Yuri is the brightest and most well known of the artists who came to America from the former USSR. Americans of culture recognize Russia through his art. His energy and enthusiasm for Russia and the Ukraine, where he spent the last twenty years of his life in the USSR before moving to the United States, are expressed in his work and help viewers understand emotionally and intellectually the culture which fostered his great energy and talent.

Yuri Gorbachev began his career as a Russian ceramics artist. He arrived in the United States from the former USSR in 1991 with little knowledge of the English language and almost no money but with an abundance of his great talent and charisma. After twenty years of working with ceramics he dared to change his medium to oil on canvas. The result was a spectacular success. In 1993 he traveled to the Far East and discovered his true soul and brought these Far East influences back to the rest of the world through his paintings. He incorporated these different worlds and experiences -Russian, American and Asian- into his art, evolving into the unique artist he is today.

Yuri Gorbachev was classically trained in the Soviet Union art academies and also acquired advanced degrees in philosophy and communication. He notes that his most notable accomplishment through his art has been the success in bringing many different cultures together in his own simple language of beauty. His use of lacquer and glazing techniques in his paintings exhibit his classic training and mastery of ceramics.

Commissions & Awards

-2002, World Cup painting for Adidas

-2002, UN Human Rights Day” book and poster

-1994 through 1999 Stolichnaya Vodka Campaign

-Absolute Vodka Campaign 1993

Select Museums & Public Collections

-Louvre Museum, Paris, France

-National Ukrainian Museum, Kiev, Ukraine

-The White House Collection, .Washington, D.C., USA

-Moscow Museum of Modern Art, .Moscow, Russia

-Norton Dodge Collection, Maryland, USA

-Kremlin Museum, Novgorod, Russia

-Museum of Art Marseilles, France

-Museum of Fine Art, Gerona, Spain

-Museum of Fine Art, Genoa, Italy

-Blackpool Museum of Art, England

-Rudana Museum, Bali, Indonesia

-China Club, Hong Kong, Japan

-Tsarskoye Selo National Museum,

Palace of Alexander III, St. Petersburg, Russia

-Moscow Cultural Centre, Moscow, Russia

-Museum of Modern Art, Oulu, Finland

-Museum of Art, Glasgow, Scotland

-Odessa Museum of Fine Arts, Ukraine

-Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, .Sweden

Select Publications

“The Art of Paradise-Yuri Gorbachev” 2002, Bertesmann International

“The Art of Yuri Gorbachev”1998, Rizzoli International Publications