Many people believe that there are no artists left in the 21st century. However, in reality this is not the case. And nowadays there are many talented and famous artists, whose work is shown in exhibitions that earn a lot of money. Below is a list of the 20 most famous and well-earning artists who are active creative activity not only on the territory of Russia.

Russian artist Alexander Ivanov, born in 1962, is best known for his work entitled “Love,” which was painted back in 1996 and sold for almost 100,000 rubles. His style is abstractionism. He is also a businessman, engaged in collecting activities, and opened the Faberge Museum in Germany, in Baden-Baden.

Olga Bulgakova is one of the few talented and famous artists in Russia, born in 1951, and is a member of the Russian Academy of Arts as a corresponding member. A representative of the painting movement of the Brezhnev era, which is called “carnival”. Her most famous work is “The Dream of the Red Bird,” written in 1988.

Russian artist Mikhail Brusilovsky, working under the pseudonym Misha Shaevich, is included in this rating and takes 18th place. This world famous artist

The talented Russian artist Lev Tabenkin was born in 1952 in the Russian capital, Moscow. This painter sees the picture like a sculptor. It feels like his written characters are sculpted from clay. One of Lev’s most famous paintings is “Jazz Orchestra,” painted in 2004. It was sold for 117,650 rubles.

The AES+F project consists of four people, in fact, the name consists of the initial letters of the participants’ surnames: Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeniy Svyatsky, Vladimir Fridnes. The creativity of this company was characterized by a very good presentation back in the nineties and was appreciated only in the two thousandths. Nowadays, for the most part, they create large animated murals that are broadcast on dozens of screens. One of the most famous works of this company: “Warrior 4”.

Russian artist Sergei Volkov was born in Petrozavodsk in 1956. His works are characterized by the fact that he created during the period of perestroika art. The paintings are painted very expressively, where very thoughtful statements and ideology are seen. His most famous painting is Double Vision. Triptych".

Artists Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky were both born in Moscow in 1963 and 1964. They began working together in 1994, having met at a festival, creating an unusual and grandiose project. The original design has earned the respect of many collectors. Their paintings hang in such famous places as the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and even the Pompidou Center. They themselves are the creators of the Art Strelka gallery and the organizers of the Art Klyazma festival.

Russian artist Vladimir Yankilevsky was also included in the list of the highest paid and famous artists. He was born in Moscow in 1938. Vladimir's father was also an artist, and his son inherited his profession. Vladimir works in the style of surrealism - creativity with paradoxical combinations. Back in 1970, he painted one of the most famous paintings called “Triptych 10. Anatomy of the Soul II.”

Artist Vladimir Nemukhin was born in 1925 in the small village of Priluki, located in the Moscow region. He took part in many foreign exhibitions in Europe. In the nineties he lived and led active work in Germany, but in 2005 he moved to Russia. His work is characterized by a three-dimensional composition, the presence of counter-relief and various cross-cutting motifs, for example, a deck of cards.

An artist with an unusual name, the son of a Spanish political emigrant, was born in the small village of Vasilievka in the Samara region in 1943. He was the organizer of the group of artists "Argo" and is a member of the Moscow Union of Artists. Francisco was also awarded the State Prize for achievements in the field visual arts. The artist is active in creative work both in Russia and abroad.

The artist Alexander Melamed used to be one of the members of the very famous creative duo Komarov-Melamed, but it broke up back in 2003, then they began working separately. Residence since 1978 is New York. Most famous works he wrote together with Vitaly Komar; together they also created the Sots Art movement and were the organizers of the Bulldozer Exhibition.

This Russian artist, known as one of the founders of Moscow conceptualism, was born in Moscow in 1937, where he graduated from the Printing Institute. According to Viktor Pivovarov himself, his first work was written at the age of five. He is also a representative of “unofficial” art. His paintings are located in some of the most famous and largest exhibition centers: in the Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin.

This artist was born in 1934 in Tbilisi. He is one of the brightest representatives of monumental painting. Zurab is known for his work in the form of the monument to Peter I, which is located in Moscow, as well as the monument located in front of the UN building in New York. Zurab is the president of the Russian Art Academy, which operates his own museum-gallery. The creations of this artist are known not only to Russia, but throughout the world.

Russian artist Oscar Rabin is famous for being the organizer of the Bulldoor Exhibition in 1974 and four years later he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. Also became popular as one of the first artists to deal private sale paintings in the Soviet Union. On this moment his permanent place of residence and work is Paris. His paintings are in major museums and exhibition centers: Moscow Museum contemporary art, Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Museum and others.

Russian artist Oleg Tselkov is known as the artist who began the main creative movement in the sixties of the 20th century, showing very rough and sharp features in his paintings, including in the depiction of people who look like clay figures. Since 1977, Oleg has continued his creative path in Paris. His paintings are located in the following exhibition centers: Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Hermitage. One of famous paintings is "The Boy with balloons", written in 1954.

Born in Moscow in 1934, Russian artist Grigory Bruskin, or Grisha, has been one of the members of the Union of Artists since 1969. He gained the greatest fame thanks to a major Sotheby's auction, where he sold his work entitled “Fundamental Lexicon” for the most high price, which became a record. Currently he lives and works in both New York and Moscow, which is why he is also called an American artist.

This Russian artist is distinguished by the fact that he depicts realistic things with extreme precision. His real creative activity began from the moment in 1985, when he exhibited at Malaya Gruzinskaya, he won the attention and recognition of collectors from New York. Since then, his works have been exhibited in many European countries, are located in exhibition centers in America, Germany and Poland. Now he lives and conducts creative activities in Moscow.

This duet, alas, existed until 2003, but was a huge success. Two Russian artists became famous thanks to the creation of such a movement as Sots Art, which is an offshoot of unofficial art. This was a kind of response to the creation of pop art in the West. Canvases with the works of these artists are in major museums, including the Louvre.

The Russian artist is known for being able to combine both painting and text in his work; later this began to be called social art. IN Soviet period was popular as an illustrator in children's books. For some time he lived in New York, then in Paris. He was the first artist to have an exhibition at the Pompidou Center. His creative works are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, and the Pompidou Center.

This talented Russian artist, working together with his wife Emilia, can be considered the main artist of the country, the founder of Moscow conceptualism. He was born in Dnepropetrovsk in 1933, but New York has been his place of residence since 1988. His works can be seen in the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. Ilya received the Japanese Emperor's Prize, and his two works called “Beetle” and “Luxury Room” are the most expensive paintings.

Art is constantly evolving, like the whole world around us. Modern artists of the 21st century and their paintings are not at all similar to those that existed in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. New names, materials, genres, and ways of expressing talents appear. In this rating we will meet ten innovative artists of our time.

10. Pedro Campos. In tenth place is a Spaniard, whose brush can easily compete with a camera, he paints such realistic canvases. For the most part, he creates still lifes, but it is not so much the themes of his paintings that inspire amazing admiration, but the masterful execution. Textures, highlights, depth, perspective, volume - Pedro Campos subordinated all this to his brush, so that reality, and not fiction, looked at the viewer from the canvas. Without embellishment, without romanticism, only reality, this is precisely the meaning of the photorealism genre. By the way, the artist acquired his attention to detail and scrupulousness while working as a restorer.

9. Richard Estes. Another fan of the photorealism genre, Richard Estes, started with ordinary painting, but later went into painting city landscapes. Today's artists and their creations do not need to adapt to anyone, and this is wonderful, everyone can express themselves the way they want in what they want. As in the case of Pedro Campos, the work of this master can easily be confused with photographs, the city from them is so similar to the real one. You rarely see people in Estes’s paintings, but there are almost always reflections, highlights, parallel lines and perfect, ideal composition. Thus, he does not just sketch the city landscape, but finds perfection in it and tries to show it.

8. Kevin Sloan. There are an incredible number of contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, but not every one of them is worth attention. American Kevin Sloan stands, because his works seem to transport the viewer to another dimension, a world full of allegories, hidden meanings, metaphorical riddles. The artist likes to paint animals, because, in his opinion, this way he gets more freedom than with people to convey the story. Sloan has been creating her “reality with a catch” in oils for almost 40 years. Very often a clock appears on canvases: either an elephant or an octopus is looking at it; this image can be interpreted as time passing or as the limitations of life. Each of Sloan’s paintings amazes the imagination; you want to figure out what the author wanted to convey to her.

7. Laurent Parselier. This painter is one of those contemporary artists of the 21st century whose paintings received recognition early, even during their studies. Laurent's talent manifested itself in published albums under the general title “ Strange world" He paints in oils, his style is light and tends towards realism. Characteristic feature The artist's works are characterized by an abundance of light, which seems to be pouring from the canvases. As a rule, he depicts landscapes and some recognizable places. All works are unusually light and airy, filled with sun, freshness, and breath.

6. Jeremy Mann. The San Francisco native loved his city and most often depicted it in his paintings. Modern artists of the 21st century can find inspiration for their paintings anywhere: in the rain, wet sidewalks, neon signs, city lamps. Jeremy Mann fills simple landscapes mood, history, experiments with techniques and choice of colors. The main material of Manna is oil.

5. Hans Rudolf Giger. In fifth place is the inimitable, unique Hans Giger, the creator of Alien from the film of the same name. Today's artists and their works are diverse, but each is brilliant in its own way. This gloomy Swiss does not paint nature and animals; he prefers “biomechanical” painting, in which he excels. Some compare the artist to Bosch in the gloom and fantasy of his paintings. Although Giger’s paintings emanate something otherworldly and dangerous, you can’t deny his technique and skill: he is attentive to details, competently selects shades, thinks through everything to the smallest detail.

4. Will Barnett. This artist has his own unique author’s style, which is why his works are readily accepted by the great museums of the world: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Vatican Museum. Contemporary artists of the 21st century and their works, in order to be recognized, must somehow stand out from the rest of the masses. And Will Barnett can do it. His works are graphic and contrasting; he often depicts cats, birds, and women. At first glance, Barnett's paintings are simple, but upon further examination you realize that their genius lies in this simplicity.

3. Neil Simon. This is one of contemporary artists 21st century, whose works are not as simple as they seem at first glance. It’s as if the boundaries between the plots and works of Neil Simon are blurred, they flow from one to another, dragging the viewer along with them, drawing them into illusory world artist. Simon's creations are characterized by bright, saturated colors, which gives them energy and strength and evokes an emotional response. The master loves to play with perspective, the size of objects, with unusual combinations and unexpected shapes. There is a lot of geometry in the artist’s works, which is combined with natural landscapes, as if bursting inside, but not destroying, but harmoniously complementing.

2. Igor Morski. Today's 21st century artist and his paintings are often compared to the great genius Salvador Dali. The works of the Polish master are unpredictable, mysterious, exciting, evoke a strong emotional response, and are sometimes crazy. Like any other surrealist, he does not strive to show reality as it is, but shows facets that we will never see in life. Most often, the main character of Morski's works is a person with all his fears, passions, and shortcomings. Also, metaphors in the works of this surrealist often concern power. Of course, this is not an artist whose work you would hang above your bed, but one whose exhibition is definitely worth going to.

1. Yayoi Kusama. So, in first place in our rating is a Japanese artist who achieved incredible success all over the world, despite the fact that she has some mental illnesses. The artist’s main feature is polka dots. She covers everything she sees with circles of various shapes and sizes, calling it all infinity networks. Kusama’s interactive exhibitions and installations are a success, because everyone sometimes wants (even if he doesn’t admit it) to be inside the psychedelic world of hallucinations, childish spontaneity, fantasies and colorful circles. Among contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, Yayoi Kusama is the best-selling.

Here is a selection of paintings by still little-known but very talented artists. All the guys are from Russia and our contemporaries. Watch, read and enjoy.

Guys, I write here all the time about fairly famous and accomplished personalities. Of course, it would be much more interesting for me to write about those artists about whom no one knows yet, but what can you do - in the VKontakte public you can write about anything, but on a blog you can only write what people are looking for in Yandex and Google, otherwise no one will go there except you. But for variety and pleasure, I nevertheless decided to make a selection “Little-known contemporary artists of Russia and their paintings.”

• What else is interesting? (links to other articles).
• Paintings by Marchuk - one of the most famous contemporary Ukrainian artists
• The legendary dean of the Faculty of Graphics of the famous “Repinka”.

Some of these guys are still at the very beginning of their journey, while others are already relatively established and successfully sell their works on VKontakte or on marketplaces like a crafts fair and are even known in narrow circles, but they all have one thing in common - they are still are not known to the general public. But unknown does not mean lacking talent, so I think you will be interested in watching. I decided to include here not only the draftsmen themselves, but also several sculptors.

Little-known contemporary artists of Russia and their paintings. Illustrators and painters.

Little-known artists. Colored surreal modernism in the paintings of Maria Susarenko.

I learned about this artist not long ago and almost immediately fell in love with her paintings. Partly because it is very close to me in spirit as an artist, partly because of my admiration for technique and the riot of imagination. Maria Susarenko is a sweet girl from St. Petersburg and a graduate of the famous St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry named after. A.L. Stieglitz. Maria Susarenko's paintings are a riotous mixture of modernism and surrealism. They look very bright and decorative.

Paintings by little-known artists. Works by Maria Susarenko

Little-known artists. Subbotina Dasha.

The eternal motif of Yuralga is cats.

Funny weirdo. This is the kind of brooch I would wear.

MOAR - https://vk.com/shamancats

Little-known contemporary artists of Russia. Sculptors.

Even though there are not paintings here, but decorations, they are so charming and loving that I could not resist. In the end, a sculptor is also an artist. Yes, an artist can be a painter, graphic artist, illustrator or sculptor (your captain obvious). Here are two girls whose jewelry would not put Rene Lalique to shame.

Little-known artists. Grimoire of the Black Chicken.

The workshop “Grimoire La poule noire”, which translates as “The Grimoire of the Black Hen” (your captain obviousness), is run by Lera Prokopets. Lera is a miniaturist sculptor and simply a gorgeous lady. She works primarily with polymer clay and stones. Lera creates stunning jewelry in a style that I would call gothic “art nouveau”. Such a slightly witchy, dark but graceful beauty. Well, of course, this is the “grimoire of the black chicken”.

Little-known artists. Original art nouveau jewelry. Photo from the workshop “Grimoire of the Black Hen”.

The art of modern painting is works created currently or in the recent past. A certain number of years will pass, and these paintings will become part of history. Works of painting created from the 60s of the last century to the present day reflect several trends in modern art that can be classified as postmodernism. During Art Nouveau times, the work of painters was more widely represented, and in the 70s of the twentieth century there was a change in the social orientation of the art of painting.

Contemporary art

Artists of modern painting primarily represent new trends in fine art. In cultural terminology, there is the concept of “contemporary art”, which in some way correlates with the concept of “contemporary painting”. By contemporary art, artists most often mean innovation, when the painter turns to cutting-edge themes, regardless of their focus. The picture can be painted in and depict any industrial enterprise. Or on the canvas there is a landscape landscape with a wheat field, meadow, forest, but at the same time a combine harvester will certainly be drawn in the distance. The style of modern painting suggests social orientation paintings. At the same time, landscapes by contemporary artists without social overtones are valued much more highly.

Choosing a direction

Since the late 90s, artists of modern painting have abandoned industrial themes and transferred their creativity into the mainstream of pure fine art. Masters of fine art appear portrait painting, landscape scenes, still lifes in the style of Flemish drawing. And gradually, true art began to appear in modern painting, in no way inferior to the paintings created by outstanding artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, and in some ways even superior to them. Today's brush masters are helped by a developed technical base and an abundance of new tools that allow them to fully reflect their plans on canvas. Thus, artists of modern painting can create to the best of their abilities. Of course, the quality of paints or brushes is important in the process of painting, but the main thing is talent.

Abstract expressionism

Modern artists adhere to painting methods that allow the use of non-geometric strokes applied in large numbers on a large canvas. Large brushes are used, sometimes paint brushes. Such painting can hardly be called art in the classical sense of the word, but abstraction is a continuation of surrealism, which appeared back in 1920 thanks to the ideas of Andre Breton and immediately found a lot of followers, such as Salvator Dali, Hans Hofmann, Adolf Gottlieb. At the same time, artists of modern painting understand expressionism in their own way. Today, this genre differs from its predecessor in the size of the canvases, which can reach three meters in length.

Pop Art

A counterbalance to abstractionism was the conceptual new avant-gardeism, which promoted aesthetic values. Modern artists began to include images in their paintings famous personalities, such as Mao Zedong or Marilyn Monroe. This art is called "pop art" - a popular, generally recognized direction in painting. Mass culture replaced abstract art and gave rise to a special type of aesthetics, which in a colorful, spectacular manner presented to the public what was on everyone’s lips, some recent events or images widely famous people in different life situations.

The founders and followers of pop art were Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Peter Blake, Roy Lichtenstein.

Photorealism

Contemporary art is multifaceted; often a new direction arises in it, combining two or more types fine arts. Photorealism became such a form of artist’s self-expression. This style of painting appeared in the USA in 1968. It was invented by avant-garde artist Louis Meisel, and the genre was introduced two years later, at the Whitney Museum during the exhibition “Twenty-Two Realists.”

Painting in the style of photorealism is associated with photography; the movement of the object is frozen in time. A photorealist artist collects his image, which will be captured in the picture, using photographs. From a negative or slide, the image is transferred to the canvas by projection or using a scale grid. Then a full-fledged picture is created using painting technologies.

The heyday of photorealism occurred in the mid-70s, then there was a decline in popularity, and in the early 90s the genre was revived again. Established artists worked mainly in the USA, among them there were many sculptors who also created their works using image projection. The most famous masters of painting based on photorealism are Richard Estes, Charles Bellet, Thomas Blackwell, Robert Demekis, Donald Eddy, Duane Hanson.

Photorealist artists younger generation- Raffaella Spence, Roberto Bernardi, Chiara Albertoni, Tony Brunelli, Olivier Romano, Bertrand Meniel, Clive Head.

Contemporary artists of Russia

• Serge Fedulov (born 1958), a native of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory. Participant of several exhibitions in Latin America and Europe. His paintings are distinguished by their realism and contrasting color combinations.
• Mikhail Golubev (born 1981), graduated from the art class of the Omsk School of Painting. Currently lives in St. Petersburg. He is distinguished by an unusual style of creativity; all his works are paintings-reflections with deep philosophical overtones.
• Dmitry Annenkov (born 1965) in Moscow. Graduated from the Stroganov Art Institute. Popular abroad, but gives preference to Russian exhibitions. Annenkov's art is realistic; the artist is a recognized master of still life.

Russian impressionists

• Alexey Chernigin, Russian impressionist artist (born 1975), is the son of the famous artist Alexander Chernigin. Studied painting and graphic design at art school Nizhny Novgorod. Graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Architectural Institute with a degree in Industrial Design. Member of the Union of Artists of Russia since 1998. Since 2001, he has been a teacher at NGASU at the Department of Interior Design.
• Konstantin Lupanov, Krasnodar artist (born 1977). Graduated from the Industrial Academy at the State University of Culture and Arts with a degree in Monumental Painting. Participant of many art exhibitions in St. Petersburg. Distinguished by a rare manner oil painting with twisting of the stroke. Lupanov's paintings are completely devoid of contrasting color combinations; the images seem to flow into one another. The artist himself calls his works “cheerful, irresponsible daub,” but there is some coquetry in this statement: the paintings are actually painted quite professionally.

Russian artists painting in nude style

• Sergei Marshennikov (born 1971), one of the most famous Russian artists of our time. Graduated from the Ufa College of Arts. His paintings are an example of blatant realism. The works give the impression of an artistic photograph, the composition is so precise and every stroke is verified. The artist’s wife, Natalya, most often plays the role of model, and this helps him create a sensual picture.
• Vera Vasilievna Donskaya-Khilko (born 1964), granddaughter of the famous opera singer Lavrenty Dmitrievich Donskoy. The brightest representative of modern Russian painting. He draws in the style of a plot nude. In the artist’s creative palette one can find beauties from an oriental harem and naked village girls on the river bank on the night of Ivan Kupala, a Russian bath with hot women going out into the snow and swimming in an ice hole. The artist draws a lot and talentedly.

Contemporary Russian artists and their work are of increasing interest to connoisseurs of fine arts around the world.

Contemporary painting as world art

Currently fine arts took forms different from those demanded in the 18th and 19th centuries. Contemporary artists of the world turned to the avant-garde in a narrower interpretation, the canvases acquired sophistication and became more meaningful. Society today needs updated art; the need extends to all types of creativity, including painting. Paintings by contemporary artists, if they are done well enough high level, are sold out, become the subject of bargaining or exchange. Some paintings are included in the list of especially valuable works of art. Paintings from the past, painted by great painters, are still in demand, but contemporary artists are becoming increasingly popular. Oil, tempera, watercolor, and other paints help them in creativity and the successful implementation of their plans. Painters, as a rule, adhere to one style. This could be a landscape, portrait, battle scenes or another genre. Accordingly, the artist chooses a certain type of paint for his work.

Contemporary artists of the world

The most famous contemporary artists differ in their painting style, their brush is recognizable, sometimes you don’t even need to look at the signature at the bottom of the canvas. Famous masters of modern painting are Philip Pearlstein, Alexander Isachev, Francis Bacon, Stanislav Plutenko, Peter Blake, Freud Lucien, Michael Parkes, Guy Johnson, Eric Fischl, Nikolai Blokhin, Vasily Shulzhenko.

The Art Newspaper Russia presents the rating: the most expensive living Russian artists. If you are still sure that there were no Russian artists in the Western scene, we are ready to argue with that. The language of numbers.

The conditions were simple: each living artist could be represented by only one, his most expensive work. When compiling the rating, not only the results of public auctions were taken into account, but also the most high-profile private sales. The authors of the rating were guided by the principle “if something sells loudly, then someone needs it,” and therefore appreciated the work of marketers and press managers of artists who brought record private sales to the public. Important note: the rating is based solely on financial indicators; if it were based on the exhibition activity of artists, it would look somewhat different. External sources resources were used for analytics Artnet.com, Artprice.com, Skatepress.com And Artinvestment.ru.

The US dollar was chosen as the currency for the world ranking; the British pound sterling was taken as the equivalent of sales of Russian artists (since 90% of domestic sales took place in London in this currency). The remaining 10% of works sold in US dollars and euros were recalculated at the exchange rate at the time of the transaction, as a result of which some positions changed places. In addition to the actual cost of the work, data was collected on the total capitalization of artists (the number of top works sold at auction over all years), on the place of a contemporary artist in the ranking of artists of all times, on the place of the participant’s most expensive work among all works sold by other authors, and also about nationality and country of residence. Statistics on repeat sales of each artist also contain important information as an objective indicator of investment
attractiveness.

Last year, 2013, significantly changed the position of contemporary artists in the international sales rankings. From the top 50 most expensive works 16 contemporary works of art were sold last season - a record number (for comparison, 17 works were sold from 2010 to 2012; there was only one sale in the 20th century). The demand for living artists is partly identical to the demand for all contemporary art, partly to the cynical understanding that the capitalization of assets after their death will invariably increase.

Among the Russian participants, the brothers turned out to be the most respectable Sergey And Alexey Tkachev(b. 1922 and 1925), the youngest - Anatoly Osmolovsky(b. 1969). The question is who will be new Jean-Michel Basquiat, while open. In the sales of our artists, clear classes of buyers are visible: the leaders are bought by foreign collectors and Russian oligarchs, places from 10th to 30th are provided by emigrant collectors, and the conditional bottom of the top 50 is our future, young collectors who have entered the market with “new » money.

1. Ilya Kabakov
It seems that in general he is the main Russian artist (which does not prevent Kabakov, who was born in Dnepropetrovsk, from describing himself as Ukrainian), the founding father of Moscow conceptualism (one of), the author of the term and practice of “total installation”. Since 1988 he has lived and worked in New York. He works in collaboration with his wife, Emilia Kabakova, which is why the title should look like “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov,” but since Ilya Iosifovich became known earlier than Ilya and Emilia, then let it remain so. The works are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, MoMA, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), etc.
Year of birth: 1933
Work: "Beetle". 1982
Date of sale: 02/28/2008
Price (GBP)1: 2,932,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 10,686,000
Place: 1
Average Job Cost (GBP): 117,429
Number of repeat sales: 12

2. Erik Bulatov
Using techniques that would later be called social art, he combined figurative painting with text in his works. In Soviet times, a successful illustrator of children's books. Since 1989 he has lived and worked in New York, and since 1992 in Paris. The first Russian artist with a personal exhibition at the Pompidou Center. Works are kept in collections Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Museum, Center Pompidou, Ludwig Museum in Cologne, etc., are included in the collections of the Foundation Dina Verni, Viktor Bondarenko, Vyacheslav Kantor, Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1933
Work: “Glory to the CPSU.” 1975
Date of sale: 02/28/2008
Price (GBP)1: 1,084,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 8,802,000
Place: 2
Average job cost (GBP): 163,000
Number of repeat sales: 11

3. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid
The creators of Sots Art - an ironic movement in unofficial art that parodies the symbolism and techniques of officialdom. Since 1978 they have lived in New York. Until the mid-2000s they worked in pairs. As an art project, they organized the “sale of souls” of famous artists through an auction (soul Andy Warhol since then it has been owned by a Moscow artist Alena Kirtsova). Works are in the collections of MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and in the collections Shalva Breus, Daria Zhukova And Roman Abramovich and etc.
Year of birth: 1943, 1945
Work: “Meeting of Solzhenitsyn and Böll at Rostropovich’s dacha.” 1972
Date of sale: 04/23/2010
Price (GBP)1: 657,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 3,014,000
Place: 7
Average job cost (GBP): 75,350
Number of repeat sales: 3

former comar&melamid artstudio archive

4. Semyon Faibisovich
A photorealist artist who remains the most accurate realist even now, when Semyon Natanovich is less interested in painting than in journalism. He exhibited on Malaya Gruzinskaya, where in 1985 he was noticed by New York dealers and collectors. Since 1987, it has been regularly exhibited in the USA and Western Europe. An active supporter of the repeal of the law on the promotion of homosexuality in Russia. Lives and works in Moscow. Works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow House of Photography, museums in Germany, Poland, the USA, and are included in the collections Daria Zhukova And Roman Abramovich, Igor Markin, Igor
Tsukanova.
Year of birth: 1949
Work: “Soldiers” (from the “Station Stations” series). 1989
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 311,200
Total capitalization (GBP): 3,093,000
Place: 6
Average Job Cost (GBP): 106,655
Number of repeat sales: 7

5. Grigory (Grisha) Bruskin
The main character of the first and last Soviet auction Sotheby's in 1988, where his work Fundamental Lexicon became the top lot (£220 thousand). At the invitation of the German government, he created a monumental triptych for the reconstructed Reichstag in Berlin. Winner of the Kandinsky Prize in the “Project of the Year” nomination for the exhibition Time H at the Multimedia Art Museum. Lives and works in New York and Moscow. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, and the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, MoMA, the Museum of Jewish Culture (New York), etc., are included in the collections of the Queen of Spain Sofia, Peter Aven, Shalva Breus, Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Milos Forman.
Year of birth: 1945
Work: “Logies. Part 1". 1987
Date of sale: 07.11.2000
Price (GBP)1: 424,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 720,000
Place: 15
Average job cost (GBP): 24,828
Number of repeat sales: 5

6. Oleg Tselkov
One of the most famous sixties artists, who in the 1960s began and still continues a series of paintings depicting rough, as if sculpted from clay, human faces(or figures) painted with bright aniline colors. Since 1977 he has lived in Paris. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, etc., and are included in the collections Mikhail Baryshnikov, Arthur Miller, Igor Tsukanov. The largest private collection of Tselkov's works in Russia belongs to Evgeniy Yevtushenko.
Year of birth: 1934
Work: "Boy with Balloons." 1957
Date of sale: 11/26/2008
Price (GBP)1: 238,406
Total capitalization (GBP): 4,232,000
Place: 5
Average job cost (GBP): 53,570
Number of repeat sales: 14

7. Oscar Rabin
Leader of the “Lianozov group” (Moscow nonconformist artists of the 1950s-1960s), organizer of the scandalous Bulldozer exhibition 1974. He was the first in the Soviet Union to sell works privately. In 1978 he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. Lives and works in Paris. In 2006 he became a laureate of the Innovation Prize for his contribution to art. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, and are included in the collections of Alexander Glezer, Vyacheslav Kantor, Alexander Kronik, Iveta and Tamaz Manasherov, Evgeniy Nutovich, Aslan Chekhoev.
Year of birth: 1928
Work: “The City and the Moon (Socialist
city)". 1959
Date of sale: 04/15/2008
Price (GBP)1: 171,939
Total capitalization (GBP): 5,397,000
Place: 3
Average job cost (GBP): 27,964
Number of repeat sales: 45

8. Zurab Tsereteli
The largest representative of already monumental art. Author of the monument to Peter I in Moscow and the monument Good conquers Evil in front of the UN building in New York. Founder of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, President Russian Academy arts, creator of the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, which works at the above-mentioned academy. Sculptures of Zurab Tsereteli, in addition to Russia, adorn Brazil, Great Britain, Georgia, Spain, Lithuania, USA, France and Japan.
Year of birth: 1934
Work: “Dream of Athos”
Date of sale: 12/01/2009
Price (GBP)1: 151,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 498,000
Place: 19
Average job cost (GBP): 27,667
Number of repeat sales: 4

9. Viktor Pivovarov
One of the founders of Moscow conceptualism. Like Kabakov, the inventor of the concept album genre; like Kabakov, Bulatov and Oleg Vasiliev, a successful illustrator of children’s books who collaborated with the magazines “Murzilka” and “Funny Pictures”. Since 1982 he has lived and worked in Prague. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, and the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkina, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), in the collections of Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1937
Work: “Triptych with a snake.” 2000
Date of sale: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 482,000
Place: 20
Average job cost (GBP): 17,852
Number of repeat sales: 6

10. Alexander Melamid
Half of the creative tandem Komar - Melamid, which broke up in 2003. Together with Vitaly Komar, participant Bulldozer exhibition(where they died Double self-portrait, a seminal work of Sots Art). Since 1978 he has lived and worked in New York. There is no information about which famous collections contain Melamid’s works, created by him independently.
Year of birth: 1945
Work: “Cardinal José Saraiva Martins.” 2007
Date of sale: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 145,000
Place: 36
Average job cost (GBP): 145,000
Number of repeat sales: —

11. Francisco Infante-Arana
The owner of perhaps the most extensive list of exhibitions among Russian artists. Member of the kinetic group "Movement", in the 1970s he found his own version of photo performance, or “artifact” - geometric forms integrated into the natural landscape.
Year of birth: 1943
Work: “Building a sign.” 1984
Date of sale: 05/31/2006
Price (GBP)1: 142,400
Total capitalization (GBP): 572,000
Place: 17
Average job cost (GBP): 22,000
Number of repeat sales: —

12. Vladimir Nemukhin
Metaphysician. A classic of the second wave of Russian avant-garde, a member of the “Lianozov group”, one of the participants in the Bulldozer exhibition, curator (or initiator) of important exhibitions of the 1980s, when the unofficial Soviet
art was just becoming aware of itself.
Year of birth: 1925
Work: “Unfinished Solitaire.” 1966
Date of sale: 04/26/2006
Price (GBP)1: 240,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 4,338,000
Place: 4
Average Job Cost (GBP): 36,454
Number of repeat sales: 26

13. Vladimir Yankilevsky
Surrealist, one of the main names of post-war Moscow unofficial art, creator of monumental philosophical polyptychs.
Year of birth: 1938
Work: “Triptych No. 10. Anatomy of the soul. II." 1970
Date of sale: 04/23/2010
Price (GBP)1: 133,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 754,000
Place: 14
Average job cost (GBP): 12,780
Number of repeat sales: 7

14. Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky
Scenic project Paintings to order, which they began in the hopeless 1990s for painting, received what it deserved in the 2000s. The duet became popular with collectors, and one painting ended up in the collection of the Pompidou Center.
Year of birth: 1963, 1964
Work: "Night Fitness". 2004
Date of sale: 06/22/2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 1,378,000
Place: 11
Average job cost (GBP): 26,500
Number of repeat sales: 4

15. Sergey Volkov
One of the heroes of perestroika art, known for his expressive paintings with thoughtful statements. Soviet auction participant Sotheby's in 1988.
Year of birth: 1956
Work: “Double Vision.
Triptych"
Date of sale: 05/31/2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 777,000
Place: 12
Average job cost (GBP): 38,850
Number of repeat sales: 4

16. AES + F (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeniy Svyatsky, Vladimir Fridkes)
AES projects were distinguished by their good presentation in the slack 1990s, which is why they were remembered. Now they are making large animated murals that are broadcast on dozens of screens.
Year of birth: 1955, 1958, 1957, 1956
Work: “Warrior No. 4”
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 120,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 305,000
Place: 27
Average job cost (GBP): 30,500
Number of repeat sales: —

17. Lev Tabenkin
A sculptor and painter with a sculptural vision, as if sculpting his heroes from clay.
Year of birth: 1952
Work: "Jazz Orchestra". 2004
Date of sale: 06/30/2008
Price (GBP)1: 117,650
Total capitalization (GBP): 263,000
Place: 28
Average job cost (GBP): 26,300
Number of repeat sales: 7

18. Mikhail (Misha Shaevich) Brusilovsky
Sverdlovsk surrealist, author of meaningful allegories.
Year of birth: 1931
Work: "Football". 1965
Date of sale: 11/28/2006
Price (GBP)1: 108,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 133,000
Place: 38
Average job cost (GBP): 22,167
Number of repeat sales: —

19. Olga Bulgakova
One of the main figures of the intelligentsia “carnival” painting of the Brezhnev era. Corresponding Member
Russian Academy of Arts.
Year of birth: 1951
Work: “Dream of Red
bird." 1988
Date of sale: 11/22/2010
Price (GBP)1: 100,876
Total capitalization (GBP): 219,000
Place: 31
Average job cost (GBP): 36,500
Number of repeat sales: —

20. Alexander Ivanov
An abstract artist who is known primarily as a businessman, collector and creator of the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden (Germany).
Year of birth: 1962
Work: "Love". 1996
Date of sale: 06/05/2013
Price (GBP)1: 97,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 201,000
Place: 33
Average Job Cost (GBP): 50,250
Number of repeat sales: —

21. Ivan Chuikov
An independent wing of Moscow pictorial conceptualism. Author of a series of paintings-objects Windows. Somehow in the 1960s he burned all the paintings, which is why gallery owners are still sad.
Year of birth: 1935
Work: "Untitled". 1986
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 96,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 1,545,000
Place: 10
Average Job Cost (GBP): 36,786
Number of repeat sales: 8

22. Konstantin Zvezdochetov
In his youth, he was a member of the group "Mukhomor", which called themselves "fathers" new wave" in Soviet Union" -
with good reason; with the onset of creative maturity, participant of the Venice Biennale and Kassel
documenta. Researcher and connoisseur of the visual in Soviet grassroots culture.
Year of birth: 1958
Product: "Perdo-K-62M"
Date of sale: 06/13/2008
Price (GBP)1: 92,446
Total capitalization (GBP): 430,000
Place: 22
Average job cost (GBP): 22,632
Number of repeat sales: 2

23. Natalya Nesterova
One of the main art stars of the Brezhnev stagnation. Loved by collectors for its textured, painterly style.
Year of birth: 1944
Work: “The Miller and His
son". 1969
Date of sale: 06/15/2007
Price (GBP)1: 92,388
Total capitalization (GBP): 1,950,000
Place: 9
Average job cost (GBP): 20,526
Number of repeat sales: 15

24. Maxim Kantor
An expressionist painter who performed in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1997 - as well as a publicist and writer, author of a philosophical and satirical novel Drawing tutorial about the ins and outs of the Russian art world.
Year of birth: 1957
Work: “The Structure of Democracy.” 2003
Date of sale: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 87,650
Total capitalization (GBP): 441,000
Place: 21
Average Job Cost (GBP): 44,100
Number of repeat sales: 2

25. Andrey Sidersky
Creates paintings in the style of psy-art he invented. Translated works of Carlos Castaneda and Richard Bach into Russian.
Year of birth: 1960
Work: “Triptych”
Date of sale: 12/04/2009
Price (GBP)1: 90,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 102,000
Place: 42
Average job cost (GBP): 51,000
Number of repeat sales: —

26. Valery Koshlyakov
Known for paintings with architectural motifs. The largest representative of the “South Russian wave”. Often uses cardboard boxes, bags, and tape. The first exhibition with his participation was held in a public toilet in Rostov-on-Don in 1988.
Year of birth: 1962
Work: "Versailles". 1993
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 72,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 346,000
Place: 26
Average job cost (GBP): 21,625
Number of repeat sales: 8

27. Alexey Sundukov
Laconic, leaden in color paintings about “ lead abominations» everyday Russian life.
Year of birth: 1952
Work: “The Essence of Being.” 1988
Date of sale: 04/23/2010
Price (GBP)1: 67,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 255,000
Place: 29
Average job cost (GBP): 25,500
Number of repeat sales: 1

28. Igor Novikov
Belongs to the generation of Moscow nonconformist artists of the late 1980s.
Year of birth: 1961
Work: “The Kremlin Breakfast, or Moscow for Sale.” 2009
Date of sale: 03.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 62,092
Total capitalization (GBP): 397,000
Place: 24
Average job cost (GBP): 15,880
Number of repeat sales: 3

29. Vadim Zakharov
Archivist of Moscow conceptualism. The author of spectacular installations on profound topics, represented Russia at the Venice
biennial
Year of birth: 1959
Work: "Baroque". 1986-1994
Date of sale: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 61,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 243,000
Place: 30
Average job cost (GBP): 20,250
Number of repeat sales: —

30. Yuri Krasny
Author art programs for children with special needs.
Year of birth: 1925
Work: “The Smoker”
Date of sale: 04/04/2008Price (GBP)1: 59,055
Total capitalization (GBP): 89,000
Place: 44
Average job cost (GBP): 11,125
Number of repeat sales: 8

31. Sergey and Alexey Tkachev
Classics of late Soviet impressionism, students of Arkady Plastov, famous for their paintings from the life of the Russian village.
Year of birth: 1922, 1925
Work: “In the Field.” 1954
Date of sale: 01.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 58,813
Total capitalization (GBP): 428,000
Place: 23
Average job cost (GBP): 22,526
Number of repeat sales: 4

32. Svetlana Kopystyanskaya
Known for installations of paintings. After the Moscow auction Sotheby's in 1988 he works abroad.
Year of birth: 1950
Work: “Seascape”
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 57,600
Total capitalization (GBP): 202,000
Place: 32
Average job cost (GBP): 22,444
Number of repeat sales: 2

33. Boris Orlov
A sculptor close to social art. He is famous for his works in the ironic “imperial” style and his masterful craftsmanship of bronze busts and bouquets.
Year of birth: 1941
Work: "Sailor". 1976
Date of sale: 10/17/2013
Price (GBP)1: 55,085
Total capitalization (GBP): 174,000
Place: 34
Average job cost (GBP): 17,400
Number of repeat sales: 1

34. Vyacheslav Kalinin
The author of expressive paintings from the life of the urban lower classes and drinking bohemia.
Year of birth: 1939
Artwork: “Self-portrait with a hang glider”
Date of sale: 11/25/2012
Price (GBP)1: 54,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 766,000
Place: 13
Average job cost (GBP): 12,767
Number of repeat sales: 24

35. Evgeny Semenov
Known for his photo series with Down's disease patients playing the roles of gospel characters.
Year of birth: 1960
Work: "Heart". 2009
Date of sale: 06/29/2009
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 49,000
Place: 48
Average job cost (GBP): 49,000
Number of repeat sales: —

36. Yuri Cooper
He became famous for his nostalgic canvases with old household items. Author of the play Twelve paintings from the life of the artist, staged at the Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov.
Year of birth: 1940
Work: “Window. Dassa Street, 56." 1978
Date of sale: 06/09/2010
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total capitalization (GBP): 157,000
Place: 35
Average job cost (GBP): 2,754
Number of repeat sales: 14

37. Alexander Kosolapov
A socialist artist whose work has become a target for all sorts of attacks. During the Art Moscow 2005 fair, one of his works was destroyed by a religious fanatic with a hammer.
Year of birth: 1943
Work: "Marlboro Malevich." 1987
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 510,000
Place: 18
Average job cost (GBP): 15,938
Number of repeat sales: 1

38. Leonid Sokov
A leading sculptor of Sots Art who combined folklore with politics. Among famous works Device for determining nationality by nose shape.
Year of birth: 1941
Work: “A bear hitting a sickle with a hammer.” 1996
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total capitalization (GBP): 352,000
Place: 25
Average job cost (GBP): 13,538
Number of repeat sales: 7

39. Vladimir Ovchinnikov
One of the patriarchs of unofficial art in Leningrad. Orthodox version of Fernando Botero.
Year of birth: 1941
Work: “Angels and Railway Tracks.” 1977
Date of sale: 04/17/2007
Price (GBP)1: 47,846
Total capitalization (GBP): 675,000
Place: 16
Average job cost (GBP): 15,341
Number of repeat sales: —

40. Konstantin Khudyakov
Author of paintings on religious subjects. Currently working in digital art technology.
Year of birth: 1945
Work: " last supper" 2007
Date of sale: 02/18/2011
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total capitalization (GBP): 97,000
Place: 43
Average job cost (GBP): 32,333
Number of repeat sales: —

41. Ernst Neizvestny
An icon of Soviet nonconformism - ever since he openly objected to General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the vernissage of the legendary exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists. After that, he made a monument at Khrushchev’s grave and a monument in front of the UN European headquarters.
Year of birth: 1925
Work: “Untitled”
Date of sale: 06/08/2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total capitalization (GBP): 2,931,000
Place: 8
Average job cost (GBP): 24,839
Number of repeat sales: 13

42. Anatoly Osmolovsky
One of the main figures of Moscow actionism of the 1990s, art theorist, curator, publisher and head of the Baza Institute research and educational program, laureate of the first Kandinsky Prize.
Year of birth: 1969
Work: “Bread” (from the “Pagans” series). 2009
Date of sale: 04/23/2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total capitalization (GBP): 83,000
Place: 46
Average job cost (GBP): 11,857
Number of repeat sales: —

43. Dmitry Vrubel
Photorealist painter, known mainly for his painting of Brezhnev and Honecker kissing (more precisely, thanks to the author’s reproduction on the Berlin Wall).
Year of birth: 1960
Work: “Fraternal kiss (triptych).” 1990
Date of sale: 11/25/2013
Price (GBP)1: 45,000

Place: 40
Average job cost (GBP): 16,429
Number of repeat sales: 2

44. Leonid Lamm
The author of installations that combine motifs of the Russian avant-garde and scenes of Soviet prison life. Lives in America. In the 1970s, he spent three years in prisons and camps on false charges.
Year of birth: 1928
Work: “Apple II” (from the “Seventh Heaven” series). 1974-1986
Date of sale: 12/16/2009
Price (GBP)1: 43,910
Total capitalization (GBP): 115,000
Place: 41
Average job cost (GBP): 14,375
Number of repeat sales: —

Irina Nakhova’s picturesque installations of the 1980s in her apartment can claim authorship in the “total” genre.

45. Irina Nakhova
Muse of Moscow conceptualism. Winner of the 2013 Kandinsky Prize for “Project of the Year”. In 2015 at the 56th Venice Biennale
will represent Russia.
Year of birth: 1955
Work: "Triptych". 1983
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total capitalization (GBP): 85,000
Place: 45
Average job cost (GBP): 17,000
Number of repeat sales: 1

46. ​​Katya Filippova
Avant-garde clothing designer who became famous during perestroika. She decorated the windows of the Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, and was friends with Pierre Cardin.
Year of birth: 1958
“Work: Marina Ladynina” (from the “Russian Hollywood” series)
Date of sale: 03/12/2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total capitalization (GBP): 39,000
Place: 49
Average job cost (GBP): 39,000
Number of repeat sales: —

47. Boris Zaborov
Theater artist, book illustrator. In 1980 he emigrated to Paris and worked on costumes for the Comedy Française.
Year of birth: 1935
Work: “Participant”. 1981
Date of sale: 10/30/2006
Price (GBP)1: 36,356
Total capitalization (GBP): 67,000
Place: 47
Average job cost (GBP): 13,400
Number of repeat sales: 2

48. Rostislav Lebedev
Classic socialist artist, colleague (and workshop neighbor) of Boris Orlov and Dmitry Prigov. Creatively transformed visual propaganda from Soviet times.
Year of birth: 1946
Work: “Russian Fairy Tale”. 1949
Date of sale: 06/03/2008
Price (GBP)1: 34,000
Total capitalization (GBP): 122,000
Place: 39
Average job cost (GBP): 24,400
Number of repeat sales: 2

49. Andrey Filippov
Belongs to the Moscow conceptual school. The author of paintings and installations united by the theme “Moscow - the Third Rome”. Since 2009, together with Yuri Albert and Victor Skersis, he has been a member of the Cupid group.
Year of birth: 1959
Work: "Seven Feet Under the Keel." 1988
Date of sale: 05/31/2006
Price (GBP)1: 33,600
Total capitalization (GBP): 137,000
Place: 37
Average job cost (GBP): 12,455
Number of repeat sales: 3

50. Vladimir Shinkarev
Founder and ideologist of the Leningrad art group“Mitki”, in whose novel Mitki this term was first heard. The novel was written out of boredom while working in the boiler room.
Year of birth: 1954
Work: “Lenin Square I”. 1999
Date of sale: 06/30/2008
Price (GBP)1: 32,450
Total capitalization (GBP): 33,000
Place: 50
Average job cost (GBP): 16,500
Number of repeat sales: —

Sales vs exhibitions

Market recognition and professional community recognition seem to many different things, however, the division into “commercial” and “non-commercial” artists is very arbitrary. Thus, of the Russian artists who have exhibited at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art over the past ten years (and this is the pinnacle of their professional career), seven (if counting by person, then 11 people) are included in our rating. And the top 10 artists from the rating either exhibited at the Venice Biennale before, or had personal exhibitions in major museums. As for those wonderful artists who were not included in the rating, their absence or not very outstanding sales can be explained simply and banally. Collectors are conservative and even from the most avant-garde creators they prefer to buy paintings (paintings, objects similar to paintings or photographs) or sculpture (or objects similar to sculpture). There are no record-breaking performances or giant installations in our rating (installations are usually bought by museums, but the prices are museum-quality, at a discount). That is why such stars as Andrey Monastyrsky, Oleg Kulik, Pavel Pepperstein(until recently I mainly did graphics, and graphics are a priori cheaper than painting) or, for example, Nikolay Polissky, whose grandiose designs have not yet found any understanding collectors.

In addition, the market is also conservative because recognition comes slowly - note that in the top 10 all artists were born in 1950 or older. That is, promising participants of the biennale still have everything ahead of them.