About the artist:

Painter and photographer Anton Solomoukha was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1945, currently living in Paris, France. His works are mostly neoclassicist; Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis and more recently the bilboquet are recurring themes in his works. He graduated from the Fine Arts School of Kiev and left the USSR in 1978. Since then he has exhibited his work internationally, including exhibits in the United States (New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Washington DC), Germany (Cologne, Munich), and France (Paris, Lyon). He continues to live and work in Paris. A founding member of the Ukrainian Nonconformists, Solomoukha established a reputation for his skill in integrating folkloric Ukrainian themes with contemporary elements. His experiments with surrealism and abstraction have produced canvases that explore myth and language in a visually compelling manner. The works on view in this exhibit show his shift to an expressionist style, while continuing his investigation of signs and symbols. " The background of Solomoukha’s pictures seems to represent “depth” in the sense of “the depths of a barrel”, “the depth of the eyes” or, better yet, “the depths of a tunnel” and “the depths of ages”. Solomoukha’s depths are indeed characterized by a kind of ambiguity between surface and depth, as tough particles of matter, ash, still-burning lava and scorched, oxidized earth, had risen to the surface only to give a hinting perception of the distant flames from which they burst forth. […] Solomoukha’s backgrounds do not much evoke spatial depth as translate the depths of time. One is reminded of the walls of Rome, for example, whose colors, the many shades of ochre and soot-penetrated reds, the peeling layers of rough-rendered stucco, pigments weathered by the seasons, show us the workings of time. Time itself has washed over it in successive layers like a patina of varnish." Jean-Louis Baudry, September 1990 " [In Anton Solomoukha’s] works, painting brings infinite seriousness into a reading of the world. He has known forever what he owes to death. The facets of destiny that brought him to life must have gone through the facets of history. And his painting with which he covers his own story, imbues the canvas with the intention of bringing the critical nature of a world that has been left behind forever. Paradox… The origins of Solomoukha, Kiev, Ukraine, his know-how which includes orthodox primitivism and inquisitive creation in the labyrinth of Glasnost, his rigorous painting studies, his adventures are so far from my knowledge and experience." Michel Enrici, December 1999 Solo Exhibitions 1998:Galerie Guiter, Paris, France Commercial representation of Russia in France, France 1997:Biennale of Saint Vincent, Senlis, France Hearless, Paris, France 1996:Galerie Lehalle, Paris, France, “Cent Patates” 1994:Galerie Strouk, Paris, France 1993:Elga Wiemer Gallery, New York, NY, USA Galerie Thierry Salvador, Paris, France Christine Comant Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium 1992:Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris, France Galerie J.F. Gobbi, Neuchatel, Switzerland 1991:Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris, France Galerie J.F. Gobbi, Neufchatel, Switzerland 1989:Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris, France 1986:Galerie Kring-Ernst, Cologne, Germany 1985:Galerie Kring-Ernst, Cologne, Germany Group Exhibitions 1999:Galerie Triade Barbizon, France 1998:Mons Fine Arts Museum, Mons, France, “ Attrenberg’s collection” 1997:Galerie Area, Paris, France 1996:Coprim, Paris, France, "Memory Landscapes" Galerie Arichi, Paris, France, "Saga" Salle Gaveau, Paris, France, "Schizophrenias - conflicts" 1995:Coprim, Paris, France, "Women of Time Ever" 40th Art Fair of Montrouge, Paris, France Metz Museum, Metz, France, "Happy painters" 1st Contemporary International Art Fair of Strasbourg , Strasbourg, France Galerie Strouk, Paris, France 1994:Coprim, Paris, France 1991:New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, USA, “Expressive Drawings, Elga Wiemer” 1990:Montrouge Art Fair, Paris, France Orangerie de Bagatelle, Paris, France FIAC, Galerie du Génie, Paris, France Gand Art fair, Galerie Christine Colmant , Gand, Belgium 1989:Montrouge Art Fair, Paris, France Galerie Krings-Ernst, Cologne, Switzerland International Art Fair of Cologne, Cologne, Switzerland Exhibition of four Russian artists, Evry, France Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris, France, “Works on paper” 1988:Montrouge Art Fair, Paris, France Leopold-House Museum, Duren, Germany, “French painting at the Ludwig Museum" Génie de la Bastille, Itinerant exhibition in five galleries, Paris, France 1987:Palais des Arts, Galerie Art Conseil, Paris, France Galerie Imperatif Present, Toulouse, France Haus Metternich, Germany, “French painting at the Ludwig Museum" Projects, Murals, Designs 1987:Combs-La-Ville Gymnasium, Combs-La-Ville, France, Conception and realization of decorative paving stones. Awards Second Prize in juried show , Montrouge Art Fair, 1989 Special Prize in juried show , Montrouge Art Fair, 1988