Arsen Savadov

Arsen Savadov (born 1962 in Kyiv) is a Ukrainian conceptualist photographer and painter of Armenian descent, associated with the Ukrainian New Wave. His father, a book illustrator originally from Baku, raised him in Kyiv. Savadov trained at the Shevchenko State Art School and graduated from the Kyiv Art Institute, and he still lives and works in Kyiv. He is listed among the students of Victor Ivanovich Zaretsky.

His career took shape in the early 1990s, when he exhibited with Georgy Senchenko at Marat Guelman's gallery in Moscow and at the Berman Gallery in New York. His solo shows include Kokto (2002), Book of the Dead (2001), Love Story (2005) and Donbass-Chocolate (2003), works that mix irony, unsettling imagery and a critical look at post-Soviet society. His work is held in collections including Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University and the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv.

More recently he has taken part in group shows of contemporary Ukrainian art in London, including at the Saatchi Gallery, and in Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism in 2017. His legacy lies in the renewal of Ukrainian art after the Soviet collapse, bringing action, concept and painting together.