Овчинников Вадим

Born in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) in 1951.

In 1973, after military service, he came to Leningrad, where he independently began to study painting, working as a guard in the VOHR of the "Arsenal" plant and in the Gorvodokanal.

In 1982, he joined the Fellowship of Experimental Visual Arts.

Since 1983, Ovchinnikov has been part of the "New Artists" group, and in his work, various techniques of self-expression appear: collage, objects ("Chukot Poems"), mail art, drawn animated films. Ovchinnikov's painting of the mid-1980s influenced the emergence of "neat trends" in the art of the "New" artists.

Ovchinnikov was a member of the literary section of the Vladimir Mayakovsky Friends Club (pseudonym – Vladimir or Vlademir Okinichev) and together with Vladislav Gutsevich prepared for publication the literary almanac "Novost'". He was equally gifted in painting, graphics, literature (was a prose writer and poet, author of the conceptual texts "Prizyvy" and "S pozitsiy zhiznennogo opyta"), music (played various instruments, recorded musical collages, was a member of the musical groups "Virtuoses of the Universe", "UO"), was a theorist of the "Novykh", consistently embodying in his own work the principle of Larionov's vsechestvo: art is Everything, opened by the artist in any materials and belonging to everyone.

In 1986-1988, Ovchinnikov headed a children's art studio named "Klub Druzhba" (Friendship Club). During the perestroika era, he traveled to the USA, from California to New York, and created a series of American paintings. In 1993, Ovchinnikov's first painting exhibition was held at the Russian Museum (Marble Palace). In May 1996, Ovchinnikov passed away. In 1998, a painting exhibition and the presentation of the book "Vadim Ovchinnikov. Works" opened the museum and studios at Pushkinskaya, 10; in 2002, at the Marble Palace, Ovchinnikov's exhibition "Painting. Mail Art" featured letters, collages, and paintings from the collection of the GRM (State Russian Museum) and private collections of St. Petersburg; the exhibition of Ovchinnikov's letters began the art collection of the Museum of Communications. The works of Vadim Ovchinnikov are in the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Pompidou Center, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA), the Pavlodar Art Museum, FoudationA, Articulate Foundation, Kai Forsblom Gallery, and private collections in Europe, Asia, and the USA.