Born в Saint Petersburg in 1958. Oleg Kotelnikov is a legendary figure in the history of Leningrad underground culture, artist, poet, musician. Since the 1970s, he has participated in exhibitions jointly with the founder of the New Academy of Fine Arts Timur Novikov. Since 1982 — a member of the New Artists group, the association of the Leningrad New Wave nonconformist artists. In the 1980s Oleg Kotelnikov collaborated with Sergey Kurekhin’s Pop Mechanika Orchestra. One of the permanent residents at 10 Pushkynskaya Art Center — former squat in Saint-Petersburg that became the center of the Leningrad underground movement at the end of the 1980s. As with many members of the New Artists, painting for Oleg Kotelnikov is an opportunity for self-expression in color, a punk-style statement embodied in a visual image. The artist frequently works in a mixed technique, utilizing all available materials as the basis for his pieces: cardboard, shower curtain, discarded paintings. Kotelnikov’s art is marked by absurdist humor and aristocratic nonchalance — those very qualities define the personal charm of the artist. The expressive artistic style of Oleg Kotelnikov is often compared to the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. His pieces are an anarchic festival of life in the style of rock-‘n-roll — the same atmosphere that united the artists and musicians of the Leningrad underground.
Since 2014 Oleg Kotelnikov periodically holds exhibitions in the Moscow VGLAZ Art Community. Solo exhibitions of the artists were organized in the Pechersky Gallery in Moscow (2012), Floors, Loft Project in Saint Petersburg (2011), Sigmund Freud Dream Museum in Saint Petersburg (2007), Nonconformist Art Museum in Saint Petersburg (2007). Kotelnikov participated in group exhibitions: Brush-stroke exhibition at the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg (2010), The New Artists Are Coming! Exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2012), Club of Friends: New Artists and the New Academy of Timur Novikov exhibition at the Calvert 22 Gallery, London, Great Britain (2014).
Pieces by Oleg Kotelnikov can be seen at the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), State Russian Museum (Saint Petersburg), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museum of Non-Conformist Art (Saint Petersburg).
Exhibition participant:
The Common Goal Philosophy. Glossary.