Galina Khailu

about the artist

Galina Khailu was born in 1958 in the village Kurganinsk in the Krasnodar region. Her artistic abilities were discovered by a school art teacher. He insisted that Khailu should study at an art school and she followed his advice.

As soon as Khailu finished the eighth grade she decided to go to a technical school and study architecture. She argued that there were many artists around, but architecture was a rare profession.

After attending the technical school, Khailu realised that working in her specialty was rather boring and she chose the traditional route for a Soviet artist — she started to work as a painter and decorator in her own time.

Khailu says that everything she has practiced in her life was an artistic experiment. When she gave birth to her two sons, Khailu gave herself over to them and their upbringing completely. But in the year 2000 she decided to devote herself once again to painting and exhibiting. She accomplished several interesting exhibitions with her husband, the artist Sergey Polupanov.

Khailu works with enthusiasm and likes experimenting with diverse media. Once she tried to use interfacing cloth instead of canvas. Later she came up with the idea of using empty juice cartons as a painting surface. She cut the cartons and attached the pieces to canvas or cloth lining, with the silver side outwards. She then painted grey and brown over the dimly shining background and a monochromatic postindustrial reality is created.

Children are often seen in Khailu’s pictures. She depicts them as being vulnerable and alone in the wide world and at the same time abstracted and isolated from the reality. It may be that a child surrounded by such disquieting symbols as crossings, passages and tunnels is metaphorical for modern man and the conflict between his inner world and the outward environment.

show

biography

Born in Kurganinsk, Russia

Selected Group & Solo Exhibitions

2011 Gravity, joint exhibition with Sergey Polupanov, Cicada Gallery, Krasnodar, Russia.
2011 Summer Colors, art festival, Krasnodar, Russia.
2008 Gold Earth, Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar, Russia.
2008 The Old Man and the Fish, or Pink Sheet, joint exhibition with Sergey Polupanov, Seven Paintings Gallery, Krasnodar, Russia.
2008 Exhibition of Kandinsky Prize Nominees, Central Artist’s House, Moscow, Russia.
2007 Tradition and Modernity, Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists, Moscow, Russia.
2007 Letters from Home, solo exhibition, Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar, Russia.
2005–07 Museum Night, Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after F. Kovalenko, Krasnodar, Russia.
2007 Childhood. Waiting for a Miracle, joint exhibition with Sergey Polupanov, Seven Paintings Gallery, Krasnodar, Russia.
2006 Waiting for a Miracle, Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after F. Kovalenko, Krasnodar, Russia.
2006 Velvet Dust of Civilization, joint exhibition with Sergey Polupanov, Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar, Russia.
2005 Biennale–2005, Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar, Russia.
2005 Group exhibition of artists of the Kuban, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
2005 Waiting for Rain, solo exhibition, South Gallery, Krasnodar, Russia.
2003 Civilization, joint exhibition with Sergey Polupanov, Stairway Gallery, Krasnodar, Russia.
2001 Group exhibition, timed to coincide with the opening of the season. Moscow Theatre-studio under the direction of Oleg Tabakov (“Snuff box”), Moscow, Russia.
2000 Group exhibition of the Union of Free Artists of Kuban, Central Artist’s House, Moscow, Russia.

Selected Public and Private Collections

Erarta Museum and Galleries of Contemporary Art, Saint Petersburg, Russia; North
Caucasus branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Maikop, Russia; Krasnodar Regional
Art Museum, Krasnodar, Russia; Krasnodar Regional Showroom of Fine Arts, Krasnodar,
Russia; Private collections in Russia, Germany, Great Britain, France, USA, Israel, Australia.

artworks by this artist

180-190
Galina Khailu

2007
Crossing
Galina Khailu

2007
Self-Portrait Khailu (Mystery of Shoe Polish)
Galina Khailu

2011
Song about the Sea
Galina Khailu

2006
The Underground
Galina Khailu

2009