Biography

Oleg Semyonovich Nefedkin is a painter, a member of the Moscow Union of Artists and of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia (TSKhR), and a corresponding member of the International Academy of Culture and Art. His work draws on the tradition of Russian art from Rublev and Grigory Soroka to Levitan, Krymov and Pavel Kuznetsov — and on the experience of American Abstract Expressionism.

His works are held in the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, in the museums of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery (Zvenigorod) and the Transfiguration Monastery (Valaam), and in private collections in Russia, the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Turkey.

1. 1956

   Born on 25 January in Alma-Ata. Grew up in Elektrostal, where he graduated from the art school.

2. 1976–1982

   After military service, studies at the Surikov Moscow State Art Institute, graphics department. Graduates with honours: his diploma work, 22 watercolours for Goncharov’s novel “The Precipice”, is later shown at the Manege in the exhibition marking the 225th anniversary of the Academy of Arts.

3. 1982

   Illustrator for the publishing houses Detskaya Literatura and Molodaya Gvardiya. Travels across the Russian North with Sergey Andriyaka and Konstantin Persidsky: the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Ferapontovo, Mount Maura, Lake Beloye.

4. 1983

   Museum of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod: lives at the monastery for a year and a half, studying Old Russian icon painting and fresco.

5. 1984–1985

   Restoration of the Danilov Monastery: icons and designs for murals under the guidance of the icon painter Father Zinon.

6. 1986

   Joint exhibition with Andriyaka at the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery — after it, Andriyaka turns to watercolour and Nefedkin to oil.

7. 1987

   Becomes a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. First solo exhibition, on the wave of reopening cultural ties with the United States. Works donated to the Peace Fund earn him a place in a two-hundred-strong delegation from the USSR to America.

8. 1988–1992

   Creative workshops of the Academy of Arts under academicians O. G. Vereisky, N. A. Ponomarev and A. M. Gritsai. The series of drawings “On the Moskva River”, now in the museum collection of Zvenigorod.

9. 1990s

   After an article in Soviet Life, invitations to the United States: Missoula, Washington, then Utrecht and Berlin. Motifs from the Cathedral of St Demetrius in Vladimir: “Griffin”, “Lion”, “Angel over the City”.

10. 2000–2002

    Lyrical abstraction: Senezh, Spain, Venice. Solo exhibitions at the Central House of Artists in Moscow, at Hay Hill Gallery in London and at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

11. 2005–2015

    Exhibitions at La Petite Galerie, Annapolis, USA. Plein-air painting in France: Provence, Normandy, Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

12. 2020s

    Academic plein-air sessions: Kostroma, Soligalich, Chukhloma, Totma, Vyshny Volochyok, Kirov, Crimea, Mogilev. Large historical canvases about Soligalich.

13. 2025

    Solo project “Filling with Light” at Vysota Gallery. Exhibitions “Crimea” and “The Many Faces of Russia” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

14. 2026

    “Catalogue of Works”, published for the artist’s 70th birthday.

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