The Russian Centre of Culture and Science in London together with the London Collectors Club are delighted to announce the presentation of Bridge To The Future – the first comprehensive monograph on the artist Oleg Kudryashov accompanied by an exhibition of selected works created between 1983 and 2003.

A key figure in the development of Russian contemporary art, Oleg Kudryashov is a groundbreaking artist who has attained fame in the UK and Russia with his works acquired by major US and UK museums such as Tate, London and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. His career spans over 60 years starting in the Soviet Union at the end of the 1950s and on emigrating to the UK in 1974 he was immediately noticed by Roland Penrose and recognised as one of the unique Russian masters of its kind. He returned to Russia after almost 25 years and currently lives in Moscow.

Kudryashov drew his inspiration from works by Cranach, Altdorfer, Rembrandt and other Old Masters as well as from the illustrated books and postcards by Bocklin and the German symbolists which he saw in his childhood. Admittedly it was David Hockney with his exhibition at Tate Gallery in the 1970s who opened Oleg’s eyes to the Old Masters. As a naturally gifted and original artist, Kudryashov was not only building his own style but was looking for the forms and methods of expression for his own visual language.

Despite the strong tradition for political art in Russia, Kudryashov has had no interest in engaging with this tradition as every artwork he makes, whether figurative or abstract is a statement of his trust in his own individuality. He believes in the creative freedom of the artist, with no constraining doctrinal boundaries or bonds.