Iskan Ilyazov

Iskan Ilyazov

Country: Russia ·Born in 1956

I am Iskan Ilyazov, artistic alias Iskan. I was born in 1956 and raised in Tiraspol, Moldova; I lived in Bucharest, Romania; currently, I live in Moscow, Russia. 

I paint bright and emotional geometric abstractions on canvas that captivate and inspire the viewer. Filled with positive energy, my paintings bring harmony, joy, happiness, and kindness.

I do everything my own way. My pictures create themselves – guided by a kind of inexplicable faith in their own star.

I generalize and then refine the image, making it expressive. The rest does not interest me. I remove the clutter from figurative representation, discard the noise and the background. You could say I distill it to crystal clarity, touching it up to achieve balance and harmony. In the end, only color and form remain. When I paint an abstraction, I generalize the figurative almost until the image disappears; when it becomes symbolic and vivid, when a great deal of content has been compressed into it – then it is ready to be transferred to canvas. Then I have to think about nothing except the painterly technique, and even that I pay little conscious attention to, only controlling the quality of what emerges from under the brush. It all comes from within. It all happens in my subconscious.

My paintings are part of public and museum collections in Minsk, Moscow, Nuremberg, and Florence; and private collections in Windsor and London; Berlin and Cologne; Minsk and Monaco; Moscow and St. Petersburg; Hollywood and Las Vegas; Cannes, Nice, and Paris.

I am a specialist in Soviet non-conformist art and own a relevant collection. As a scholar and researcher, I focus on the theory and practical studies of color forms in contemporary painting.

My record includes over 100 exhibitions in Berlin, Venice, Cannes, Milan, Minsk, Moscow, Nice, Nuremberg, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, and Florence, with over 80 group exhibitions and 20 solo shows.

 

LET’S TAKE ISKAN’S BEARINGS IN ART HISTORY

 

In Europe and the United States, geometric abstraction of the 1920s and 1930s had a significant impact on architecture, design, industrial and decorative arts, and experienced a revival after World War II, accompanied by the emergence of minimalism and op art.

In Soviet art, the Russian avant-garde tradition was revitalized in the mid-1950s as artists from the non-conformist unofficial art scene explored geometric abstract art. Building on the legacy of the avant-garde and having discovered non-objectivity in the works of Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Western art after World War II, Soviet non-conformist artists came to understand geometric abstraction as a visual language of boundless possibilities and made a breakthrough into a new artistic consciousness for Soviet art.

Iskan Ilyazov, having assembled a fine collection of the oeuvre of Soviet non-conformist artists, continues the tradition established in the early 20th century and by the Soviet non-conformist artists, interpreting it and reflecting the realities of the 21st century.

 

Education

Iskan Ilyazov - ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Iskan was born in 1956 in the city of Tiraspol, Moldova, into a family of schoolteachers. The family had a notable home library; his father was fond of books and art catalogs, subscribed to illustrated magazines from the USSR and Socialist countries, and introduced his son to the visual arts (1967 - 1973).

While studying at the Foreign Languages Institute in Moscow, Iskan visited most of the zonal, republican, and all-Union fine arts exhibitions from 1973 to 1978.

In 1976, Iskan received a diploma as a Swedish language guide, practiced for almost six months, and specialized in art museums of the Soviet Union.

From 1983 to 1988, Iskan worked as an expert at the representative office of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania, where he attended evening art history courses at the National Gallery of Romania in Bucharest during the 1986-87 academic year. He was friends with one of Romania's top 10 painters, Sabin Bălașa, and engaged in discussions about art in his studio from January 1986 to April 1988.

Iskan attended the annual ART-MIF art fair in Moscow from 1990 to 1992.  He spent time in the Furmanniy and Banniy clusters artist squats in Moscow during the 1990s.

In the 1993-1994 academic year, Iskan was a student at the Law and Business School of Kingston University in the suburbs of London and attended classes in the Department of Art History. From January to April 1994, he moved from Kingston-upon-Thames to London and rented a room to study the art museums and galleries of London.

From 1995 to 2015, Iskan traveled to Italy to explore the treasures of fine art, visiting churches and museums in Venice, Florence, Rome, and Milan.

In Moscow from 1995 to 2004, Iskan visited the ART-MOSCOW, ART-MANEZH, and Antique Salon fairs and attended the SOVKOM auctions.

Iskan visited major exhibitions of foreign artists in Moscow. Between 1998 and 2015, he purchased and studied more than 200 kg of art catalogs and magazines, delving deeply into the philosophy and history of art, graphics, and painting as he assembled his collection of over 400 graphic items. He focused his collection on artworks by Moscow non-conformist artists of the 1960s-1970s but also consistently collected works by his contemporaries from 1995 to 2012. Iskan studied the catalogs of London auctions MacDougall’s, Bonham’s, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s with great interest and thoroughness, attended auctions and pre-auction exhibitions in London and Moscow, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of lots and artists, and made very selective purchases at London auctions from 2008 to 2012.

Iskan repeatedly visited galleries and museums in Nice, Monaco, Paris, Cannes, Aix-en-Provence, and other cities during his total 40 months of visits to France from 2010 to 2018.

In September 2016, Iskan published a 48-page personal art catalog with a print run of 500 copies in Russian and English, for which he wrote most of the texts.

Achievements (awards, articles, exhibitions)

2016 - Member of the Creative Union of Professional Artists, Moscow

2016 - Member of the Union of Abstractionists of Russia (SABROS)

2018 - Member of the Professional Union of Artists of Russia, Moscow

2020 – Full Member (Academician) of Peter the Great Academy of Sciences and Arts, St. Petersburg

2020 – Professor of Visual Arts, Peter the Great Academy of Sciences and Arts, St. Petersburg

2021 - Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Modern Arts, Moscow

2021 - "Top-100 Best Russian Artist for 2021" according to the "Ot I Do - Art Without Mediators" rating

2023 - Honored Arts Personality of Russia

2024 – Klykov Medal for Visual Arts

2024 - Grand Prix for Graphic Art, Moscow, Russia

List of Medals awarded in Europe's largest International Contest “Art.Excellence.Awards”:

2021, Bronze Medal, painting ("Horoscope")

2021, Silver Medal, painting ("Mountains")

2022, Bronze Medal, painting ("Constellation of Pisces")

2022, Silver Medal, art project ("Wanderings")

2022, Silver Medal, photography ("Golden Dawn over the Sea")

2022, Bronze Medal, painting ("Discs" cycle)

2022, Silver Medal, art project ("Messages")

2022, Gold Medal, art project ("Geometric Abstractions and Fashion")

2023, Silver Medal, media art, video art ("Wheels and Stars")

2023, Bronze Medal, media art (digital work "Geometrics of Magenta")

2023, Bronze Medal, media art (art project "Novice or Rebel")

2023, Silver Medal, painting ("Composition No. 425")

2025, Silver Medal, painting ("Star")

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Selected exhibitions

Permanent display at hotel in Collioure, France, 2024-2025

“1000 Opere” group exhibition, Rome, Italy, May – October 2025

Chiesa San Silvestro al Quirinale, “RINASCITA Arte dell’anima”, group exhibition, Rome, Italy, April - May 2025

Palazzo Colonna, “Primavera” group exhibition, Rome, Italy, March 2025

Palazzo Colonna, Rome, Italy, Christmas group exhibition, December 2024

Palazzo Carpegna Palace TH of Vatican, Rome, Italy, group exhibition, December 2024

“Choice of Art Bureau – 15”, “Espace 22” Gallery, group exhibition, Monaco, July 2023

Art Ocean's Day, Milano, group show, 14 June 2021

Fashion World Clean Up March , Milano, Italy, group show, February 2020

Fashionable Eco Art Exhibition, Palazzo Zenobio, Venice, Italy, group show, February 2020

Solo exhibition in Nice, France, September- October 2019

Gray d’Albion Hotel, Cannes, France, group exhibition, September 2018

Vallauris, France, group exhibition of 3 artists, August 2018

Galerie Espen ARTDENOR, Cannes, France, group exhibition, August 2017

Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, group exhibition of French artists “Aria di Francia”, organized by Galleria d’Arte Mentana, June 2017

I-galley, “THEATRE SUR PAPIER”, Montmartre, Paris, France, group exhibition, January 2017

“Free Look”, Berlin, Germany, group exhibition, December 2016

“Theater auf dem Papier”, organized by ARTISCHOCKEN, group exhibition, Nuremberg, Germany, September – October 2016

“Sine Finibus”, I-galley, Montmartre, Paris, France, group exhibition, August 2016

Villa Aloha, Cannes, France, solo exhibition, July 2016

TOTAL in Western Europe: 20 events including 2 solo exhibitions

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Iskan Ilyazov

LIST OF SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS

1. Solo exhibition at “ARTEL” Co-working Art Space, Academician Tupolev Embankment, 15B, Moscow, organized by “P’ARTs” Gallery, curated by Ksenia Khusnutdinova, 07.06 – 09 July 2025, - 10 artworks

2. Solo exhibition "Plato's Philosophy and Fundamental Particles of Quantum Mechanics", D.A. Furmanov Art Salon, Moscow, 02 – 30.04.2025, - 18 artworks over 1 meter

3. Solo exhibition "Iskander to Iskander. Hommage", F.A. Iskander Cultural Center, Moscow, 01 – 31 March 2025, - 9 artworks

4. Solo exhibition “Plato and Quantum Physics”, ArtMaison Gallery, Moscow, 20 – 26 September 2024, - 36 artworks, including 16 artworks over 1 meter

5. Duo exhibition with Elena Lyapina “COORDINATES OF HARMONY”, organized by “KvartiraS” Gallery, curator Vera Timoshenko, Moscow, “ARTPLAY” Art Cluster, 02 – 30 April 2024, - 16 artworks

6. Solo exhibition "Metaphysics of Discs", Yu. Trifonov Library, curator Maria Valdes Odriosola, Moscow, 28 October – 07 November 2022 – 11 artworks

7. Solo exhibition "The Sound of Color", Yu. Trifonov Library, Moscow, 04 – 25.10.2022, - 18 artworks

8. Solo exhibition "Color Forms of Sunny Iskan", “Living Life” Gallery, Moscow, 15 September 2020 – 05 March 2021 – 28 artworks

9. Solo exhibition at the “Russian House” in Nice, curator Nadia Metlov, France, 01 September – 30 October 2019 – 14 artworks

10. Solo exhibition “The World of Color Forms”, curator Alla Buga, “Sadovoe Koltso” Museum, Moscow, 03 - 17 October 2018 – 39 artworks

11. Duo exhibition with geometric abstractionist Ekaterina Osina “World Beyond Horizons”, curator Nadezhda Lebedeva, organizer – Creative Union of Professional Artists (TSPH) at the Moscow House of Creativity (MDST) 12 – 26 November 2018 - 21 artworks

12. Solo exhibition of paintings by Iskan “The Power of Attraction”, the Botanical Gardens of the Moscow State University (MGU) “Apothecary Garden”, together with sculptors Margarita Dobrynina and Yuri Kondrashov, curators Inga Ricci and Olga Zaitseva, Moscow, 01 - 28 February 2019 - 36 artworks

13. Solo exhibition "Iskan's Solar Abstractions" in three halls at the “Cure” Art Space, curator Iskan Ilyazov, Moscow, November 22 - December 22, 2017 - exhibiting week on week 16 to 20 artworks

14. Solo exhibition "Time of Color Forms" at the Moscow Artists’ Union (MSH), Kuznetsky Most 20 Exhibition Space, as part of the group exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Creative Union of Professional Artists (TSPH), curator Nadezhda Lebedeva, Moscow, 26 – 30 September 2017 – 18 artworks. Printed catalogue.

15. Solo exhibition of Iskan's paintings "Paintings and High Fashion", Museum of the History of Music and Theatre of the Republic of Belarus, together with an exhibition of original clothing designs and a live models fashion show by Nina Kovalchuk based on Iskan's abstract paintings, Minsk, August 09 - September 10, 2017 - 17 artworks

16. Solo exhibition of Iskan's paintings "Metamorphoses of Color Forms", the Silver Age Museum (Bryusov House), together with an exhibition of Nina Kovalchuk's original high fashion clothes based on Iskan's abstract paintings, curator Elizaveta Kostaki, Moscow, 3 – 30 August 2017, - 16 artworks

17. Solo exhibition "Metamorphoses of Color Forms", curator Nadezhda Lebedeva, Moscow Art Space “DOM”, 29 April - 04 May 2017 - 15 artworks

18. Solo exhibition "The Interplay of Pictures and Forms" in conjunction with the exhibition of Nina Kovalchuk's original high fashion clothing designs based on Iskan's abstract paintings, curator Nadezhda Lebedeva, Moscow Art Space “DOM”, 10-15 April 2017 - 17 artworks

19. Solo exhibition "Color Forms", National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus, 09 - 26 February 2017 - 16 artworks

20. Solo exhibition "Color Forms", “Sadovoe Koltso” Museum, in conjunction with the exhibition of Nina Kovalchuk's high fashion clothing design models based on Iskan's abstractions, curator Alla Buga, 15 - 30 October 2016, Moscow - 22 artworks. PRINTED CATALOG

21. Solo exhibition at “Villa Aloha”, 23 – 27 July 2016, Cannes, France - 14 artworks

22. Solo exhibition at “International Master Class on Multi-Layered Watercoloring by Elisabeth de Bruyn”, curator Iskan Ilyazov, Moscow, 03 – 06 March 2016 – 6 artworks

23. Solo exhibition at "OST" Gallery, curator Iskan Ilyazov, “VNIITE” Pavilion at VDNKh, Moscow, 24 – 30 April 2016 - 25 artworks

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Registered: 27.07.2025
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