Russian artist Oleg Kudryashov passed away last year at the age of 90. He was an active artist for almost 80 years. The iconography of Kudryashov's prints, whether it is a composition, relief or construction, focuses on the scenes and cityscapes of post-war Moscow. He created some of his strongest work from memory while living in London between 1974 and 1997.
Despite experiencing war at a young, impressionable age, Kudryashov stated that much of his imagery was taken from his childhood experiences. Oleg described his creative process as “draw[ing] what I see in my head, or what I don't want to talk about, but cannot forget. I draw what I know well, what I remember, for memory is what really happened and is actually happening, even if only deep inside oneself...At such moments I believe every detail, and must hurry to set it down on paper while I can still see it.”
Themes from Kudryashov’s experiences are evident in works such as Icon, 1991. This work takes its inspiration from a family icon and is surrounded with scenes of post-war Moscow, highlighting the struggling disadvantaged class and his distaste for army life where he was forced to create propaganda materials.
The gallery neptune & brown exhibition will include works reflecting Kudryashov’s three-dimensional constructions and reliefs and his well-loved cityscape compositions. The gallery celebrates 40 years of showcasing Kudryashov’s beautiful work which has found its way into hundreds of collections worldwide.
His work is collected by the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers where he had an important exhibition in 2022, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Tate Gallery, London; the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow and many other public collections around the world.
