure that has, on multiple occasions, been responsible for redirecting the trajectory of Russian contemporary art. He was one of the founders and leading figures of ‘Moscow Actionism’ in the 90s, and at the turn of the century he was responsible for the emergence of ‘Non-Spectacular’ art in Russia, even if several years later he then declared a return to the ‘creation of art’ and the exploration of its formal foundations and fundamental structures. The logic of this evolution is closely linked to the artist’s political orientations. He currently plays an important role as a social activist and as the creator of the ‘Baza’ Institute of Contemporary Art, as a curator and theorist, as a publisher and producer, and through these roles he has been responsible for the development of new, genuinely contemporary, artistic forms.
Anatoly Osmolovsky was born in Moscow in 1969. At the turn of the 1980s to 90s he underwent a shift in focus from the composition of poetry and research into the theory of cinematography and figurative art to performance, gaining almost immediate recognition on the Moscow arts scene. He took a major role in the activities of the group ‘Ministry PRO USSR’ (1987-1990), the movement ‘E.A.T’ (Expropriation of Art Territories) (1989-1992) and the ‘Nezesudik: Revolutionary Competitive Program’ (1992-94). He also contributed to the creation of the ‘Radek’ group, and remains the chief editor of the publication which shares its name. In 1998 he organised the ‘Non-Governmental Control Commission’ group and the movement ‘Vote against everyone! Now.’ He participated in the 4th Istanbul Bienniale (1992), Aperto’93 (45th Venice Bienniale), 25th Sao Paulo Bienniale (2002), Documenta XII (2007), Parallel Convergences (2013, 55th Venice Bienniale) and many other international exhibitions and forums. He received Kunstlerhaus Bethanien scholarship (1995), and was awarded the Kandinsky Prize as the “Artist of the Year” (2007). His works are held in many prestigious museum and private collections.
Osmolovsky lives and works in Moscow
2018 Soft Edge. In collaboration with Alexander Golynsky. Vadim Sidur Museum. Moscow
2015 Avant-garde Stationary. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2014-2015 Dis-memberment. Triumph gallery. Moscow
2013-2012 Cadavre Exquis and Dodici Suicide. Thomas Brambilla Gallery. Bergamo. Italy
2013 Parallel Convergences. In collaboration with Pawel Althamer. Casa dei Tre Oci. Parallel Program of the Venice Biennale. Venice. Italy
2008-2009 Adoration. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2008 New Works. M.Guelman Gallery. Moscow
2006 Nathalie Sarrante Golden Fruit. Contemporary City Foundation. Moscow
2006 Elen’s Shoulders (with Victor Alimpiev). Stella Art Gallery. Moscow
2006 Hardware. Stella Art Gallery. Moscow
2004 Workshop Art Moscow. Central House of Artist. Moscow
2004 The Way Political Positions Turn into Form. Stella Art Gallery. Moscow
2004 Russian Pop-art. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2003 Seven Deaths in Moscow. XL Gallery. Moscow
2001 Inposition. Workshop Art Moscow. Central House of Artist. Moscow
1999 Sheets. XL gallery. Moscow
1997 Order for the Army of Arts. XL Gallery. Moscow
1996 Situative Action fur PDS. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. Berlin
1996 My Bloody Love. XL Gallery. Moscow
1996 Something falling off the Trash can from time to time. XL Gallery. Moscow
1996 Chechen shashlik. M. Guelman Gallery. Moscow
1994 My Way. Marat Guelman Gallery. Moscow
1992 Leopards are Burstling Into the Temple… Regina Gallery. Moscow
1991 The Day of Knowledge (E.T.A Movement with Konstantin Zvezdochetov). Regina Gallery. Moscow
2020 Gift of Marat Guelman. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2019 Poorest Class: Animals. CCA Winzavod. Moscow
2019 Here and Now. An Atlas of Moscow Art Studios. Manege Exhibition Hall. Moscow
2019 Infographic. Cube. Moscow
2018-2019 Radical Fluidity: Grotesque in Art. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2018 Monumental. The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation. Moscow
2018 8th Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art. Central Exhibition Hall of Uzbek Academy of Art. Tashkent. Uzbekistan
2018 General Rehearsal. Moscow Museum of Modern Art
2018 Art of 2000s. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2018 Against Everyone. Anatoly Osmolovsky & VLADEY. Vladey Space. Moscow
2017 Hurrah! Sculpture! The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2017 Shiryaev Biennale. Middle Russian Zen. NCCA. Moscow
2018-2017 Against Everyone. Vladey Space. Moscow
2017 Right for the Future. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2017 Triennale of contemporary Russian Art. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2016-2017 The Modern Art: 1960-2000. Restart. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2016 My Universities. Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM. Perm
2016 Art Situation in PERMM Museum. Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM. Perm
2016 Contemporary Russian Artists– participants of the Venice Biennale. Selected works. Manege Exhibition Hall. St. Petersburg
2015-2016 Hurrah! Sculpture! CCA Winzavod. Moscow
2015 TERRAPOLIS. French School at Athens. Athens. Greece
2015 90s. Yeltsin Center. Yekaterinburg
2015 Grammar of Freedom/ Five Lessons. Works from Arteast 2000+ collection. Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova. Ljubljana. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2015 Sculptures that we cannot see. Soviet Nonconformism and Contemporary Artistic Practices. Manege Exhibition Hall. Moscow
2014 do it Moscow. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2014 Post Pop: East Meets West. Saatchi Gallery. London. UK
2014 Collection of V-A-С Foundation. Whitechapel Gallery. London. UK
2014 Upstairs. The State Museum of Moscow. Moscow
2014 Reconstruction. Part II. The Ekaterina cultural Foundation. Moscow
2013 ICONS. Tkachi creative space. St. Petersburg
2013 Too big or not too big. Thomas Brambilla Gallery. Bergamo. Italy
2013 Eleven Suitcases for the Journey. Stella Art Foundation. Moscow
2013 Reconstruction. Part I. The Ekaterina cultural Foundation. Moscow
2012 Blind Hole. Thomas Brambilla Gallery. Bergamo. Italy
2012 ICONS. Krasnodar Exhibition Hall of Fine Arts. Krasnodar
2012 ICONS. Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM. Perm
2012 The Way of Enthusiasts. V-A-C Foundation. Moscow
2012 Turbulenze. Museo Pecci. Milan. Italy
2012 Apocalypses and Renaissance in Chocolate House. Chocolate House. Kiev. Ukraine
2012 Exhibition-performance ”90-е: victory and defeat”. Theatre of Nations. Moscow
2011-2012 Motherland. Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM. Perm
2011 33 Fragments of Russian Performance. PERFORMA. Moscow
2011 Ostalgia. New museum. New York. USA
2011 Materia prima. Russkoe bednoe. L’arte povera in Russia. Galeria Pack. Milan. Italy
2011 Hostages of Emptiness. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2011 Line. Contemporary Art from Mikhail Alshibaya’s Collection. RGGU Museum Center. Moscow
2011 New Sculpture: Chaos and Structure. New Museum. St. Petersburg
2010-2011 Europe at Large — Art from the Former USSR. Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu. Torun. Poland
2010 Always Other Art. Victor Bondarenko Collection. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
2010 Unbearable Creative Freedom. VDNKH. Moscow
2010 AfterTrouble. Krasnoyarsk Museum Center “Ploshad Mira”. Krasnoyarsk
2010 History Lesson. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2009-2010 Doors open Day: a mansion — a gymnasium — a clinic — a museum. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
2009 Modernikon. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Turin. Italy
2009 Really? Artplay. Moscow
2009 That Obscure Object of Art. Ca’ Rezzonico. Venice. Italy
2009 Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art: Against Exclusion. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2009 Future Depends on You. New Rules. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow 2009 Apartment Exhibition. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Moscow
2009 Rebellion Mausoleum. Stella Art Foundation. Moscow
2009 New Sculpture: Chaos and Structure. “Na Solyanke” gallery. Moscow
2009 Oleg Kulik. Spatial Liturgy № 3. TSUM Art Foundation. Moscow
2009 Russian Povera. Red October. Moscow
2009 Artist-run Art Fair Universam. “Izvestia”. Moscow
2008-2009 Russian Povera. Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM. Perm
2008 Dieses obskure Objekt der Kunst: Russische Gegenwartskunst 1975-2007. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna. Austria
2008 Future Depends on You. New Rules. The V.K. Arseniev Primorsky State Associated Museum. Vladivostok; Krasnoyarsk museum center. Krasnoyarsk; Far-Eastern Museum of Fine arts. Khabarovsk
2008 MOSCOW! Contemporary art from Russia. Galerie Volker Diehl. Berlin. Germany
2008 Politics on the Streets! CCI Fabrica. Moscow
2007-2008 Sots art. Art politique en Russie de 1972 a aujourd’hui. La maison rouge. Paris. France
2007 I Believe! CCA Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre
2007 History of Russian Videoart – Volume I. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow 2007 Urban Formalism. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
2007 Thinking realism. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2007 On Geekdom. Benaki Museum. Athens
2007 Progressive Nostalgia. Centro per l’arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci. Prato. Italy
2007 Documenta XII. Kassel. Germany
2007 Who’s got the Big Picture? MuHKA. Antwerp. Belgium
2006 Russia! Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Bilbao. Spain
2006 Modus R: Russian Formalism Today. Newton Building. Miami. USA
2005 Accomplices. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2005 Hope-Stop! Zverev Сenter of Contemporary art. Moscow
2005 Love: between Europe and Asia. IV biennale of contemporary art in Shiryaevo. Shiryaevo. Samara region
2005 Russian Pop-art. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2005 Angels of History. MuHKA. Antwerp. Belgium
2005 Contested spaces in Post-Soviet Art: Russia Redux #2. Sidney Mishkin Gallery. New York. USA
2004 Berlin-Moscau/Moscau-Berlin 1950-2000. State Historical Museum. Moscow
2004 Za Czerwonym Horyzontem. Zamek Ujazdowski. Warsaw. Poland
2003 Utopia Station. La 50 Biennale di Venezia. Venice. Italy
2003 Berlin-Moscau/Moscau-Berlin 1950-2000. Martin-Gropius-Bau. Berlin. Germany
2002 25 Bienal de Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo
2002 Horizons of Reality. Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst. Antwerpen. Belgium
1996 Steirische Herbst. Graz. Austria
1995 No Man’s Land. Nikolaj Contemporary Art Centre. Copenhagen
1995 Conjugations: Moscow Art Scene Today. Kraftmessen. Kunstlerwerkstatten. Munich. Germany
1995 Caravanserai of Contemporary Art. Assozione culturale Arte Nova. Pescara. Italy
1994 Identity and Selfhood. Museum of Contemporary Art. Helsinki
1994 Fluchtpunkt Moskau. Ludwig Forum. Aahen. Germany
1994 Exchange II/Datsja. Almere. Flevopolder. Netherlands
1993 Trio acoustico: Dmitry Gutov, Yury Leiderman, Anatoly Osmolovsky. Centre pour la Creation Contemporaine. Tours. France
1993 Aperto’93. La 45 Biennale di Venezia. Venice. Italy
1993 Labour and Capital. Central House of Artist. Moscow
1993 Exchange. Moscow
1992 Multiplicity Culture. Itinerari dell arte in un mondo che cambia. Museo del Folklore. Rome
1992 4th International Biennale. Istanbul. Turkey
1992 Territoria Italiano. Magazine “Documentario 2”. Milan. Italy
1992 Liasons Dangereaux. Centre of Contemporary Art. Moscow
1999 Against Everyone. Lenin’s Mausoleum. Red Square. Moscow
1998 Barricade. Gertsen street. Moscow
1996 Tsereteli’s Witnesses. Peter the Great Monument. Moscow
1993 Travel to the Brobdingneg Land (Mayakovsky/Osmolovsky). Mayakovsky Square. Moscow
1991 Series of street performances-provocations (with E.A.T. Movement). Moscow
1989 Terrorism and Text. Theoretical seminar. Moscow State University. Moscow
Museum of Contemporary Art. Antwerp. Belgium
Ludwig Forum. Aachen. Germany
Krings-Ernst Galerie. Cologne. Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova. Ljubljana. Slovenia
The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
The State Historical, Architectural, Art and Landscape Museum-Reserve Tsaritsyno, Moscow
The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation. Moscow
ART4.RU. Contemporary Art Museum. Moscow
New Museum n.a. Aslan Chekhoev. St. Petersburg
