http://www.mishalevin.com
"My work has engaged issues of identity, intimacy and mortality. I use painting as a means to orientate my position within contemporary culture. <…> I want to reflect the ongoing contemporary preoccupation with mass-produced and consumer driven images and the difficulty of reconciling one’s individuality with this constant input of images and ideas from the outside, media-dominated world. I very much feel that such images have created a modern paradigm or tradition which many in society find inescapable. For me, painting is imperative as a means of challenging traditional expectations, representation and perception".
Education:2010-2011 ICA Moscow, The educational program "New Strategies in Contemporary Art Education".
2007-2009 Prince’s Drawing School, Drawing Programme, Postgraduate Diploma.
2003-2007 Slade School of Fine Art, BA Fine Art.
2001-2003 Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Life drawing course.
Prizes, Scholarships and Awards:
2010 became member of Moscow Union of Artist.
2009 was awarded with the diploma of the prizewinner and received a medal for contribution in art development at the First International Salon of art “Route of Unity” dedicated to 285 years of Russian Academy of Arts.
2007 Special Award (prize) ‘Young Artist’ of the 1st Moscow International Art Festival "Traditions and Modern Life" in the Manezh, Moscow, January 2007.
1993 Laureate of the International Children’s Competition Christmas Card 93 in London.
1992 Prizewinner at the Children’s Art Work Festival in Moscow.
1991 Painting “King Solomon and a Bee” based on the well-known biblical story formed the design for a greetings Card published in the USA.
Exhibitions:
He started the exhibition activity in 1992 and since then participates in more than 15 personal exhibitions (Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, France, Thailand) and in more than 23 group exhibitions (Russia, Great Britain).
Collections:
His paintings were presented to the President of Russia Boris Eltsin, Her Majesty the Queen of Britain, Prince Charles of Wales, Prince Michael of Kent, the Princess of Thailand.
Private collections: Georgi Hazinkov, Vladimir Spivakov, Aleksandr Smuzikov, Leonid Goldberg, Mikhail Baitin, Andrei Cheglakov, Mikhail Alshibaya, Mark Kurzer.
Museums: State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Taft Museum in Cincinnati, the USA; Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in Jersey City, the USA.
