Vladimir Arkhipov was born in Ryazan, 1961. Higher technical education, artistic self-education. Worked as an engineer, in construction business. Began exhibiting in 1990. Worked in genres of object and installation. Since 1994 works with fascinating phenomena of modern culture – hand-making of everyday objects, arranges database (www.folkforms.ru), forms collection of self-made, utilitarian objects.

My initial education was engineering. Having worked for a few years in Aviation Research Institute, I decided to try myself in medicine and art. I did not become a doctor and made plans to apply for the Sculpture Faculty of an art school. I attended various art studios and took private lessons in sculpture. And then in Moscow in 1987 I saw an exhibition of Günther Uecker. His works completely overturned my understanding of sculpture, plastic arts, the subject itself and urged me to reconsider The Form. Up to 1994 I made objects from ordinary, everyday things trying to reconcile the profane and the illuminated and taking into account the experience of Russian avant-garde, Moscow Conceptualism, Dada and Pop-art. However, when in 1994 I participated in an international exhibition in Munich and for the first time had an opportunity to see the works of young Western artists; it made me realize how untenable and baseless many works I saw, including mine were. The confusion, despair and search for a new way suddenly brought me to the idea of self-made functioning object (not to be confused with hand-made and do-it-yourself things). An object like this is primarily necessary and meaningful to its author. Here the authorship is more important than motivation for its production and my criteria of choice nearly completely excludes its wide use since many of these objects can hardly be given as a gift. They are not deliberately made this way; their creator did not consciously mean them to be like this, their form happened beyond his will. They are a crystallized manifestation of his/her personality. People are co-authors of visual environment and (even when they do not realize it) - of aesthetic environment. If tomorrow all sculptors and designers of the world cease to exist, the creation of new forms will not become scarce. A landscape has a name – the God. The forms I am interested in have the names of their creators. Any professional artist is an artificial source of forms. My source is natural; I can question him, record an interview, and take his photograph. Our link is: author =} object/form=} artist=} viewer. I do not appropriate the authorship; I communicate to the viewer plastic revelations of the other in their pure, unadulterated form – revelations nearly unattainable for professional hauteur. The involuntarily produced collection may fall for the bait of similarity. But what is similar between individualities? An object is valued by me not for the merit of demonstration, not because it underlies some rule, not because it is gone (or will go), but because it exists. At the end of the day, the most important issue of a form is its justification. The technical perfection of a self-made object, its size, materials, technology of its making, its typicality is of no interest at all. The important fact is the act of creation in the author’s interpretation and its result – the form (it is desirable that the form is aesthetically pure and spontaneous).

Personal exhibitions/activities, selection:

2009
"Functional Forms", Barbarian Art Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland

2008
“Folkforms.ru”, ERA-foundation, Moscow, Russia
“Design del popolo”, Nina Lumer gallery, Milan, Italy
Master-class and workshop in Bolzano University, Bolzano, Italy

2006
“Functioning forms/ Ireland”, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co.Clare, Ireland /catalogue

2005
“What have you done, Kolomentsy?!”, Liga Gallery, Kolomna, Russia /catalogue
Functioning forms/ Austria”, AFO, Linz, Austria /catalogue

2004
“Folk Sculpture”, Kunstverein Rosenheim, Germany /catalogue
"I have been making a museum", State Schusev Museum of Architecture, Moscow

2003
Post-Folk Archive Wales, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, North Wales, GB/catalogue
ВЫНУЖДЕННО/NOTWEHR, FACTORYkunsthallekrems, Krems, Austria /catalogue

2002
“Post Folk Archive”, Ikon-gallery, Birmingham, UK

2001
Expedition, Birmingham and West Midland region, UK

2000
Folk-laboratory, Stroganov Institute MGHPU, Moscow

1999
“Welded”, Guelman gallery, Moscow /catalogue

1998

Expedition, Wulkania region, Australia Expedition, Orlov region, Russia

1997-2005
“Museum of handmade object”, project for “Project Russia” magazine

1996
“Post-Folk Archive”, МХМ- gallery, Prague /catalogue

1995
“Forced objects”, L-gallery, Moscow.

1991
“Declared”, Triohprudny Pereulok Gallery, Moscow

Group exhibitions, selection:

2009

LEFT ON YOUR OWN DEVICES Bòlit - Centre d'Art Contemporani de Girona, Girona, España

2008
Russian povera, Perm, Russia

2007
BODYCHECK, 10th Triennale Fellbach, Germany /catalogue
STILL LIFE, The Sharjah Biennial 8 (SB8), UAE /catalogue
PROGRESSIVE NOSTALGIA, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy /catalogue
-RESTART, Art Athina, Parallel plan, Greece /catalogue
RETURNING OF MEMORY, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia /catalogue

2006
27th Bienal de Sгo Paulo, Brazil /catalogue
International Forum of Artistic Initiatives, New Manege, Moscow /catalogue

2005
Tirana Biennale of Contemporary Art, Albania /catalogue
1th moscow biennale of contemporary art, Moscow /catalogue
IN ANOTHER WORLD, Kiasma/Museum of contemporary art, Finland /catalogue

2004 -2006
“Berlin-Moskau/Moskau-Berlin 1950-2000”, The State Historical Museum, Moscow /catalogue
“Na kurort!” / Russische kunst heute, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden /catalogue
“Shrinking Cities” (is a project of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes) Ivanovo – Berlin – Liverpool /catalogue
THE SEVEN SINS / LJUBLJANA – MOSCOW, Moderna galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia /catalogue

2003
“Horizons of reality”, M HKA - Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium /catalogue
“ART MOSCOW” - 7th International Art Fair/ “We-They”, project of M.Guelman-gallery /catalogue “ArtKliazma”, International Contemporary Art Festival, Moscow region /catalogue

2002
“Centre of attraction” – 8th Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius, Lituva /catalogue

2001
International Forum of Artistic Initiatives, New Manege, Moscow /catalogue

2000
“Iskusstwo 2000”, Kunstverein Rosenheim, Germany /catalogue
“Poor Art”, The State Russian Museum, St.Petersbourg /catalogue

1999
“Fauna”, New Manege, Moscow /catalogue

1998
“Every-day”, 11-th Biennale of Contemporary Art, Sidney, Australia /catalogue

1997
“Vodka”, M.Guelman-gallery, Moscow /catalogue

1995
“Itogi”, Berlin Academy of Arts, Berlin /catalogue

1994
“Europe-94”, Munich, Germany /catalogue
Festival of contemporary art, Sochi, Russia Moscow swimming-pool, Moscow
Visual anthropology workshop, Centre of Modern Art, Moscow /catalogue

1991
20th exhibition of young artists, Kuznetski most 11, Moscow

1990
ART-Myth 1, Central House of Artist, Moscow
“Logic of paradox”, Moscow Palace of Youth, Moscow

Bibliographie

Catalogues of solo exhibitions and the artist`s books:

Vladimir Archipov, “Design del popolo”, 312pp., ISBN Edizioni, Italy, 2007

Vladimir Archipov, “Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts”, 304pp., Fuel Publishing, UK, 2006.

 “What have you done, kolomentsy?!”, Liga Gallery, Kolomna, Russia, 2005.28pp.

“Folk Sculpture”, text by V. Sofronov-Antomoni, Kunstverein Rosenheim, Germany, 2004. 48pp.
 
Vladimir Arkhipov “Born out of necessity. [105 thingumajigs, and their creators` voices, from the collection of Vladimir Arkhipov]”. M., 2003. 224pp.

“ВЫНУЖДЕННО/NOTWEHR”, text by A. Osmolovsky, text by M. Fineder, E.Kraus, FACTORYkunsthallekrems, Austria, 2003. 80p.

“Post-Folk Archive Wales”, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, 2003.

 “Welded”, text by A. Sergeev & N. Allakhverdieva, Guelman gallery, Moscow, 1999.
“Post-Folk-Archive”. MXM-gallery, Prague, 1996

Periodicals: (monogrphic Articles and Articles by the Artist)

Fiammetta Cucurnia, “Design alla russa in mille oggetti”, il Venerdi di Repubblica, n.1000, 18|05|2007/ Italy; 98-102pp.

Marie-Pierre Subtil, “Systeme D'au temps des Soviets”, Le Monde 2. 25-26 Avril 2004 numero 15/ France; Page 44-46.

Susan B. Glasser, “Handmade Versions Of Soviet History”, Washington Post Foreign Service. Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page A18.

Fedor Romer, “Museum of very needful things”, Every week journal/Russia, #48, 2002; Page 54.