Anatoly Purlik

b. 1956

Anatoly Purlik constructs scenes in which colour becomes the primary carrier of human presence and psychological state.

“I live only through colour.”

In his art, colour establishes tension and repose, shaping the internal rhythm of the work.

“My art is my theatre.” Within this theatre, the human figure becomes the central protagonist. Purlik’s works unfold as scenes of life, in which the composition is structured around human presence.

Purlik received his artistic training in Irkutsk and graduated from the Leningrad Art Institute (now Saint Petersburg).

In the 1990s, the artist lived and worked in South Korea, where his practice focused on oil painting on canvas.

Later, while working and travelling in Italy and Germany, Purlik developed work on paper.

Works by Anatoly Purlik are held in museum collections including the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg; the Moscow Museum of Modern Art; the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum; the Novosibirsk State Art Museum; the Tomsk Regional Art Museum; and the Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum, as well as in private collections across Europe, the United States, and Asia.

Selected solo exhibitions include the Osterfeld Cultural Center, Germany (1995); Gallery Korea, Seoul (1997); Galerie des Kurhauses, Bad Herrenalb (1999); and APERTO LIBRO at the Gallery of Pictorial Art of the Moscow Union of Artists, Moscow (2021).

Selected group exhibitions include Club Spittelkolonnaden, Berlin (1997); Kunstoffwerk Bosch, Stuttgart (1999); and Art Salon at the Central House of Artists, Moscow (2003).