Alexander Brodsky is an artist and architect. He was educated at the Moscow Architecture Institute where he graduated in 1978. Brodsky’s first encounter with the public eye was during the late 1970s. He was a key member of the Paper Architects, and furthermore, worked alongside Ilya Utkin in his etchings of distorted cityscapes. Paper architecture was a response to state sanctioned architecture that consisted of standardised and often poorly constructed buildings, which imbued their environments with a communist aesthetic.
Such a response allowed paper architects to retreat into their imaginations and defy uniform Soviet architecture through vivid depictions of constructivism, deconstructivism and postmodernism. According to Anna Sokolina, paper architects rose to prominence within the Western world as many of their works won prestigious awards in professional competitions and helped to shape an understanding of Russian modern and postmodern architecture. Scholarship has shown that the whimsical and constructivist etchings of Brodsky and Utkin translate mere illustrations into narratives through the introduction of human characters. These were narratives that voiced man’s alienation within the urban world and provided a commentary on the loss of Moscow historical architectural heritage.
In 2000 Brodsky opened his architectural bureau in Moscow.
Around the world he is known for his installations, sculptures and graphics.
Selected group exhibitions
2016 “Izluchenija”, NCCA, Moscow
“Looking at things. Взгляд на вещи”, Victoria Art Gallery, Samara
“Escape Routes”, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
“Situation Of Art In Museum Permm”, Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm
“15th Venice Architecture Biennale 2016”, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin , Venice
“Silenzi”, Galleria Milano, Milan
“Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association”, The RISD Museum, University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
2015 Attitudine alle Confluenze, Galleria Nina Due, Milan
Brod&Brod, Gallery Roza Azora, Moscow
Potential Architecture, Ambika P3, London
2014 Fortune museum, Moscow museum of modern art, MMOMA, Moscow
Carte Blanche, Pechersky Gallery, Moscow
Childhood years, Open Gallery, Moscow
2013 Antarctic Pavilion, Biennale di Venezia
5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Bolshe Sveta / More Light, Manege Central Exhibition Hall , Moscow
Goszakaz, Pecherskiy Gallery, Moscow
2012 “The Russian art show, highlist from the innovation Prize”, Calvert 22 gallery, London
“En un desorden absoluto. Arte contemporáneo ruso. Premio Kandinsky (2007-2012)”, Arts Santa Monica, Barcellona
2012 “Coma”, in “Tecnica mista”, Museo del Novecento, Milano
2011 “BGK”, galleria Nina Lumer, Milano
2011 “Cisterna”, IV Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia
2011 “Rodina”, Museo d’arte contemporanea di Perm, Russia
2011 “Russkoe Bednoe”, Padiglione Arte Contemporanea, PAC, Milano
2011 “Svoboda”, Spazio Carbonesi, Bologna, Italia
2010 “Counterpoint”, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
2010 “Contemporary Russian Art — From the Icon to the Avant-Garde: Rotunda”, Louvre Museum, Jardins des Tuileries, Paris
2010 “Kandinsky Prize Exhibition”, ArtChronika Cultural Foundation, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2009 “Senza Titolo”, III Moscow Biennale, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow
2009 “Night before the Attack”, III Moscow Biennale, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
2008 “Russian Dreams…”, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL
2008 “Youprison”, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italia
2007 “Moscopolis”, espace Louis Vuitton, Paris
2006 “Depository of Dreams”, White Space Gallery, London
2006 “Russia!”, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2001 “Coma”, PAC e Triennale Milano, Milano
1996 “Elsewhere” University of Southampton, Southampton, England
1996 “Archaeology of the Future”, The Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
1996 “Russian Conceptual Art of the 1980s: The Collection of the Duke University Museum of Art”, Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC
1996 “Withdrawing” Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY
1995 “Romantic Visions” Wessel & Lieberman Books, Seattle, WA
1994 “Artists from the Former Soviet Union”, Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara
1993 “Universalism and Particularism: The Russian World in Transition”, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY
Selected solo exhibitions
2016 “Reliefs”, Betts Project, London
“Silenzi” Galleria Milano, Milan
“Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association” The RISD Museum, University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
2015 “Attitudine alle Confluenze” Galleria Nina Due, Milan
“Works”, Tchoban Foundation, Berlin
“Potential Architecture”, Ambika P3, London
2013 “Fasady”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
“Grey Room”, O&O Depot, Berlin
2012 White Room / Black Room, Calvert 22 gallery, London
“Teplyaki”, Architecture Center Strelka, Moscow
2011 “Alexander Brodsky: Little White Dog and Other Works”, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
“It still amazes me that I became an architect”, Architekturzentrum, Wien
2010 “Finestre cieche”, Galleria Milano, Milano
2009 “Windows and Factories”, Guelman Gallery, Moscow
2007 “Alexander Brodsky”, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY
“Inhabited Locality”, X Biennale di Architettura, Padiglione Russo, Venezia
2006 “Three Tables” Galleria Milano, Milano
“Punti di fuga” Galleria Nina Lumer, Milano
2002 “Installation” Aedes Gallery, Berlin
2000 “Coma” Marat Guelman Gallery, Moscow
1999 “Grey Matter”, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
“Palazzo Nudo” Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh
1997 “Vanishing Points”, State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
“Living Bridges” Tretjakov Gallery, Moscow
1996 “Brodsky: Retrospective 1991-1996”, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington
“Futurophobia” Marat Guelman Gallery, Moscow
1995 “Visible Parts”, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
“Canalis Utopicus” Regina Gallery, Moscow
Selected awards
2012 Innovation Prize, Moscow
2010 Kandinskyj Prize, Moscow
2001 Premio Milano, Museo del Presente, Milano
1997 Second Prize, British Academy of Fine Arts & British Council, Moscow, Russia
1988 First Prize (Architecture), “East Meets West” in Design Competition, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY. (with Ilya Utkin)
1987 Honorable Mention, Central Glass Competition, “The Intelligent Market”, Tokyo, Japan. (with Ilya Utkin)
1986 Second Prize, Central Glass Competition, “A Glass Monument to the Year 2001”, Tokyo, Japan. (with Ilya Utkin)
1984 Second Prize, Central Glass Competition, “A Glass Tower”, Tokyo, Japan. (with Ilya Utkin)
1983 Honorable Mention, Central Glass Competition, “A Sculpture Museum”, Tokyo, Japan. (with Ilya Utkin)
1982 First Prize, Central Glass Competition, “Crystal Palace”, Tokyo, Japan. (with Ilya Utkin)
Selected collections
MoMa – The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
The Russian Museum, St.Peterburg
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Mosca
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
New Museum Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Washington, DC
Institute of Contmporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California
San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego, California
Wellington Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
MUAR – Shusev State Architectural Museum, Moscow, Russia
DAM – Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Fondazione Unicredit, Milano, Italy
