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		PIVOVAROV Viktor

Biographical information: 1937 - born in Moscow
1962 - graduated from the Moscow Polygraphic Institute, Art Department
He had been making illustrations for children’s books for about 20 years. Over 50 books were published with his drawings
1967 - made a series of monotypes "Temptation of St. Anthony", which he considers to be the beginning of his art work
In the early 70s, being impressed by the stands on the railway stations, made a series of nitroenamled paintings with the obvious influence of surrealism ("Blue Specs of a Crazy Militiaman")
In the 70s became one of the founders of Moscow Conceptual School
1975-82 - made 12 albums : "Macrohomus", "Tears", "Face", "Garden", "Kabakov & Pivovarov", "Projects for a Lonely Man" and others
1982 - moved to Prague where lives and works now
The author of two books: "Agent in Love" (2000) and "Gray Copybooks" (2002)
Takes part in exhibitions from 1977
Collections where works are held: The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg
The State Pushkin Fine Arts Museum. Moscow
The State Literary Museum. Moscow
F.M. Dostoyevsky Museum
Prague National Gallery
Ludwig Forum Museum. Aahen. Germany
Art Museum. Karlovy Vary. Czechia, and others
And also in private collections in Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Czechia and USA
Participation in exhibitions and auctions: SELECTED SOLO EXHEBITIONS:

2009
The East Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts, Pardubice
A Cockroach for Dinner, Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague

2006
Lemon Eaters, Moscow Museum of Modern Art

2005
Foxes and holidays, Pleskot Gallery, Prague

2004
Dark Rooms, Pecka Gallery, Prague
XL Gallery, Moscow
Dmitry Semionov Gallery, St. Petersburg
Steps of Mechanic, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
A Guinea and a Magician, Galerie ad astra, Kurim
Gesprach uber eine Zitronenschale, Galerie M. Sandmann, Berlin

2001
Philemon, iFA galerie, Berlin

2000
Objects in a Landscape (together with Pavel Pepperstein), Obscuri Viri Gallery, Moscow

1999
Father and Son (together with Pavel Pepperstein), Kunsthaus Zug, Zug

1998
Lessons of Chinese Language, Velta Gallery, Moscow
Some Details of Melancholy, Gallery Sternberg, Sternberg
Ost-Trava, Gallery Sokolska 26, Ostrava
Haven`s Chelm, Vaclav Spala Gallery, Prague

1997
Sonja and the Angels, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Duren
Sonja and the Angels, Museé d`Art Moderne, Saint Etienne, France
Dramatis Personae, Obscuri Viri Gallery, Moscow
Metempsychose, National Technical Museum, Prague

1996
The Flat No. 22, Galerie der Stadt Wels, Wels
Metempsychose, Galerie U dobreho Pastyre, Brno
The Games on the Water, Gallery Sypka, Brno
Skupina Jauza, Gallery Veseli nad Moravou
Sonja and the Angels, Gallery Rudolfinum, Prague

1995
A Kind of Diary, Red Art Gallery, Moscow
Illusions That Are Not Lost, Galerie Ruce, Prague
The Flat No. 22, Glazer Kunstverein, Graz

1994
Agent in Norway, Obscuri Viri Gallery, Moscow
We Can`t Be Seen But We `re Here, Galerie Krings-Ernst, Cologne
I`m Animal, Window Gallery, British Council, Prague

1993
Metempsychose, L Gallery, Moscow

1992
Retrospective, Galerie Krings-Ernst, Cologne
Unlimited Possibilities of Painting, Behemot Gallery, Prague
Little Pleasures of Great Grief, Cultural House, Opatov, Prague

1991
Little White Balls, Galerie Krings-Ernst, Cologne
Drawings, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington D.C.

1990
Text and Picture, The Brno House of Arts, Brno

1989
Retrospective, Public House in Vysocany, Prague

1988
Drawings and Watercolors, Cultural House, Opatov, Prague
Concert (together with Ilja Kabakov), Neue Galerie Schloss Gotzental, Luzern

1987
Illustrations, National Literature Memorial, Prague

1984
Drawings and Watercolors, Institut for Macromolecular Chemistry of Academy of Science, Prague
Pictures 1981-1984, Cultural House of Railways, Prague
Autobiographical notes
What the critics say: Victor Pivovarov is undoubtedly one of the founders of Moscow conceptualism. At the beginning of the 1970s, he created an absolutely new form of art – an “album”, where a literary phrase and visual image constitute a complex unity of literary and graphic meanings. In fact, in his technique Victor Pivovarov reveals the potentialities of a cultural process – a visual philosophy compelling the “seeing” of the famous phrase of Chekhov’s Vershinin in The Three Sisters: “Sirs, let’s philosophize.” The whole objective world in the art of Victor Pivovarov finds a word and starts speaking like in the fairytales of Andersen. In these strategies a word, in turn, is materialized by its transformation into a subject – a visible image. Intersecting and diverging, the word and image formulate an acute paradoxical connection, a new integrity, a precisely unified theory of a field where a particle (word) and wave (image) form the completeness of the universe in their dialogue.

Vitaly Patsukov
Bibliography: Evelyn Pschak. Energie im Umspannwerk // Berliner Liste 06 (29. September)

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