The Art of
YURI GORBACHEV
Yuri Gorbachev 2021
Celebrating Yuri Gorbachev’s 70th Birthday and 50th year of his Career in Art
This year, Yuri Gorbachev, phenomenal artist, famous around the world, turns 70 years old. His first solo show was in 1968 in the former Soviet Union, so it is also the 50th anniversary of his career in art during which he has had more than 200 solo shows. He has exhibited his work on the continents of North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.
More than two billion people have seen his magnificent art at galleries, on TV and in hundreds of magazines and newspapers like Elle, GQ, and the New York Times many of which also carried his famous ad for Stolichnaya Vodka. His work is in the permanent collections of more than thirty museums around the world, including the Louvre Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Russian National Museum of St. Petersburg. His work hung at The White House, has been on exhibit at the Untied Nations, and is in numerous private collections worldwide
Yuri Gorbachev, classically trained in Soviet art academies, uses lacquer and glazing techniques in his highly recognizable paintings, exhibiting his classic training and unique style; black is not part of his palette.
He brings people together with his joyous art and his greatest wish is to “make people happy”. Former Christie’s Auction House expert in Russian art, Maria Paphiti, calls Yuri Gorbachev the ambassador of Russia for world art.
Thanks to his tremendous success, Yuri will continue his Worldwide Museum Tour through 2023
At
the young age of twenty seven Yuri Gorbachev became a member of the
prestigious Art Union of the former USSR. Gorbachev established a
distinguished career as a painter in Russia and the Ukraine before
moving to New York in 1991. His whimsical paintings have illustrated
Absolut and Stolichnaya vodka advertisements appearing in hundreds of
magazines around the world. Inspired by the brilliant jeweled colors
of Byzantine art and by the works of Faberge, internationally
acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev creates colorful, richly textured
canvases in oil and gold, that are widely collected and exhibited in
dozens of galleries and more than 20 museums worldwide including the
United Nations and the White House. His joyful artistic world turns
the memories of his boyhood in Russia and the ancient tradition of
Russian Orthodox icon painting, into a radiant kaleidoscope of folk
celebrations, street fairs, circuses, animals, snowy winter
landscapes, and Tsars of the Romanov dynasty.
2010
through 2015 Gorbachev Museum Tour
In
October 2010 a major exhibition of Gorbachev’s paintings began
at the St. Petersburg Museum of Urban Art & Sculpture on the
famous Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tens of thousands
of people attended the exhibit over a period of months breaking all
attendance records for the museum.
In 2011, The Russian
National Museum of St. Petersburg , Russia, the most important museum
of Russian art worldwide, accepted Gorbachev's major oil painting
Tsar Nicholas and his Family into their Permanent Collection.
Gorbachev's museum tour continues through 2015, with the National
Gallery of Fine Art Plovdiv, Bulgaria, opening July, 2012, the
Literature Museum of Odessa, Ukraine, August, 2012, and future
exhibitions in Major Museums in Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg and
other European countries.
Yuri
Gorbachev continued his World Museum Tour, focusing on Armenia, Kiev,
Helsinki and Estonia. Several one-man shows in these countries
including participation in the Art Festival of Yerevan, Armenia, lead
to three major museums adding paintings by Gorbachev to their Russian
collections. The National Gallery of Armenia, which has the finest
collection of Armenian art in the world and one of the most
prestigious collections of Russian art , both classical and
contemporary, obtained a painting from Yuri Gorbachev for their
permanent collection; the director of the Museum visited Gorbachev’s
exhibition at the art event in Yerevan and selected ADAM AND
EVE, for the museum’s first acquisition of Russian art in ten
years.
The
Russian section includes Chagall, Malevich, Kandinsky, and Filonov
among others.
The
Saryan Museum in Armenia obtained STILL LIFE WITH ROSES for their
permanent collection, and The Russian Museum, Kiev selected three
paintings for their collection
Russian
Couple, Firebird, and Rooster on Cat.
The
paintings selected were:
ADAM
AND EVE,
STILL LIFE WITH ROSES,
RUSSIAN
COUPLE FIREBIRD ROOSTER ON CAT
Indonesian and Southeast Asian art has had a great influence on Gorbachev’s work. He spent years studying the art and culture of Southeast Asia and the Indonesian Islands and has been accepted as one of their national artists. Four Indonesian museums have his paintings in their permanent collections.
This year, Ms. Deborah Iskandar, former managing director of Sothebys and Christies, through her experience as a collector, gallery owner and auction house professional in her 20 years plus in the art world, presented an exhibition of her private collection in Jakarta Indonesia. .
The exhibition, called SOTS ART in Jakarta, included many paintings by Gorbachev. She explained that this is the art that produced a revolution in the minds and hearts of Indonesia and changed the country. Ms. Iskandar and the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Jakarta presented this exhibition.
SOTS ART, a term, meaning socialism art, was an analogous movement to western pop-art and combined the names of two movements in 20th century art: Soviet “Socialist Realism” and American “pop-art”.
Ms. Iskandar considers Gorbachev an important representative of this movement and included several of his paintings that she collected over the years.
She considers Balinese Princess, a famous painting by Yuri Gorbachev, as one of the most well known styles of “Soviet Pop Art”, SOTS ART, which originated in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s as a reaction against the official aesthetic and as a symbol of the “wind of change”. This painting was featured in the exhibition.
Yuri is looking forward to his upcoming tenth anniversary exhibition at Opus Gallery, which has always exhibited his finest works. He is presenting his newest works and paintings that have been shown in museums around the world.
MORA, Museum of Russian Art. Yuri Gorbachev Exhibition, Museum Collection New York 2011.
25 Central Park West New York NY..
Yuri Gorbachev trained as a ceramics artist in Borovici, Russia and philosophy at St. Petersburg University. He then attended the Art Faculty of South Ukrainian University in Odessa, where he studied art and graphics.
At the young age of twenty seven he became a member of the prestigious Art Union of the former USSR. Gorbachev established a distinguished career as a painter in Russia and the Ukraine before moving to New York in 1991. His whimsical paintings have illustrated Absolut and Stolichnaya vodka advertisements appearing in hundreds of magazines around the world. Inspired by the brilliant jeweled colors of Byzantine art and by the works of Faberge, internationally acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev creates colorful, richly textured canvases in oil and gold, that are widely collected and exhibited in dozens of galleries and more than 20 museums worldwide including the United Nations and the White House. His joyful artistic world turns the memories of his boyhood in Russia and the ancient tradition of Russian Orthodox icon painting, into a radiant kaleidoscope of folk celebrations, street fairs, circuses, animals, snowy winter landscapes, and Tzars of the Romanov dynasty.
He has spent years studying the art and culture of the Indonesian Islands and has been accepted as one of their national artists. Four Indonesian museums have his paintings in their permanent collections. Gorbachev loves Bali and its people and culture and it has had a deep influence on his work. He has exhibited in Bali, Jakarta, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Singapore as well as in Australia, Brazil and Europe. Yuri Gorbachev combines the history, mythology and cultural heritage of his homeland with references to Russian and Balinese Folk Art, African rock drawings and masks, while precisely defining every form, every kind of object, plant or human figure arranged in series of subjects that are important to the artist.
For the past twenty years Gorbachev has traveled extensively; his artistic development moved from his naive style to his most recent intricate works. He uses a sophisticated technique with precious metals like gold and copper along with specially formulated lacquers over oil on canvas. He has developed a new technique, which highlights his paintings with enamel creating added texture and luster to his composition. The complex technique developed over two decades, using ceramic techniques on canvas is unique and inimitable.
From 1995 through the present time Yuri Gorbachev’s work has toured various
museums and prominent public spaces including exhibitions at The National
Fine Art Museum of the Ukraine, The United Nations, The Moscow Museum of
Modern Art, The Tsarskoye Selo National Museum, The Palace of Alexander
lll, and The Marble Palace of St. Petersburg, The Rudana Museum, Bali, The
Museum Conjunto Cultural da Caixo of San Paulo, Brazil, The Russian Museum
of Kiev, The Odessa State Literature Museum, The Odessa State Museum of
Western and Oriental Art, The Fine Art Museum of Donezk, Ukraine, and the St.
Petersburg State Museum of Urban Art and Sculpture.
Press Release 2021
Inspired by the brilliant jeweled colors of Byzantine
art and by the works of Faberge, internationally acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev
creates colorful, richly textured canvases in oil and gold that are widely
collected and exhibited in dozens of galleries and more than 20 museums
worldwide. His joyful artistic world reflects the Russian culture of his
boyhood-a radiant kaleidoscope of folk celebrations, street fairs, circuses,
snowy winter landscapes, czars of the Romanov dynasty, and the ancient tradition
of Russian Orthodox icon painting.
Gorbachev trained as a ceramics artist and professional philosopher and established a distinguished career as a painter in the Soviet Union before moving to New York in 1991. His whimsical paintings have illustrated Absolut and Stolichnaya vodka advertisements appearing in hundreds of magazines around the world; his canvases are also in collections of the United Nations and the White House.
Michel Roux, well known art collector and formerly exclusive distributor and marketing genius behind the Absolut and Stolichnaya advertising campaigns, says:
In October 1998, the prestigious Rizzoli International published "The Art of Yuri Gorbachev". This beautifully printed first monograph on Gorbachev presents 100 full-color plates divided into thematic sections spanning the artist's career. The book's two accompanying essays by Carey Goldberg of The New York Times and Yaroslav Mogutin, a notable young Russian writer and cultural critic of the "post-Perestroika" generation offer a lively profile of Gorbachev the man and artist, making this volume a comprehensive introduction to his work. Rizzoli has published only two other Russian artists in the past: Marc Chagall and Wassily Kandinsky.
Carey Goldberg (New York Times), talking about Yuri Gorbachev says:
In September 2002, Bertelsmann's Euromedia Group
published "The Art of Paradise: Yuri Gorbachev" a beautiful book of 274 pages
with editions in three languages, English, Russian and Czech. This is a
comprehensive book of his works from the beginning of his career to date with
essays on his life and his roots and with an explanation of the symbolism in his
paintings.
In addition to his success and fame in the United States, Gorbachev has achieved
equal recognition in Europe and Asia. He has spent months studying the art and
culture of the Indonesian Islands and has been accepted as one of their national
artists. Four Indonesian museums have his paintings in their permanent
collections. Gorbachev loves Bali and its people and culture and it has had a
deep influence on his work. He has exhibited in Bali, Jakarta, Malaysia, Hong
Kong and Taiwan, Singapore as well as in Australia. He is presently represented
in galleries in Paris, London, Berlin, Prague, Slovakia, Moscow, St. Petersburg,
Odessa, and Singapore as well as galleries all over the United States.
From 2000 through the present time Yuri Gorbachev’s work is touring various museums and prominent public spaces including exhibitions at The National Fine Art Museum of the Ukraine, The United Nations, The Moscow Museum of Modern Art, The Museum Conjunto Cultural da Caixo of San Paulo, Brazil, The Russian Museum of Kiev, The Odessa State Literature Museum, The Odessa State Museum of Western and Oriental Art, The Fine Art Museum of Donezk, Ukraine,St. Petersburg Museum of Urban Art & Sculpture, Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Mora,The Museum of Russian Art, New York, NY.
The Caras Magazine of Brazil featured Yuri Gorbachev as the Person of The Year,
2006 during the time of his exhibition there.
2018 through 2023 Gorbachev Museum Tour
In October 2010 a major exhibition of Gorbachev’s paintings began at the St. Petersburg Museum of Urban Art & Sculpture on the famous Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tens of thousands of people attended the exhibit over a period of months breaking all attendance records for the museum.
In 2011, The Russian National Museum of St. Petersburg , Russia, the most important museum of Russian art worldwide, accepted Gorbachev's major oil painting Tsar Nicholas and his Family into their Permanent Collection. Gorbachev's museum tour continues through 2015, with the National Gallery of Fine Art Plovdiv, Bulgaria, opening July, 2012, the Literature Museum of Odessa, Ukraine, August, 2012, and future exhibitions in Major Museums in Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other European countries.
In 2011/12, Yuri Gorbachev had the honor of being commissioned by SPI Ltd, the owners of the Stolichnaya brand, to design a new label for Stolichnaya Red Vodka worldwide. Gorbachev designed the label which is derived from his painting “FOUR ELEMENTS”; all Stolichnaya Red bottles will have this design and his name, as artist, on them. This new design is a tremendous step for the Stolichnaya Vodka brand, and will be advertised and promoted all over the world.
Yuri Gorbachev The world Museu Tour 2018-2023 with big success exhibiting America, South America, South-East Asia and Europe, including New York, Washington, Cleveland, Miami, Rio- de Janeiro, St. Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, Kiev, Odessa, Beijing, Berlin, London, Paris, Prague, Moscow, St. Petersburg,
Veliky Novgorod, Borovichi, Stockholm, Tallinn