Pavel Pepperstein

While acknowledged in the art world for his fanciful yet politically conscious watercolors, Pavel Pepperstein is also an accomplished novelist and rap artist in his home country of Russia. Born in Moscow in 1966, Pepperstein studied at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts, earning a formal education in addition to the one he received as the son of artist Pavel Pivovarov and the friend of Ilya Kabakov. In 1987, Pepperstein, along with a number of collaborating artists, established the experimental group Inspection Medical Hermeneutics. Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the collective adapted a critical stance, critiquing the influence of Western culture in Russia. Pepperstein’s work has also been closely linked to the Moscow Conceptual School.

Pepperstein has exhibited his work at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the Moscow Biennial, the Valencia Biennial, and the Guggenheim of Bilbao and New York. He represented Russia at the Venice Bienniale in 2009.