Irina Nakhova (b. 1955, Moscow) is a painter, graphic artist, book artist, and creator of large-scale installations employing a wide range of techniques and materials. She is among the first artists in Russia to have worked with installation art. In 1978, she graduated from the Moscow School of Applied Arts (MUHRO). Since 1976, she has been creating her “Apartment Rooms” (Series No. 1–6)—proto-installations in Moscow apartments that anticipated immersive art practices. One of the first women conceptual artists in the USSR, she participated in unofficial exhibitions. Since 1992, she has lived in New York, and since 1997 has been a professor at Wayne State University (Detroit). In 2013, Nakhova received the Kandinsky Prize in the “Project of the Year” category for Room No. 6, and in 2015 she represented Russia at the 56th International Venice Biennale. She has participated in documenta (1987), the Moscow Biennale (2015, 2017), and the 1st Kyiv Biennale (2012). Irina Nakhova’s works are held in the collections of the Zimmerli Art Museum (New Brunswick), Tate Modern (London), the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the National Centre for Contemporary Arts (Moscow), the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Ruarts Foundation (Moscow), the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation (Moscow), and others.
Solo exhibitions
Rooms, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Irina Nakhova and Pavel Pepperstein: Moscow Partisan Conceptualism, Orel Art UK, London, UK
Disconnected, Open Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Zone of No Distinction, XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Disagreeable Matters-Disarming Icons, Windows at Kimmel Center, New York University, New York, NY US
Trip, XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Moscow Installation, Karlsruhe Kunstlerhaus, Karlsruhe
Artificial Shrubbery, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Probably Would, Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York, NY US
Two New, Kresge Gallery, Ramapo College, Mahwah, NJ US
Alert: Code Orange, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow
Us, XL Gallery, Moscow RU
Silence, Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg
When Will You Be Home?, Wooster College Art Museum, Wooster, OH US
Rehearsal. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Stay With Me, XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Annunciation, XL Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Deposition, Rupertinum, Museum Moderner Kunst, Salzburg
Showroom: Installation with Big Red, Tallinn City Gallery, Tallinn EST
Big Red, XL Gallery, Moscow
Archeology of the Room, Gallery Obscuri Viri, Moscow
Showroom: Installation with Big Red, Galerie Eboran, Salzburg
Honeybuns Performing Goethe's Werter, with Günter Unterburger, Galerie im Alcatraz, Hallein
What I Saw, XL Gallery, Moscow
Power of Painting: Food Painting, Bunting Gallery, Royal Oak, MI US
Daddy Needs to Relax, Gallery Obscuri Viri, Moscow
Friends and Neighbors, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI US
Feast for the Gods, XL Gallery, Moscow
Careful With Your Eyes, Gallery 60, Umea
In Memoriam, Chicago International Art Exposition, Special Project Installation, Chicago, IL US
Recent Works, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY US
Partial Triumph II, Galeria Berini, Barcelona
Momentum Mortis, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY US
Partial Triumph I, Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London
