ARTIST
OLEG AGAFONOV

b. 1987

Lives and works in Tula, Russia.

+7 (910) 077 57 07 oleg.agafonov.artist@gmail.com

«Now, in the world of an endless flow of information about other people's windows, we cannot live in a vacuum of our own layer only. Other worlds literally slip into our own» — O. A.
The artist depicts modern civilization through the eyes of a primitive person. With the help of synthetic, twisted to the maximum, pure colors and bright palettes, the world from computer screens moves into cave painting, where characters, the nature of lines and shapes demonstrate fear and delight from the approaching future and the present, fascinating with its plots. In the perspectives and silhouettes of primitive art, one can trace the role of the artist as a relay between mysticism and science fiction.

Oleg Agafonov was born in the mining settlement of Tsentralny in Tula State. He studied in the workshop of Regina Petrovna Solovyova, where he also mastered academic drawing and attended workshops on experimental techniques of graphics, painting and ceramics. In 2010, he graduated from Tula State University with a degree in Graphic Design, which influenced his project-based approach to series. The transition from academic school to abstract art was facilitated by participation in the group exhibition «Donkey ArtPrize» (Italy) and the online project «Project30» (USA). The artist uses mixed techniques depending on the project and idea, with an emphasis on dry, oil pastel and acrylic. The artist's works are regularly exhibited, participate in competitions and are held in private collections in Russia and Europe. Oleg lives and works in Tula. For the last year, he has been curating a catalog of Tula artists and a pop-up gallery focusing on local authors. Recent significant works include the series «Falling Skies» and «The Portals».
  • Exhibition
    2010 - Personal exhibition «Museum of the Ethnography», Aleksin, Russia
    2012 - Group exhibition «The 1st Kaliningrad Biennale of graphic art», Kaliningrad, Russia
    2012 - Group exhibition by the Union of Artists, Tula, Russia
    2013 - Group exhibition «Museum Night», TIAM, Tula, Russia
    2014 - «Adygea-Prague», open studio, Moscow, Russia
    2015 - Group exhibition «Donkey Art Prize», Milan, Italy
    2017 - «Theory of Relationships», open studio, Tula, Russia
    2018 - Personal exhibition, Theater «BARABAN», «Stardust of Stephen Hawking», Tula, Russia
    2018 - «Geometry of Cyprus», open studio, Tula, Russia
    2018 - «Prague 8», design factory «Flacon», Moscow, Russia
    2019 - Contributor of 178th Auction «Art Litfund», Moscow, Russia
    2019 - Mural «Metaphysics and Metamorphosis», ISKRA - New Urban Space, Tula, Russia
    2020 - «Data in art 2», Bogorodskoe Gallery, Moscow City Galleries Network, Moscow
    2020 - Group exhibition «On the Other Side of Tula», curated by Alexandra Kremenets, Machine Tool Museum, Tula, Russia
    2021/2022 - Personal exhibition «Not a Wine Book», exhibition space «wellwellwell», Tula, Russia
    2022 - Personal exhibition «Falling Skies», singz-zings gallery in Tula, Russia
    2022–2023 — Exhibition project «Unreal Tula: The Beginning», «Oktava» art cluster, Tula, Russia
    2023 - Group exhibition «Emptiness», singz-zings gallery in Tula, Russia
    2024 - Group exhibition «(Without) a Little House», curated by Vladislav Titaev, Tula, Russia
  • Education
    2004–05 - Solovyova's studio of painting, graphics and experimental ceramic art, Suvorov, Russia
    2004–10 - Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Tula State University, Tula, Russia
    2024 - «Tom Sawyer Fest» restoration school
  • Contests
    2012 - Finalist of «project30», USA
    2015 - Finalist of the international competition «Donkey Art Prize», Milan, Italy
    2021 - 1st place in the interregional competition program «Art Federation», Russia
  • Publications
    Theater «BARABAN», social media publication, 2018
    Magazine 43 Issue 3: Spring, website publication, 2018
    Tula News LLC (Certificate of registration of mass media EL No. FS 77 - 72275 dated 24.01.2018),
    article «Panoramic abstraction appeared in the center of Tula», 2019
    Website publication «JaamZIN Creative», November - December 2019
    Featured Member, ello.co, 2020
    «Data in art #2», print catalog, 2020
    «Tula City Newspaper» (Certificate of registration of PI No. TU 71-00490 dated January 11, 2018), artist interview «Art as awareness of the world», 2020
    Website publication «Art Federation», www.fund-stalnaya.com, 2021
    «Stanok» is a non-commercial publication about Russia and Tula: https://stanok.space/tula/2024/04/02/nohome
    https://wossoedinenie.site/exhibitions/bezdomika/