Sculptor and painter Anna Zhyolud represents the generation of Russian artists that came of age creatively in the 2000s. Conceptual minimalism was their answer to excessive
and ubiquitous commercial art and, more generally, the boundless consumerism of those trouble-free years. Rejecting ambitious, high-budget projects on the one hand,
and spurning the tendency to oversaturate art with speculative meaningfulness on
the other, these artists pursued intentional simplification as an alternative, exploring monochromatic palettes, basic geometric form, small sizes, and deliberately "low-brow" media such as ceramic tiles, metal rods, and cement.

Taking her subject-matter from everyday life, Zhyolud has chosen the art installation, often in the form of make-believe interior design, as her favorite method of artistic expression.
In her installations she incorporates metal rod sculptures, ceramics, and minimalist painting, including Mikhail Roginsky-inspired portraits of objects.

Metal frame structures have become Zhyolud's signature sculptural form. Set against the white wall of an exhibition space, a metal frame installation resembles a drawing in which the object is reduced to an outline of its own boundaries, enclosing emptiness. Reproducing everyday objects within this three-dimensional graphic paradigm, Zhyolud harnesses the expressive force of the line, the starting ground of any figurative representation.

Zhyolud's driving force is her desire to attain the ultimate sincerity and transparency.
The artist works hard to cleanse the image of all external dross. Her geometric metal grids are, in a sense, skeletons of materiality – objects pared down to their primary, irreducible essence. As Natalya Tamruchi writes: "Zhyolud flays her objects, exposing their bare form untarnished by changeable (and, therefore, deceitful) colors. Like the iconoclasts of old, she 'breaks' color, demanding humility and chromatic asceticism from the created world, as though each of her objects has a more important mission than being a useful household item".

Konstantin Zatsepin



About the Artist

Anna Zhyolud was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is a graduate of the Stieglitz Academy, a 2011 Innovation Contemporary Art Award winner, and a three-time Kandinsky Prize nominee. In 2017, 2018 and 2021 she made the Russian Investment Art Rating, 49ART, which highlights outstanding contemporary Russian artists under the age
of 50. Anna Zhyolud took part in the main exhibition of contemporary art at
the 53^rd Venice Biennale in 2007. Her works are on display in the Tretyakov Gallery,
the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the National Center for Contemporary


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 — The Other Iсon — PA Gallery, Moscow
2021 — Personal Space — PA Gallery, Moscow
2020 — Art the reality is made of — PA Gallery, Moscow
2018 — Notebook. Part 2 — Gallery 11;12, Vinzavod, Moscow
2017 — Notebook. Part 1 — ART4.RU, Moscow
2017 — Half the trouble, or Illusion of life — Museum of Contemporary Art, ART4.RU, Moscow
2016 — Private source — 11.12 Gallery, Moscow
2016 — Worse Than Nothing — Gridchinhall Art Center, Moscow Region, Russia
2016 — After the winter — A3 Gallery, Moscow
2016 — Anya Zholud from the private collections — State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2014 — Separate line — XL Gallery, Moscow
2014 — Home Archaeology — Open Gallery, Moscow
2014 — Vintage — Expo-88 Gallery, Moscow
2013 — Exercises — XL Gallery, Moscow
2012 — I'll Give in Good Hands — Foundation for Visual Art Support «Era», Moscow, Russia
2012 — The Last Exhibition — Gridchinhall Art Center, Moscow Region, Russia
2011 — Requisiten — Kunstraum B, Kiel, Germany
2011 — Spazio Personale — Galleria Nina Lumer, Milan, Italy
2010 — Exhibition Continue — Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2010 — Hummer — Marina Gisich Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2010 — Room Plant. Full Version — Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2009 — Anya Zholud in the Russian Museum — State Russian Museum,
St. Petersburg, Russia
2009 — Room Plant — Object in a district, St. Petersburg, Russia
2009 — Not the Same Artist — Art&Science Space, Moscow, Russia
2008 — People's Project — Luda Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2008 — Iron Wedding — Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2007 — Museum of Me — ArtStrelka, Moscow, Russia
2007 — Things for Love — Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2006 — Monument to Virginit — S.ART Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2005 — Creative Crisis — Culture Centre at 10 Pushkinskaya st., St. Petersburg, Russia
2005 — Inventory — Expo-88 Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2005 — Bitches and Women — Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
2005 — Crisis of Presence — A-3 Gallery, Moscow, Russia


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 — 3 х 5 —PA Gallery, Moscow
2023 — Function — PA Gallery, Moscow
2022 — Silence Mode — PA Gallery, Moscow
2021 — A Shadow of the Soul But Slightky Sharper — Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
2018 — General Rehear. A Show in Three Acts. From the collections of V-A-C, MMOMA and KADIST — MMOMA, Moscow
2012 — I've Been Here! — Open Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2011 — Gates and Doors — State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2011 — Svoboda — Spazio Carbonesi. Bologna, Italy
2010 — New Open Air — LOPOUK group. «Red Bridge» Gallery, Vologda, Russia
2010 — The New Decor — Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia
2009 — 53rd International Art Exhibition. La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2009 — Nord-Art — Reisenburg, Germany (2007, 2008, 2009)
2009 — 20, 30, 40. Step of the Generations (Anya Zholud Exhibition Plan) —
Red Bridge Gallery, Vologda, Russia
2009 — Woman in contemporary art. About time and herself — Museum of Urban sculpture,
St. Petersburg, Russia
2008 — Russian Povera — Perm, Russia
2008 — Territory of Feeling м Gallery Globus, St. Petersburg, Russia
2008 — Biennale of young art «Stop! Who is going?! — Moscow, Russia (2005, 2008)
2007 — New Angelary — Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2007 — VIII International Exhibition «DIALOGUES — St. Petersburg, Russia
2007 — Workshop — Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia (2006, 2007)
2007 — Festival «Pandus» — Project Invisible I. Moscow, Russia