Born in Ukraine in 1949, Viktor TRUBCHANINOV comes from a family of miners and has been interested in drawing since he was very young. At the age of 14, an unexpected encounter led him to enrol in evening art classes with the man who was to become his unconditional friend and who would later enable him to enter the Kiev Fine Arts Academy. The dream became reality, Viktor became an independent painter and taught for many years at the Chernigov Fine Arts School.

For Viktor Trubchaninov, drawing is the basis of everything, it is the foundation, black and white is the best way to get out of reality: "life is in colour isn't it?

The artist constructs, sketches, and also integrates certain elements from the works of well-known artists and places them in his drawings. For Viktor, art is transversal, every artist has at least a part of another artist in him, it is part of his history. Not all the sketches see the light of day immediately, some are stored for years and will come out one day, others will remain in a state of gestation and some will give rise to a drawing. This is where humour and the absurd come into the drawing, Viktor readily admits that he likes to make people smile, the artist takes a malicious pleasure in offering a shifted work, seriousness is no longer the order of the day and animals are often the means.

Viktor Trubchaninov pushed the door of the gallery with his daughter and his grandson "Sacha" asleep in his pram in September 2022. Olga spoke, her father not speaking French, but what immediately caught my eye was Viktor's amused look at the work of the gallery's artists. A sparkling, childlike eye that took great pleasure in wandering from room to room. After explaining to me the situation of his father, a Ukrainian artist who left his country with only his drawing boards, Viktor handed me postcards of his work. I then discovered a new universe, constructed, referenced but also humorous and mischievous, I was immediately touched by his offbeat universe that I wanted to share with you.

Main exhibitions

1982 – “USSR our Motherland”, National Union of Artists of the USSAR, Kiev, Ukraine.
1984 – “National exhibition of graphic arts”, Riding hall, Moscow, Russia.
1987 – “First National exhibition of graphic arts” Riding hall, Moscow, Russia.
1992 – “Modern art of Ukraine. Calm”, Kiev, Ukraine.
1992 – 1997 – “Ukrainian art – festival”, Ukrainian House, Kiev, Ukraine.
1996 – “Personality exhibition”, Science and Fine Art Center, Slavutych, Ukraine.
1996 – “Personality exhibition Panopticum”, National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
1997 – “Triennale of Ukrainian graphic”, Kiev, Ukraine.
1997 – “Personality exhibition”, Municipal Gallery, Lille, France.
1997 – “Photosynthesis”, Modern Fine Art Center of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
1998 – “Personality exhibition”, Chernigov bank, Kiev, Ukraine.
1998 – “Innocent encroachment”, Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York, USA.
1999 – “Nudes”, Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York, USA.
1999 – “Showing Show IV”, Arnot Museum, Elmira, New York, USA.
2000 – “Look in modern”, Lavra Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine.
2000 – “Found paradise”, Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York, USA.
2002 – “This killing beauty”, Union of Artists of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
2005 – “Ukrainian artists of XX century” National Fine Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
2006 – “Triennale of Ukrainian graphic”, Kiev, Ukraine.
2007 – “Personality exhibition”, Foxtrot Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine.
2014 – “World order model”, ART – KIEV CONTEMPORARY 2014, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine.
2015 – “PRIVAT”, Taras Shevchenko National Museum, Kiev, Ukraine.

Museum and private collections

National Fine Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine.
Fine Art Museum of Chernigov, Chernigov, Ukraine.
Fine Art Museum of Kursk, Kursk, Russia.
ARNOT Museum, Elmira, New York, USA.
Private collections of France, Italy, German, USA, Russia, Ukraine.

In 1998 famous actor Pierce Brosnan bought two pictures from Viktor Trubchaninov at Mimi Ferzt art – gallery (New York, USA).
In 1999 drawings of Viktor Trubchaninov were filmed in the movie “The Thomas Crown affair”.
In 2013 Belgian Prince Charles – Antoine Marie Louis Eugène Lamoral of Ligne – La Trémoïlle bought a few pictures from Viktor Trubchaninov at Garna Gallery (Kiev, Ukraine) .