Pyotr Gavrilenko Archive

The materials in the archive reflect the artistic career of Pyotr Gavrilenko, a key representative of the Tomsk underground art scene, and cover the period from the 1970s to the present. The compiling of the archive gathered pace in 2023, when Gavrilenko became the focus of the project Master Figure, which provided the opportunity to systematize the documents. The core of the archive is made up of photographs capturing daily life and art from the 1970s through the 1990s, with Gavrilenko as the central figure that brought together artists, poets, and musicians. Of particular value are photographs that are the only evidence of lost murals and paintings. The archive includes catalogues, posters, exhibition invitations, and materials on Pyotr Gavrilenko’s solo exhibition in 1986, which was widely covered in the local media. These documents are important sources of information on the history of unofficial art in Siberia and show the ideas of the time reflected in the persona of the artist and his circle.

Pyotr Gavrilenko

Pyotr Gavrilenko (b. 1953, Dachnoye Village, Krasnoyarsk Krai) is a painter, muralist, and teacher and one of the key representatives of Tomsk unofficial art. In the 1970s and 1980s he was influenced by photorealist artists and made a number of photorealist paintings. Throughout his career he has worked with motifs from the Bible, while moving from realism to semi‑abstraction. He graduated from Surikov Art School in Krasnoyarsk and has lived and worked in Tomsk since 1984. In 1978, he began participating in local, regional, national, and international exhibitions. From 1976 to 2013, he taught at Art School No. 1 in Tomsk and continued to work with students at his studio. From 1995 to 1998, he was a member of the art group Mify 4-kh, and since 1993 he has been a member of the Russian Union of Artists.