WALERA MARTYNCHIK

Biography

For decades the Soviet Nonconformists Art had been associated with artists from Moscow and Leningrad. Only after Perestroika did it become clear that an independent cultural life existed outside these two cities-though deep underground.

Walera Martynchik was born in1948 in Belarus - in the country where M.Chagall and H.Sutin were born, and were K.Malevich taught his theories at the Vitebsk’s School of Art.

He spent his childhood in the beautiful medieval town of Grodno on the border with Poland. There he did his first drawings in the Art Studio of the “Palace of Culture”. He experienced the first conflict with the repressive Soviet educational system when he was expelled from a foundation course for visiting an “unlawful” exhibition in Moscow.

Nevertheless in1965 he was able to enrol in the Public Art course at the Byelorussian Academy of Fine Art and Drama in Minsk. After graduating in 1972, he started work in a State Public Art Company. Whilst there, he participated in projects in mosaic, stained glass, mural, sculpture and ceramic.

During this time he was also working on developing his own style in painting. He began to work on series of large paintings, the first of which “Provocation” was completed in 1979.

The attitude of the Soviet government towards modern Art is well known, and Walera’s first chance to exhibit his works was only after “Perestroika”. In1987 he was the leader and organiser of a group of non-conformist Byelorussian artists known as “Forma” which mounted a series of exhibitions in Minsk, Tallinn and Moscow.

He lives and works in London. He exhibits internationally and his works are in public and private collections throughout the world.

Solo exhibitions

2019 Singapore Arteries Art fair
2018 OXO Tower, Barge House Exhibition, London
2018 Bethnal Green Gallery, London
2016 STAGE, Singapore Art fair
2015 Biennale of Light and Sound, Moscow, Russia
2014 Solo show, Museum of Decorative Art, Moscow
2014 Solo show, Crouch End Open Studios
2013 Solo Show, Albemarle Gallery, London.
2012 Solo show "Art of Memory" Martynchik drawings, House of Vostrovska Gallery, Vyner Street, London
2011 Solo exhibition at the Pink Floyd Show, O2, London 
2010 Solo exhibition. at the MTV Award, Madrid 
2010 Unique Art Gallery, Chelsea, London 
2008 "Walera Martynchik" Ivana Morozoff Galerie, Brussels, Belgium 
2008 "Walera Martynchik" New End Gallery, Hampstead, London 
2007 "Consolation Zone" Martynchik Art Foundation, Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Sq., London EC1 
2006 “Walera Martynchik” ArtLondon.com Gallery, London 
2005 “Walera Martynchik” ArtLondon.com Gallery London 
1997 “Walera Martynchik” Galery Basmajan, Paris, France 
1994 “Walera Martynchik” Vlissingen City Gallery, Holland 
1994 “Walera Martynchik” Gallery Basmajan, Paris, France 
1992 “Walera Martynchik” Gallery Basmajan, Paris, France 
1990 “Walera Martynchik” Red Square Gallery, London 

Selected group exhibitions

2015 Red Square Gallery, Singapore
2014 Lounerdale House Gallery, Highgate Hill, London
2014 Koller Abstract Art Gallery, Academy of Art, Moscow
2013 Academy of Art, Moscow
2012 House of Vostrovska Gallery, Vyner Street, London
2012 Matt Roberts gallery, Vyner Street, London
2012 Abstract Art Group show, Vitebsk, Belarus
2010 La Galleria Pall Mall, Art Bizzar, London 
2010 New End Gallery, Hamstead, London 
2010 Artige Fine Art, La Galeria Pall Mall, London 
2010 Russian Art Fair, Mayfair, London 
2010 Artige Fine Art, Colomb Gallery, Mayfair, 
2010 Ricshaw House Gallery, London 
2010 Unique Art Gallery, Chelsy, London 
2010 Russian Art Fair, Mayfair, London 
2010 Artige Art Exhibition, Maifair, London 
2010 Ricshow Art Gallery, London 
2009 Bedfordbury Gallery, Covent Garden, London 
2009 Ricksaw House Gallery, London 
2009 Albermarle Gallery, London 
2008 New End Gallery, Hampstead, London 
2007 "21 Century Watercolour" Royal Society of watercolour artists, Bankside Gallery, London 
2005 “21 Century Watercolour” Bankside Gallery, London 
2005 New English Art Club, Mall Gallery, London 
2004 Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Mall Gallery, London 
2002 Demarco Art Foundation, Brooks Univercity, Oxford 
2001 Dach exhibition, Gallery im Kunshaus, Tacheles, Berlin 
2000 Demarco Art Foundation, Stainly Picker Gallery, London 
1998 Kensington Art Fair, London 
1995 Art from Belarus, Edinburgh Festival 
1991 Olimpia Art Fair London

After liberalisation of political and cultural lives in the former USSR an organiser and a leader of “Forma”- a group of nonconformist artists in Belarus 

1989 “Forma” exhibition Union of Artists Gallery, Moskow 
1989 “Forma exhibition Troitsk City-gallery, Moskow 
1988 1st Festival of Soviet underground Art Narva, Estonia 
1988 “Forma” exhibition Na Kashirke Gallery, Moskow 
1987 “Forma” exhibition “Kadriorg” State Art Museum, Tallin, Estonia 
1987 “Forma” exhibition Kohtla-iarve, City-gallery, Estonia 

 Awards- Prize winner "21 Century Watercolour" competition, Bankside Gallery, London 2005

 Public and private collections:

National Museum, Lviv, Ukraine
Museum of Modern Art, Minsk, Belarus
Norton Dodge Collection of Soviet Underground Art, New Jersey, USA
Private collections around the globe.

Paris, 1992, Solo Show at Gallerie Basmajian	London, 1990, Red Square Gallery
	London, 2013, Solo Show at Albemarle Gallery
London, 2013, Solo Show at Albemarle Gallery	Moscow, 2015, Academy of Arts
Moscow, 2015, Academy of Arts	Singapore, 2015, Stage, Art Fair
Moscow, 2015, Museum of Applied Arts	Moscow, 2015, Celestial Objects, Museum of Applied Arts
Madrid, 2010, MTV Award	Lviv, Ukraine, 2016, National Museum
London, 2018, Willesden Green Gallery	London, 2018, Willesden Green Gallery
Singapore, 2019, ARTery Art Fair	Singapore, 2019, Art Fair
London, 2018, Heart, Veins, And Arteries, Barge House Exhibition, OXO Tower	London, 2019, Paddington, Maria Magdalena Church, Misterium Cosmographicum, Light Exhibition
Moscow, 2016, Belyaevo Gallery, Bienalle of Light	Moscow, 2016, Belyaevo Gallery, Misterium Cosmographicum, Light Installation and Performance
Moscow, Garage Museum, John Coltrane Light Sculpture	Singapore, 2019, ARTeries, Art Fair

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