Boris Matrosov
Boris Igorevich Matrosov (born 1965, Moscow) is a Russian artist, former member of the art group World Champions and Chair of the Avant-garde Club (CLAVA). Matrosov is best known for his work "Happiness Is Not Far" on a Perm riverbank. Life and work. Boris Matrosov was born in 1965 in Moscow. From 1986 to 1988 he was a member of World Champions (with Konstantin Latyshev, Andrei Yakhnin, Giya Abramishvili, and Konstantin Zvezdochetov, who was part of the group in its early days). In 1988, he was the Chairman of the Moscow Avant-Garde Club (CLAVA). From 1988  to 1990 he worked in the studios in Furmanny Lane, and from 1990 to 1994 at Chistye Prudy. He has been a member of the Moscow Union of Artists since 1994 and is currently based in Moscow. World Champions were known for mocking the seriousness of the practices of the older generation of Moscow Conceptualists, such as Andrei Monastyrsky and Collective Actions. They received critical acclaim for absurdist actions like "Strokes of Joy" (where they worked collectively to create a drawing of random objects on a large sheet of paper attached to a wall) and "The Gray Sea" (in which  Abramishvili brought a bottle of water from the White Sea and Zvezdochotov from the Black Sea, and the group mixed the water in a little pool, announcing the discovery of a new sea). After the group broke up, Matrosov continued to work solo. He created “images of images” of the everyday world: interiors and landscapes painted minimally using black lines and monochrome color. In 2005, he made a text object "Happiness Is Not Far", for the Art-Pole Festival, curated by Aidan Salakhova. The object was later installed on a riverbank in Perm, becoming an unofficial symbol of the city . In 2016, Matrosov made an object "No, She Couldn’t Have Known How It Would All…" (based on the text from his earlier work) on the rooftop of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art Matrosov's works are in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Pierre-Christian Brochet, Paquita Escofet Miro, Igor Markin and Sergey Borisov Solo exhibitions. 2015 — Only Paper. Peresvetov Pereulok Gallery, Moscow 2014 — The Austere Russian Landscape (with Nikita Alexeev). Gridchinhall, Moscow Oblast 2011 — Casual Painting. GMG Gallery, Moscow 2009 — Inner Ornament. Paperworks, Moscow 2006 — Conversation between a Deaf and a Dense Person. VP Studio, Moscow 2004  — Wooden Tango. VP Studio, Moscow 2003 — Guide to Miming with a Guitar (with A. Petrelli and A. Kuznetsov), Ulitsa OGI, Moscow 1990 — The Gray. First Gallery G1, Moscow Group exhibitions. 2009 — The show must go on. GMG Gallery, Moscow 2009 — A Frozen Bear or a Russian Story as a Global Puzzle. Kunsthal Den Helder, Netherlands 2007 — Woe from Wit. The State Literature Museum, Moscow 2007 — The Future Depends on You. Pierre-Christian Brochet Collection. Moscow Museum of Modern Art 2006 — The Last Romantics of the Soviet Union. Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow 2005 — Accomplices. The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow  2005 — ArtKlyazma. Klyazminskoye Reservoir, Moscow Oblast 2003–2004 — A New Beginning. The Digital Russia (as a POTS member). Central House of Artists, Moscow 2003 — ArtKlyazma. Klyazminskoye Reservoir, Moscow Oblast 2001 — The Salient of Stability. Leningrad Blockade Museum (Rumyantsev Mansion), Saint Petersburg 2001 — Daedaluses and Icaruses. National Reserve Bank, Moscow 2001 — In-depth Germany. Na Kashirke Exhibition Hall, Moscow 2000 — CLAVA's Lovers (Avant-Garde Club exhibition at Art Moscow). Central House of Artists, Moscow 2000 — Ephemeris. State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow 1998 — Motherland, Repin House, Shiryaevo, Samara Oblast 1998 — European-Style Renovation. Slavyansky Cultural and Historical Center, Moscow 1998 — Motherland  or Death (Avant-Garde Club exhibition). Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow; The Museum of Non-Conformist Art, Saint Petersburg 1996 — How to Draw a Horse (Part 2). Central House of Artists, Moscow 1995 — Dry Water. Khan's Palace in Bakhchisaray, Crimea. 1995 — Moscow — Yerevan. The Question of the Arc. Modern Art Museum, Yerevan 1995 — About a House. Exhibition Hall at Profsoyuznaya 100, Moscow 1995 — How to Draw a Horse (Part 1). Horseracing Center in Sokolniki, Moscow