Gafur Mendagaliev

Gafur Sifatovich Mendagaliev (Гафур Сифатович Мендагалиев; June 2, 1954) is a Soviet and Russian painter, graphic artist, book artist, and sculptor.

Biography


Gafur Mendagaliev was born in Kamyzyak (Astrakhan region). Graduated from Astrakhan Art School named after Vlasov (1979-1983). Studied painting in A.V. Kondratyev's studio. Member of "Kochevye" group. Participant of over 100 exhibitions in Russia and abroad (since 1987).

"An avant-garde artist of Leningrad, Mendagaliev’s style is naïve. Vibrant colors and thick, heavy strokes form simple scenes that feel more symbolic than real.In each painting, there are repeated motifs: a table, a chimera, women, a bird, a fish. There appears to be a story begging to be told about the city he has lived in for so long, and, perhaps, a painful one. In the paintings, faces of people look in different directions, they pull from each other, guiding the viewer’s eyes into a chaos as the sphinx overlooks it all with a sense of doom. Then, there are portraits of chimeras and demons stalking individuals on the metro, women tormented next to a table or underwater beneath a fish in flight. They have a sinister tone to them. Fantastical, but simple, Mendagaliev’s works linger in the mind and resurface in the memory of St. Petersburg as a city."

The artist's personal exhibitions were presented in St. Petersburg, Paris and Munich (Opera Galerie, Paris, 1993; Galerie Kloska und Vinogradov, Munich, 1995; Galerie im Stiegoibaus, Munich, 1997; Mednis Gallery, 1995; Kaliningrad, 2000; Museum of Urban Sculpture, 2002 (St. Petersburg); Stray Dog Cafe, 2007 (St. Petersburg); Konstantinovsky Palace, National Congress palace, 2008; Diaghilev Center, St. Petersburg State University, 2010 (St. Petersburg); Pushkinskaya 10, 2012 (St. Petersburg); Borey, 2013 (St. Petersburg); Hotel Rachmaninov, 2014 (St. Petersburg); Matiss Club, 2017 (St. Petersburg); Guild of Masters, 2017 (St. Petersburg), etc.

Project member: City as an Artist's Subjectivity (2020).

Lives and works in St. Petersburg (since 1983).

Museum collections
The artist's works are in the following museum collections/ State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of Russiaa:


 * Hermitage Museum. Hermitage Academic Library/ Rare Books and Manuscripts Sector. (St. Petersburg).
 * Russian Museum. Department of engraving XVIII-XXI centuries. (St. Petersburg)
 * National Library of Russia. Department of Prints (St. Petersburg)
 * Diaghilev Contemporary Art Museum (St. Petersburg);
 * Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. (Moscow). Library/ Artist's Books Dept;
 * MISP the Museum of 20th and 21st Century St. Petersburg Art (St. Petersburg);
 * Museum of Non-conformist Art Pushkinskaya 10 (St. Petersburg);
 * Museum of Urban Sculpture (St. Petersburg).
 * Yaroslavl Art Museum;
 * Mordovian Republican Museum named after S.D. Erzya (Saransk);
 * Astrakhan Art Museum;