Ilya Gaponov
Ilya Gaponov explores the memory of place through painting, installation and a material closely tied to his Siberian roots: coal-based Kuzbass lacquer.
Born in Kemerovo in 1981, he studied at Kemerovo Art School and trained in monumental and decorative painting at the Stieglitz Academy in St. Petersburg. He also attended the PRO ARTE Institute and studied in Vincent Barré’s studio at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since 2015, he has worked between Russia and Hungary.
Gaponov co-founded the Nepokorennye open studio in St. Petersburg in 2007. His industrial landscapes and portraits of workers use bitumen-based paint made from coal mined in his home region. The material connects the image to the labour, landscape and industrial history it depicts.
His practice also draws on icon-painting techniques, combining dense surfaces and meticulous detail with themes of memory, spirituality and personal history. His works are held by the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, Erarta and the V–A–C Foundation.
Selected Exhibitions
2019 — Late Lunch, UVG Gallery, Budapest
2017 — Industrial Archaeology, VMZ History Museum, Vyksa
2016 — Changes, UVG Gallery, Budapest
2015 — Snow in the Room, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
2013 — Terricon Desert, Name Gallery, St. Petersburg
2012 — Excessive Appetites, Erarta Gallery, London
2008 — UNDER GROUND, Manege, St. Petersburg
2007 — Parallel Kuzbass, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
Valldemossa
Ilya Gaponov
2025
Acrylic on Paper, Kuzbass varnish, 140 × 190 cm