Semyon Agroskin (b. 1961, Moscow, Russia) is a multidisciplinary artist and architect whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, collage and installation. A graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI), he combines the traditions of academic painting with a contemporary exploration of memory, everyday life and the passage of time.
Working primarily with a restrained palette that often approaches monochrome, Agroskin depicts familiar objects, domestic interiors and seemingly ordinary situations. His compositions, ranging from still lifes and landscapes to portraits and interiors, reveal an underlying sense of mystery and psychological tension. The absence of human figures in many of his works evokes an invisible presence, while everyday objects become witnesses to personal histories, rituals and memories.
Through his distinctive visual language, Agroskin explores the relationship between the material and the spiritual, the ordinary and the extraordinary. His works invite viewers to look beyond the immediate image and discover subtle narratives shaped by memory, introspection and the universal experience of time.
His works are held in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, among others. He has exhibited internationally in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
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2023 — Dialogue in Time and Space: National Art of the 20th–21st Centuries, Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA), Moscow, Russia
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2022–2023 — Home and Family: Pictures of Peaceful Life, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
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2022 — Waiting for Don Quixote, Voznesensky Art Center, Moscow, Russia
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2022 — Instant Fish Hunt, Zverev Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
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2019 — Fathers and Sons, New Wing of Gogol House, Moscow, Russia
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2018 — Cyberfest, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
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2018 — Birch Time, A. Pushkin Literary Museum, Moscow, Russia
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2017–2018 — Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
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2017 — Moscow Through the Ages, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
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2013 — Modernikon: Contemporary Art from Russia, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
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2001–2002 — The Highest Measure, Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center, Moscow, Russia