Arkady Petrov is one of the most famous artists of the “seventies” generation, in whose work both the unique personality and typical features of the art of this time were reflected. The main motive of Petrov’s art is the life and culture of the Soviet province of the mid-twentieth century. More broadly, the life of the “simple Soviet man” as a special case of the “little man”, one of the traditions that determine Russian culture. The artist reinterprets the stereotypes of Soviet society, looking at them through the prism of kitsch, and images of Russian mass culture – from painted postcards to portraits of Alla Pugacheva, a famous Russian singer. Petrov transformed the impersonal aesthetics of kitsch into a gallery of human types, naive and epic at the same time, depicting a unique slice of the era.
Arkady Petrov was born in 1940 in the village of Mine Komsomolets under Gorlovka in the Donbass (at that time Stalinist) area. After spending his childhood years in a distant mining province, in 1957 he moved to Moscow. He graduated from the Art Institute named after Surikov. In Soviet times his works were mostly banned. By the mid-1980s, a paradoxical situation had developed: Petrov was perceived as one of the key creators of the generation, despite the fact that his only personal exhibition in Soviet times was hardly allowed by the authorities. He became famous at the turn of the 1980s – 1990s: he creates large-format paintings, takes part in significant international exhibitions. Petrov’s personal retrospective exhibitions with the participation of pop/off/art gallery were held at the State Russian Museum and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. His works are in the collections of the State Russian Museum, the MMOMA, the Ludwig Museum (Cologne, Germany) and the Foundation of Modern Art Ludwig (Aachen, Germany), the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea) as well as many other museums and private collections worldwide. He lives and works in Moscow.
2019 – 2020 The Country is on Holiday. DiDi Gallery. Санкт-Петербург
2018 There is no happiness without love. Art Story. Москва
2016 Selected works. 1970-80. DiDi Gallery. St. Petersburg
2014 Erotic square. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2012 White Kitsch. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2011 Cycles. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
2009 Aniline Mats. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2008 Beauty with a Star: The Soviet Mythology of Arkady Petrov, Krasnoyask Museum Centre “Ploshad Mira”. Krasnoyarsk
2008 Paradise with the Kremlin. The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg
2007 Made in Matyushino. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2006 Ten packs. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2002 Biblical verses. Sol gallery. Moscow
2001 Regina gallery. Petrovsky passage. Moscow
1995 Arkady Petrov. Bodenschatz gallery. Basel. Switzerland (with N. Tolstaya)
1995 Arkady Petrov. Central House of Artist. Moscow
1993 The dance ground. Central House of Artist. Moscow
1991 Barrack. House of Cinema. Moscow
1988 Arkady Petrov. Culture House of Moscow Electric Lamp Factory. Moscow
1984 Exhibition hall on Vavilova st. Moscow
2020 Zenith of Underground. DiDi Gallery. St. Petersburg
2019 Second Avant-Gardes. DiDi Gallery. St. Petersburg
2019 Journey through Dreams. ARTSTORY gallery. Moscow
2018-2019 Radical Fluidity: Grotesque in Art. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2018 Autumn salesVladey 2018. Pre-auction exhibition. CCA Winzavod. Moscow
2018 Watch out for children! The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2017 Art from Private Collections. Artists from 60s. DiDi Gallery. Санкт-Петербург
2017 Right for the Future. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2017 Naïve … No Historical and Stylistic Parallels Between Naïve Art and Primitivism of the 20th and 21st centuries. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow
2017 Amazons through the ages. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2016 – 2017 From Star to Water. The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th–21st centuries). St. Petersburg
2016 Kollektsia! Soviet and Russian Contemporary Art from 1950-2000 in the Collection of the Centre Pompidou. Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris. France
2014 Decoration of the beautiful. Elitism and kitsch in contemporary art, “Zarya” Center for contemporary art, Vladivostok, Russia
2013 Decoration of the beautiful. Elitism and kitsch in contemporary art, The Kramskoy Museum of Fine Arts, Voronezh; 16thLINE gallery, Rostov-on-Don; NCCA, Vladikavkaz
2013 Art Paris Art Fair, Paris
2012 Decoration of the beautiful. Elitism and kitsch in contemporary art, State Tretyakov Gallery
2012 XXth century: Selected works from the collection of Moscow Museum of Modern Art, MMOMA, Moscow
2007 MacDougall’s auctions, London, Great Britain (catalogue)
2007 Sotheby’s auctions, London, Great Britain (catalogue)
2007 Art Moscow. 11 International art fair, pop/off/art gallery, project «Contemporary Russian Art in the Alexander Smuzikov Collection», Central House of Artist, Moscow (catalogue)
2006 – 2007 Alleys of culture, grass-plots of rest. Gardens and parks in Russian art of the XX century. Kovcheg gallery. Moscow
2006 Time of Change. Art in 1960 – 1985 in Soviet Union. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
2006 Art Moscow. 10 International art fair, pop/off/art gallery, Central House of Artist, Moscow (catalogue)
2006 Sotheby’s auctions. New York. USA
2006 Picture of the new century. Moscow painting of 2000s. Belgorod State Art museum. Belgorod
2005 – 2006 Sixth. Horoscope for 2006 in pictures. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2005 – 2006 Collage in Russia. XX century. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
2005 Classics and Contemporaries. pop/off/art gallery. Moscow
2004 Art Manezh. Exhibition hall CSKA. Moscow
2004 Art Moscow. 8 International art fair, «Sam Brook» gallery. Central House of Artist. Moscow
2003 Moscow international salon «CHA-2003». project Humane, too humane. Central House of Artist. Moscow
2002 Twosome. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
2001 Portrait in Russia. XX century. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
2000 Worker’s Movement. Sol gallery. Moscow
1999 Idea of USSR museum. Academic Sakharov Museum and Centre. Moscow
1999 Heroes. Exhibition Hall New Manege. Moscow
1998 Gifts and Acquisitions. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
1997 World of Sensual Things in Pictures. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Moscow
1997 Art Salon 97. Manege Exhibition hall. Moscow
1996 Galleries in the Gallery. The State Tretyakov gallery Moscow
1995 International Biennale «Classic 4». Kortrijk. Belgium
1991 Washington – Moscow. Carnegie Library. Washington. USA
1991 Contemporary Russian Painting. Exhibition and auction. The Chicago Atenaeum, the Centre for Architecture, Art and Urban Studies, 333 West Wacker gallery. Chicago. USA
1990 – 1991 Washington – Moscow. The State Tretyakov gallery. Moscow
1990 – 1991 The Quest for Self-Expression. Painting in Moscow and Leningrad. 1965 – 1990. Columbus Museum of Art. Ohio; Weatherspoon Art Gallery. University of North Carolina. Greensboro. North Carolina; Arkansas Art Center. Little Rock. Arkansas. USA
1990 Contemporary Russian art. Habsburg – Feldman auctions. New York. USA
1990 Children’ portrait in Russian art from 17 century up to our time. The State Russian museum. St. Petersburg
1990 Meeting. Davidson Galleries. Washington. USA
1990 Logic of Paradox. Palace of Youth. Moscow
1990 Moscow. Treasures and Traditions. Seattle. Washington. USA
1990 Transformation. The Legacy of Authority. Recent Art from the Soviet Union. Camden Arts Centre. London. UK
1989 13 Biennale des Ostsee, Rostok, Germany
1989 Dialogue. Avant-garde Russe et Art contemporain sovetique. Centre Boris Vian. Les Ulis. France
1988 New Russians. Palace of Culture and Science. Warsaw. Poland
1988 Die Neue Freiheit der Sowjetischen Maler. Kunsthalle. Amden. Germany
1988 Artist and Contemporaneity. 2 Exhibition of the First creative association of the Moscow Union of artists. Exhibition Hall Kuznetsky Most st., 11. Moscow
1988 Sotheby’s auctions. Moscow
1988 Contemporary Soviet Art. P.Ludvig museum. Cologne. Germany
1988 ARCO 88. Contemporary Soviet Art project. Galerie «De France». Madrid. Spain
1987 Akan firm exhibition hall. Istanbul. Turkey
1987 Costakis gallery. Athens. Greece
1987 Artist and Contemporaneity. 1st Exhibition of the First creative association of the Moscow Union of artists. Exhibition Hall on Millionschikova st. (Kashirka). Moscow
1986 International Images» gallery, Pennsylvania. USA
1984 Theme firm exhibition hall. West Berlin. Germany
1986 International Images gallery. Pennsylvania. USA
1984 Theme firm. Berlin. Germany
