Boris Koshelokhov

Boris Koshelokhov was born in 1942 in Zlatoust in the Southern Ural region. Prior to discovering painting and becoming one of the mainstays of the Leningrad underground art scene, he changed several medical schools and was alternately employed as a hospital orderly, electrician, driver, and field hand for an exploration geologist party. In 1977, he founded the Letopis (Chronicle) collective of underground artists. The artist passed away in 2021.

Koshelokhov created paintings, drawings, and wooden sculptures. His distinctively ‘raw’ creations were likened to Naïve Art, Art Brut, Neue Wilde, and graffiti. His artistic practice was self-contained, instantly recognisable, and far-reaching. Two Highways, the artist’s final series, comprised three to four thousand canvases, drawings, computer graphic pieces, and pastels.