# Alexey Parygin

Alexey Borisovich Parygin (Russian: Алексе́й Бори́сович Па́рыгин; born December 2, 1964, in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian artist, philosopher, art historian, art theorist and curator. He is the author of several philosophical art projects, including Contemplation of Money (1997–2000), Art is a Business (2000–2015), Art in the Forest (2000–2005), City as an Artist's Subjectivity (2019–2020), Posturbanism Art Project (since 2005).

## Biography

Alexey was born in Leningrad 2 December 1964. His father Boris Parygin was a social psychologist. Alexey studied at the graphics faculty of the Herzen University from 1982 to 1989. He organized the art group “Union № 0” in Leningrad in 1986–1989 and created the art squatters’ workshop “Nevsky-25” in Leningrad in 1987–1990. Joined the Professional Artists’ Union of Russia in 1994, the Art Critics Association (ACA) member since 2003. PhD in Art History with the thesis Silk Screening as a phenomenon of the 20th Century art (2002).
Since the mid—1980s, the artist perfected printed graphic technics of serigraphy, linocut, woodcut, lithography, cardboard engraving and collagraphy). The artist's works are in many museum collections in Russia (State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of Russia) and the world. The artist lives and makes art in his workshop at the Benois House (St. Petersburg, Russia).

### The nature of creativity

In 1980-1990 Parygin concentrated on easel oil painting outside and using models at the studio, experimented with various paint foundations such as canvas, plywood, glass and other media and used texture and relief techniques.
From Aleksandr Kamensky’s article (1988):
   The works create new poetry, which involuntarily rivals with habitual esthetic stereotypes. For instance, we accept as a common notion to worship joyously the classic beauty of St. Petersburg, its harmony and stately grandeur. This exposition does have variations of that sort. But observe “Night Nevsky” by Parygin. Rough to the touch texture, dark abyss. In the darkness urgent lights explode. They bring forth immediate spiritual angst. One does not regard the regal magnificence of the urban landscape-it is neither cast aside, nor left behind the curtains, as dramatism of modern perception takes over. One regards not a city museum for curious crowds, but one beholds the habitat of our days where we seek, love, fight, suffer. That art defines perception...
From Mikhail German’s article (1991):
   ...from my point of view, a very serious, worthy and professional exhibition. It's nice that there is a solid culture of color, ...there is a persistent desire to express their feelings of life, their artistic vision.
From the middle of the 90-ies the artist’s main studies subject matter and experiments became signs and sign systems as communicative link of the contemporary society. From 1997 the artist created a series of extended multimedia projects Contemplation of Money, Art is a Business, Art in the Forest.
From Nikolay Blagodatov's article (2002):
   His works show high culture, erudition and taste, it is hard to favor any particular piece. Moreover, the artist prefers options on a particular plastic theme, as he himself puts it. He uses various in techniques, and revisits it in different periods of creativity. He believes his plastic theme conveys the plastic state. The state arises and manifests in very different ways, yet retaining its basic sign. Perhaps this art form blends both the sign and its notion.
Since 2000, Parygin has been developing the utopian concept of the form of art after the death of art—Posturbanism Art Project / PostUrbanism.

### Artist's books

Since 1989, Parygin has been contributing to artist's books. His first editions featured visual series of the author's poetic text: Pesok (The Sand). Leningrad. 1989; Circulation—5 numbered and signed copies; Tsvetnye zvuki (The Coloured Sounds). Leningrad. 1989. Circulation—5 numbered and signed copies; Zelenaia kniga (The Green Book). Leningrad. 1989. Circulation—6 numbered and signed copies; Moia mansarda (My Attic). Leningrad. 1990. Circulation—6 numbered and signed copies. And the artist’s book Krasnye karliki (The Red Dwarfs). Saint Petersburg. 1990. Circulation—8 numbered and signed copies.
From Elena Grigoryant’s article (2019):
   Another important direction in contemporary Russian artists’ books, with many precedents set by the Futurists, is the fusion of poetic and artistic talent of artist-authors blessed with Doppelbegabung. The intimate relationships between text and image is enhanced when author and artist are one and the same person and engage in an inter-art discourse that leads to creations that are truly unified works of art. An artist who achieved equal mastery in more than one medium and made different arts merge in his personality was no doubt Alexey Parygin. His poetic collections <...> represent an attempt to synthesize text and plastic figurative form in books where literary and visual languages are calculated to have a simultaneous effect on the reader/viewer. The work of Alexey Parygin have common features that are not accidental as the books were created at more or less the same time.
Spanning for three decades of featured art works the legacy holds about forty unique book objects. In the past decade the artist has participated several major group art editions: Metamorphosis. LS Collection Van Abbemuseum. 2013; Mayakovsky-Manifesto. St. Petersburg. 2014. Strannik Gumilëv (Wanderer Gumilyov). 2016; Jubilaeus. LS Collection Van Abbemuseum. 2018; Russkiy bukvar' (Russian Alphabet book). M. 2018; Poeziya neizvestnykh slov: Variatsii v kirillitse (Poetry of Unknown Words: Variations in the Cyrillic alphabet). M. 2019.

## Museum collections

* British Library. (London).
* J. Paul Getty Museum. Getty Research Institute. (Los Angeles).
* Princeton University Library. Rare Books and Special Collections Dept. (New Jersey).
* Van Abbemuseum. Russian book art collection LS (Albert Lemmens & Serge Stommels). (Eindhoven).
* Saxon State and University Library Dresden. (Dresden).
* Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky. (Hamburg).
* National Museum, Warsaw. Cabinet of modern graphics and drawings. (Warsaw).
* A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts. Graphics collection. (Almaty).
* Library of Catalonia. Prints and Drawings Collection. (Barcelona).
* National Library of Latvia. Prints and Drawings Collection. (Riga).
* Latvian National Museum of Art. Arsenal/ Artist's Book Foundation. Science library. (Riga).
* Deering Library. Northwestern University. Artist Book Foundation. (Evanston, Illinois).
* Chapin Library. Artist's Book Foundation. (Williamstown, Massachusetts).
* Kumu. Science Library. Tallinn.
* Luciano Benetton Collection Imago Mundi. Gallerie delle Prigioni. (Treviso).
* Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum. Mexico City.
* Museo de la Acuarela. (Toluca).
* Archivio di Comunicazione Visiva e Libri d’Artista. (Sicily).
* Mezinárodní portrétní galerie. (Tuzla).
* Остен музеј на цртеж. Skopje.
* Hermitage Museum. Hermitage Academic Library/ Rare Books and Manuscripts Sector. (St. Petersburg).
* Pushkin Museum. Science Library/ Rare Books Dept. (Moscow).
* Russian Museum. Department of engraving XVIII-XXI centuries. The contemporary photography sector; GRM Science Library/ Rare Books Sector (St. Petersburg).
* National Library of Russia. Department of Prints (St. Petersburg).
* Russian State Library. Department of Prints/ Artist's Book Foundation (Moscow).
* RAH Science Library. Rare Book Sector (St. Petersburg).
* Museum of Art of St. Petersburg of the 20th and 21st centuries. Saint Petersburg Manege. (St. Petersburg).
* Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Library/ Artist's Books Sector. (Moscow).
* State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. (St. Petersburg).
* Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum. (St. Petersburg).
* Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. (St. Petersburg).
* The Museum Complex The Universe of Water. (St. Petersburg).
* Peterhof State Museum-Reserve/ Benoit Family Museum. Russia.
* The Mayakovsky State Museum. (Moscow).
* The State Museum and Exhibition Center "ROSISO. Graphics collection. (Moscow).
* Russian State Library of Arts. (Moscow).
* State Darwin Museum. Graphics. (Moscow).
* State Fine Arts Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan. Graphics collection. (Kazan).
* Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts named after I. Mashkov. (Volgograd).
* P. M. Dogadin Astrakhan State Art Gallery. (Astrakhan).
* Bashkir Nesterov Art Museum. Graphics collection. (Ufa).
* Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. (Kaluga).
* Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P. S. Gamzatova. (Makhachkala).
* Murmansk Regional Art Museum. Graphics collection. (Murmansk).
* Contemporary Fine Art Museum on Dimitrovsky Street. (Rostov on Don).
* Omsk Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts. Graphics collection. (Omsk).
* Liberov Center State Regional Art Museum. (Omsk).
* Lipetsk Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts. (Lipetsk).
* Krasnodar Kovalenko Art Museum. Graphics collection. (Krasnodar).
* Elabuz State Museum Reserve. Contemporary Graphics Foundation. (Elabuga).

## Exhibitions

Since 1986, the artist participated in more than 250 exhibitions held in Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Rostov-on-Donn, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga, Arkhangelsk, Saratov, etc.). The artist exhibited in the Netherlands in Groningen, Eindhoven; Germany in Kiel, Hamburg, Aachen; Italy in Naples, Rome, Caltanissetta; Spain in Bilbao; Montenegro in Bar; Latvia in Riga; Poland in Warsaw; China in Beijing; Mexico in Mexico City; India; Brazil in Bagé; Guatemala in San Pedro Carchá; Ethiopia in Addis Ababa and others.

### Group projects

The artist participated in international art projects, festivals and open-air exhibits: “Kubachi Tower” (Kubachi, Amuzgi, Makhachkala / Dagestan, 2022); “Artisterium XII” (Kutaisi, Tbilisi/ Georgia, 2019); “Museum for Friends” (Lipetsk/ Russia, 2019); "Clouds" (Art-village Witland. Vistula Spit, 2018); “Printed Graphics” (Kazan, Sviyazhsk/ Tatarstan, 2016); “Crna Gora u o'ima ruskih slikara” (Bar/ Montenegro, 2012); “Warszawa w budowie — architektura XXI w malarstwie (Warsaw/ Poland, September 16–26, 2011) and others.
Principal Artist, Printmaking Studio, Timofey Markov Publishing House, St. Petersburg (2012-2014). The artist worked on several joint publishing projects with Georgy Kovenchuk.

### Solo exhibitions

* Posturbanism: Back to the Future. Alexey Parygin. Engravings, art objects, collection.—Book Graphics Library. Saint Petersburg. March 16—April 16, 2023.
* Parygin & Korolchuk (painting, graphics).—Russian Museum, Lecture Hall. Saint Petersburg. November 30—December 31, 1991.

### Group exhibitions

* Chinese-Russian exhibition / The 3rd Jinan International Biennale 'The Age of Human Wisdom'. Shandong Art Museum. Jinan. China. December 20–26, 2024.
* Kazan International Printmaking Triennale „Rider“ 2024. The State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kazan. October 3, 2024–January 19, 2025.
* Da(r)shak: A Decade of IPEP. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh. Chandigarh. February 12–April 30, 2024.
* Contemporary Artist's Book. National Library of Russia. Department of Prints and Photographs. Saint Petersburg. December 4, 2023–February 28, 2024.
* Da(r)shak: A Decade of Printmaking & Viewership. Bihar Museum. Patna. 2023.
* Nuovi corpi nuove forme, Libri d’Artisti. Libri Oggetto (Dalla collezione Archivio di Comunicazione Visiva e Libri d’Artista). Galleria Civica d'Arte di Palazzo Moncada. Caltanissetta. 2022.
* 5ª Bienal Internacional de Gravura „Lívio Abramo“. Casa da Cultura Luiz Antonio Marinez Corrêa. Araraquara. 2018—2019.
* OSTEN Biennial of Drawing. National Gallery of Macedonia—Chifte Hammam. Skopje. North Macedonia. 2018.
* E’CARTA Mini carte contemporanee. MAiO Museo dell’Arte in Ostaggio e delle grafiche visionarie. Cassina de' Pecchi. 2018.
* Il PIACERE NEI LIBRI rassegna di arte erotica dagli ex libris ai libri d’artista. Castel Nuovo. Naples. 2018.
* Sculture da Viaggio — omaggio a Bruno Munari. Museo regionale interdisciplinare di Caltanissetta. Caltanissetta. 2017.
* Die Verwandlung. 25 Jahre russische Künstlerbücher. Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. Hamburg. 2013—2014.
* Latvijas Nacionālās bibliotēkas grafikas jaunieguvumi (gravīras, grāmatu plates, zīmējumi): 2010—2011. National Library of Latvia. Riga. 2012.
* V Bienal Internacional de la Acurela. Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum. Mexico City. 2002, November—2003, February.
* Равноденствие. Gallery Nevsky 20. Leningrad. 1991, June 22—July 22.
* Молодежная выставка. Exhibition Hall of the Artists Union of Russia on Okhta. Leningrad. 1990, June.
* Без жури. Exhibition Hall of the Artists Union of Russia on Okhta. Leningrad. 1989, April.
* Ленинград, история, люди (молодежная республиканская выставка). Exhibition Hall of the Artists Union of Russia on Okhta. Leningrad. 1988, June 10—July 10.

## Teaching

Teaching work since 1988.
Taught courses: Drawing at the Department of Graphics and Sculptures Herzen University (2020–2021). Color science, printed graphics, research at the Department of Graphic Design at St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (2018–2019). He taught layout, the basics of composition, and the foundations of sculpture at the Institute of Landscape Architecture Saint-Petersburg State Forestry University (2017–2019). Painting course and drawing course at the Department of Interior Design/ St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (2003–2012), for which the concept of learning and working programs of the 1st in the 4th course was developed; painting course at the Design School, St. Petersburg, (2004–2009). Author's course Basics of examination of graphic works of art at the Department of Art Studies of St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions, the management of diploma works (1995–2001).