Signed lower right.
Provenance: Khromin Estate.
Victor Khromin, born in Gatchina City, near St. Petersburg, Russia explored his artistic abilities from the earliest years of his life. The Russian-Finish family into which Victor was born discovered and accepted his talent as something that flowed organically through their family tree. Victor's grandfather was an accomplished artist and a student of Repin at the Academy of Art in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The scenery of childhood in a small Finnish village on the outskirts of St. Petersburg continues to inspire Victor throughout his life.Victor went on to study art professionally at the Serov School of Fine Art in Leningrad. While still a student, he actively participated in non-conformist exhibitions, which were illegal during the Soviet Regime. In 1976, Victor became a member of the USSR Union of Professional Artists. This was the only Soviet organization, which could recognize an individual as a career artist. Despite membership, he continued to exhibit his works as part of the Underground Art Movement, which contradicted the code of conduct outlined by the USSR Union of Professional Artists and rejected the only officially accepted style of Socialist Realist. Victor's works stopped being presented for exhibition within official circles of the Soviet Art League. Victor became a target for government harassment and monitoring.
The 1985 solo exhibition at the Kudamm Gallery, in Berlin, served as a breaking point in the semi-tolerant relationship that had previously existed between Victor and the USSR Union of Professional Artists. According to the Union, an artist was not allowed to exhibit outside of the USSR without the permission of and censorship by that organization. That same year, Victor lost the position, which he had obtained through the Union. He relocated to a small village called Sinicheno, where over the course of 5 years, he created a series of lyrical pieces. The works were displayed at a solo exhibition at Dianart Gallery in Zurich in 1988, and at Arcole Auction, Paris in 1988-1990.The Perestroika finally opened doors for Victor to exhibit within Russia at "From Unofficial Art to Perestroika," in Leningrad in 1989 and The Stanislavski Actor's House in Leningrad in 1990.
In 1990, Victor received an invitation to come to New York City for a Solo exhibition at Nahamkin Gallery. During this trip, Victor applied for legal residency within the United States and was granted this status for his Extraordinary Abilities in Art. In 1996, Victor's paintings become part of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art at Rutgers University. From this point on, Victor and his family move to rural upstate New York. Here he continues the development of unique techniques for creating 3D casts for oil paintings and paper. Victor's recent works are hand-made paper reliefs, with acrylic used as a color addition to the texture. He also developed a relining technic, which allow him to transfer his reliefs to canvas, and then work with oil paint over the underlying relief.
He has also been represented by Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum of The Norton & Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union (1956-1986) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Dianart Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland; Kudam Gallery in Berlin, Germany; Codriorg Pallas Museum , Tallinn, Estonia; Urmala Exhibition Hall, Urmala, Latvia; Regional exhibition in Russia, and solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg, Russia, etc.
The specific style category that Victor's art belongs to he described in verbiage “Synergism” as a New Art Method. Following is his statement:"I am working on the development of a new perspective in the category of Fine Art. By examining and dissecting different types of objects I am creating base-relief compositions, and employing a combination of traditional art methods such as drawing, sculpture, painting, and collage to bring unique works of art into being. The best way to describe the character of my craft is the word “Synergism;” when the sum of the whole created system in the art image is greater than the sum of its separate parts. In this case, by combining several conventional fine art mediums I am creating new art objects with complexity of texture and chromatic harmony in some paintings/reliefs and a monochromatic approach in other works."
"Using everyday household items I am exploring their ambiguous meaning, creating an abstract relief on the canvas surface and destroying all recognizable and semantic meaning of the individual elements in a mosaic-like composition. I am producing a print of the object in the painting, while simultaneously infusing the painting with sculptural elements; eliminating the gap between painting, sculpture, and drawing. Traditional figurative forms are used only as a starting point for the creation of new art objects; a new harmony arises from discord and dissonance between different parts of the image.
At the junction of the composition there is a natural merger of three directions of the Conceptual Art, Pop Art, and Minimalism."
Exhibitions:
2015- Ober Gallery group Exhibition Then and Now. 6 North Main St., Kent, CT 06757
2014- The Solzhenitsyn Library “House of the Russian Diaspora” Moscow, Russia 109240
2013 – Present. The Museum of Russian Art Permanent Collection 5500 Stevens Av. South Minneapolis, MN 55419
2012 – Present. Collections Database Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Representing MEAD Museum in Amherst , MA
2012 – Present. Roshkowska Galleries Exhibition 538 Warren Street Hudson, NY 12534
2005 – Present. David Segal Gallery Exhibition 16th St, New York, NY
2001 – Mural Gallery Frank W. Cyr Center Exhibition Stamford, NY
2000 – Windham Fine Arts Solo Exhibition
1990- Stanislavsky Actor’s House sponsored by: The Union of Theaters of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia
1988-Present. Zimmerli Museum, Nonconformist Art at Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
1988-1990 Drouot Richelieu Arcole Auction Paris, France 1988 – Solo exhibition, Dianart Gallery Zurich, Switzerland
1985 – Solo exhibition, Kudamm Gallery Berlin, Germany
1988-1990 Drouot Richelieu Arcole Auction Paris, France 1989- “From Unofficial Art to Perestroika,” Group exhibition Leningrad, Russia
1986-Underground Art Movement, Cadriorg Palas, Latvia
1985-Urmala Exibition Hall, Estonia
