Russian Federation
“I paint space as a multidimensional experience, where abstraction, perception and contemplation converge.”
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Igor Shirshkov is a contemporary artist whose practice explores the philosophical dimensions of movement, space and perception through a distinctive dialogue between abstraction and figuration. Trained as an architect, he approaches painting as a structured yet intuitive investigation into the relationship between form, colour and the viewer’s experience of space.
Initially trained in realistic landscape painting under the Siberian master Anatoly Kostovsky, Shirshkov gradually developed a personal artistic language influenced by the work of Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Sol LeWitt and René Magritte. His experimentation with abstraction led to an ambitious exploration of visual language, including a series of projects centred on the creation of an original alphabet. These investigations culminated in the exhibition project (2005), following earlier presentations devoted to words and alphabets, as well as installations and performances in Russia, France and Germany.
His project was presented at the Vkhutemas Gallery in Moscow in 2012 and the Museum of Nonconformist Art in St Petersburg in 2013. In 2015, he introduced , a project exploring figurative imagery.
Today, Shirshkov has returned to landscape painting, integrating abstraction, minimalism and surrealism into compositions that move beyond conventional representation. Through restrained colour palettes, carefully balanced forms and subtle shifts in perspective, his landscapes become spaces for contemplation rather than straightforward depictions of nature. Architecture, abstraction and the observed world converge in works that invite viewers to experience space as something multidimensional, psychological and deeply personal.
With more than 30 solo exhibitions to his credit, Shirshkov has participated in numerous group exhibitions and is the subject of published catalogues and a monograph. His works are held in significant institutional collections, including the State Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum in St Petersburg.
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