Yevgeny Rukhin

Painter, graphic artist, mixed media artist. Born in the family of geologists Lev Rukhin and Yevgenia Uziemblo, who had been evacuated from besieged Leningrad to Saratov (1943). Studied at the Faculty of Geology of Leningrad University (1961–66) and the Vera Mukhina School of Art and Industry in Leningrad (1964–65). Met such future classics of the Russian underground movement as Oscar Rabin, Dmitry Plavinsky, Lydia Masterkova and Vladimir Nemukhin in Moscow (1967). Studied modern Western art from magazines. First works – virtually monochrome urbanscapes – were influenced by Oscar Rabin. The artist’s mature style developed after seeing Vladimir Nemukhin’s paintings. Included such fragments of real objects as pieces of old furniture in his compositions and painted lifelike imitations of the textures of various objects and materials. Died saving friends from a fire at his studio in Leningrad (1976). Contributed to exhibitions in Russia (from 1963) and abroad (from 1967), including the “bulldozer exhibition” in Moscow (1974), apartment exhibitions (1975), Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02) and Times of Change: Art in the Soviet Union (1960–85) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006).