Contemporary Art

Chemiakin was born in 1943 in Moscow.
He has achieved worldwide prominence during the past 20 years in the west, making two emigrations from his homeland. In 1971, he moved to Paris and, finally, settled in new York, where he now resides.
Chemiakin's interest in art developed at a young age. He studied art at the famous Rapine Art Academy in the Soviet Union. His incredible talent and insatiable hunger for innovation led him to challenge the establishment. After his father's move to Leningrad, he began to have difficulty with the Russian art school's strict administrators and was expelled from the academy and barred from study at any art school in the Soviet Union.
To continue his studies, he spent time researching the Old Masters at his job in the State Hermitage Museum. His ideas formulated and he became a new voice in art, insisting that there must be new ways to depict the surreal life of contemporary Russia. He was soon persecuted for his beliefs and put into an insane asylum for treatment. Upon his release, he began to learn and appreciate the Russian icon and its beauty, making a new beginning for his art. In 1971, Chemiakin left the Soviet Union and settled in Paris where his images had already become familiar to European collectors. In 1980, he moved to New York where he presently resides and continues to work . His work is currently featured in all of the major cultural centers of the world.
Chemiakin's works have pictorial references to folklore colors, metaphysical and surrealist uses of space and rich ornament from Russian culture.

Chemiakin's explosive career has led him to become one of the most acclaimed contemporary Russian artists in the world. His museum shows have also been widely acclaimed, and most of his gallery shows have been sell-outs.

Chronology

1943, Born Moscow
1962, Zvezda Magazine, Leningrad
1964, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad
1969, Elaine Benson Gallery, Long Island, NY
1971,Classical Spanish Epigrams. Book Illustration, Gold Medal, Venice St. Petersbourg '71. Galerie Dina Vierny, Paris
Exiled From USSR; Moves to Paris
1976, Russian Non-conformist Art. La Peinture Russe Contemporaine, Palais Des Congres, Paris
1977, Apollon-77. Published, Almanac of Post-Stalinist Art and Literature
Unofficial Art. Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1978, Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art
1979, São Paolo Museum of Art, Brazil
Bochum Museum, West Germany
1980, Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
1981, Moves to New York
1984, Honorary Doctorate, University of San Francisco
1986, Mihail Chemiakin. Volumes 1 and 2, Mosaic Press, Canada
1987, Honorary Doctorate, L'Academie Des Arts Européen, France
Musée de Trianon de Bagatelle, Paris
1989, Mihail Chemiakin Presents "The Analytical Method of Pavel Filonov". Symposium, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, England
Art of Russia and the West: Magazine, Publisher and Editor
Mihail Chemiakin: New York-Moscow. Central House of the Artist, Moscow
1990, Mihail Chemiakin: An Artist's Testament. Documentary Film, Nationwide Russian Release
Keepers of the Flame: Unofficial Artists of Leningrad.
Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California
1991, Peter the Great. The Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, Leningrad. Sculpture installation
Travels to Afghanistan to negotiate with Mujahdeen leaders for the release of Soviet POWs
1993, Receives Government Prize of Russia by decree of President Boris Yeltsin
Cybele; Goddess of Fertility. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York.
Sculpture installation Barocco, Trianon Palace, Versailles
L'Ete de La Sculpture. Nancy, France
A Metamorphosis of Illusion. Mitsukoshi Museum, Tokyo
Angels of Death. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
1994, Metaphysical Head-Deformation and Metamorphosis. Ferzt Books, New York
Receives Order de Chevalier des Artes et Lettres, by Minister of Culture, France
Centenaire de L'Amitie Franco-Russe Avec Mihail Chemiakin. Chanceaux-Pres-Loches, France
Metaphysical Head-Deformation and Metamorphosis. Presents Master class at University of San Francisco
Ledreborg Castle, Lejre, Denmark
1995, Metaphysical Sphinx. Sculpture installation of Memorial to the Victims of Political Repressions, St. Petersburg
Installation of Monument to the Architect-Builders of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg
Mihail Chemiakin: Sculpture, Painting, Works of Paper, Objets d' Art.
State Hermitage Museum, Central Exhibition Hall (Manège), St. Petersburg; State Tretyakov Gallery, Bolshoi Theater, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow. Solo Exhibition
Bronze. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
1996, Awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees from Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, and University of Kabardino-Balkaria, Nalchik, Russia
Museum of Western Art, Odessa, Ukraine Kiev Pechersky Monastery, Kiev Ukraine
Traveling exhibition: Museum of Art, Samara, Russia; House of Culture, Elista, Russia; Kabardino-Balkaria Museum of Fine Art, Nalchik, Russia; Krasnodar Fine Art Exhibition Hall, Krasnodar, Russia
Angels and Figures. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
1997, Spheres. Release of documentary film, based on research by M. Chemiakin, directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky
Mihail Chemiakin, St. Petersburg Period 1963-1972. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
Mihail Chemiakin Retrospective. Heikhal Hatarbut, Tel Aviv, Israel
Celebrating the Still Life. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
1998, Installation of Giacomo Casanova, marking the bicentenary of Casanova's death, Placed in front of the Doge's Palace, Venice
Awarded Gold Medal, To One Deserving, by the Imperial Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow
Mihail Chemiakin. Giugiaro Design Museum of the Automobile, Moncalieri (Torino), Italy. Solo Exhibition
The Theater of Mihail Chemiakin, Bronze. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York. Solo Exhibition
1999, Nudes. Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York
Museum and Public Collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow
The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France
Yad Vashem Memorial, Jerusalem
Museum Bochum, Germany
Chateau de Vascoeuil, Normandy
Hudson River Museum, New York
Yokohama 21st Century Museum of Art, Japan
Museum of Art of the Lithuanian SSR, Vilnius, Lithuania
Dostoevsky Museum, St. Petersburg
City of St. Petersburg, Russia
Collection of Dr. Norton Dodge, USA
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ ...

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