Valentin Khrushch

Valentin Khrusch was born on January 24, 1943, in occupied Odessa.[2] In the 1950s he studied at the Odessa Art School (teachers Zaitsev, Yegorov, Pavlyuk, Fraerman).[3]

Valentin Khrushch was one of the key figures in non-conformist and underground art in Odessa, and then in Moscow, which was developing in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the main organizer of the so-called open-air exhibitions — works were hanging on fences along the streets. The "Fence Exhibition" organized by artists Valentin Khrushch and Stanislav Sychev in 1967 "Sychik + Hrushchik" on the Odessa Opera Theater fence became the starting point for "Odessa nonconformism".[4] This exhibition lasted only three hours.[5]

Later the artist became the central catalyst in Odessa and Moscow behind the “apartment exhibitions”, shows of unofficial artists that took place in people’s homes.[6] Since the late 1970s, name of Valentin Khrushch, as well as his colleagues of the "Odessa nonconformism" Alexander Anufriev, Vladimir Strelnikov, Lyudmila Yastreb, Victor Marinyuk, Stanislav Sychov, Valeriy Basanets began to appear in foreign catalogs and exhibitions.[7] In 1979 he participated in the unofficial exhibition "Contemporary Art from Ukraine" (Munich-London-Paris-New York).[8]

In 1982, Valentin Khrushch moved from Odessa to Moscow.[9] He has exhibited in Paris at UNESCO.[10]

Last years, Valentin Khrushch spent in Kimry, Tver region, where he died from cancer on January 24, 2005. He was buried there in the St. Nicholas Church fence.[11]

Works by Valentin Khrushch are in the permanent exhibition of UNESCO in Paris, the National Museum of Vienna (Austria), National Art Museum of Ukraine, Odessa Fine Art Museum, Museum of Odessa Modern Art,[12] Odessa Literary Museum, NT-Art Gallery (Odessa, Ukraine),[13] Grynov Art Collection,[14] the Kimry Local History Museum and the Zimmerli Art Museum (New Jersey, USA).[15]