Valentin Khrushch

Valentin Khrushch, "Fishes" (c.1970s), mixed media on wood

Valentin Khrusch was born on January 24, 1943, in occupied Odessa.[2] In the 1950s he studied at the Odessa Art School (teachers Zaitsev, Yegorov, Pavlyuk, Fraerman).[3] Many critics believe that the "Fence Exhibition" organized by young artists Valentin Khrushch and Stanislav Sychev in 1967 "Sychik + Hrushchik" on the Odessa Opera Theater fence became the starting point for "Odessa nonconformism".[4] This exhibition lasted only three hours.[5] He took part in the organization of the first "apartment exhibitions" in Odessa.[6] Since the late 1970s, name of Valentin Khrushch, as well as his colleagues of the "Odessa nonconformism" Alexander Anufriev, Vladimir Strelnikov, Lyudmila Yastreb, Victor Marinyuk, Stanislav Sychov, Valeriy Basanets began to appear in foreign catalogs and exhibitions.[7]

In 1979 he participated in the unofficial exhibition "Contemporary Art from Ukraine" (Munich-London-Paris-New York).[8] In 1982, Valentin Khrushch moved from Odessa to Moscow.[9]

Last years, Valentin Khrushch spent in Kimry, Tver region, where he died from cancer on January 24, 2005. He was buried there in the St. Nicholas Church fence.[10]

Works by Valentin Khrushch are in the permanent exhibition of UNESCO in Paris, the National Museum of Vienna (Austria), National Art Museum of Ukraine, Odessa Fine Art Museum, Museum of Odessa Modern Art,[11] Odessa Literary Museum, NT-Art Gallery (Odessa, Ukraine),[12] Grynov Art Collection,[13] Kimry Local History Museum, Zimmerli Art Museum (New Jersey, USA),[14] in museums and private collections in Ukraine and abroad.[15]