Victor Pivovarov

Painter, graphic artist, object artist, installation artist, illustrator. Born in the family of Dmitry Pivovarov in Moscow (1937). Graduated from the Mikhail Kalinin School of Art and Industry in Moscow (1957) and studied at the department of art of Moscow Institute of Polygraphy (1957–62). Illustrated children’s books (from 1962). Drew illustrations for the Knowledge Publishing House and Merry Pictures magazine. Key figure of Moscow Conceptualism. Start of independent artistic work (1967). Created a series of nitrocellulose paintings under the influence of Surrealism and railway-station information boards (early 1970s). Associated with the Sretensky Boulevard Group (late 1960s–early 1970s). Collaborated with Ilya Kabakov on a new type of album combining images and texts. Created twelve albums, including Microhomus, Tears, Face, Garden and Kabakov and Pivovarov (1975–82). Lives and works in Prague (since 1982). Wrote books of memoirs about the Soviet post-war art scene in Moscow (2001, 2002). Contributed to exhibitions in Russia (from 1960s) and abroad (from 1977), including a major retrospective at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2004).