Muhadin Kishev – Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and People’s Artist of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Muhadin Kishev’s creative personality can be compared to that of the Renaissance artists. Like Leonardo, he observes our vast and undiscovered world full of delight and reverence. His presence in the art market, the praise of art historians and the attention and love of the public make Kishev one of the leading contemporary artists in Russia.

Muhadin Kishev was born in 1939 in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in the Caucasus. He graduated in Fine Arts from Krasnodar State University and parallel with his studies was awarded the medal for acrobatic aviation, so completing his Military service. Kishev spent the early years of his artistic career as a member of the Union of Artists, working in the Monumental Arts which gave him greater freedom of expression, completing projects and State assignments in murals, mosaics, bas-relief and intarsia.

During the early years of “Perestroika” Kishev, as mentor and tutor to the most promising young artists in the special residences for artists, founded a whole generation of talented artists. Kishev created his own monotype technique, now used by his followers in many countries where he has given master classes. He spent four years in London as guest artist at the Chisenhale Studios and this London period marked a radical change in his creative work. He now lives and works in his Studio in Spain, in Cadiz.

Kishev’s life and art constitute a fusion of East and West, and Spain has had a marked impact on his work. His lifestyle is spartan and athletic. To see the world through the eyes of Kishev is to see the beauty of our surroundings. Kishev’s paintings have a vivid personality, distinguished by the recognizable “Kishevsky colour” which submerges us in a world of wonder and marvels and makes us dream of cosmic spaces and experience the mystery and enigma of their shapes.

Kishev has received many honours and awards in Russia and other countries including six gold medals for his work. He has taken part in over 80 major group exhibitions in Russia and abroad and held 47 solo exhibitions. Among his rich bibliography of films, books and catalogues special mention is given to the jubilee album “Hymn to Beauty” released for the 70th anniversary of the artist and the academic monograph of his artwork “The Art of Love” by Sergei Stupin, art critic and doctor of philosophy, published to mark his 75th anniversary. Now for the artist’s 80th a unique publication is
being prepared made up of Kishev’s original monologues.

Kishev’s paintings are in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Kabardino-Balkarian Museum of Fine Arts, in many regional museums of Russia (Krasnodar, Tobolsk etc) and in Cultural Centres in England and Spain. More than 300 paintings are in private collections around the world, including the Spanish Royal family, Zurab Tsereteli, Maxim Voznesesnsky, the Gorbachev Foundation, and the Kolodzei Collection of Russian Art in New York.