Les Noms Galerie

14/07/2026

L’esistenza come tensione sempre viva tra la miseria del mondo e lo sguardo di Dio: è questo il…

20/06/2026

Галерея Les Noms представляє 19 червня 2026 р. о 18:00 у Палаццо делла Раккетта (via Vaspergolo, 6) виставку «Коля Новіков: Ізгой, Бунтар, Художник», яка занурює відвідувача у життя та творчість одного з найбільш недооцінених геніальних художників XX століття.Микола Новіков був видатним митцем, який ще за життя став справжньою легендою Одеси. Київ, Харків та Одеса утворюють той географічний трикутник, який визначив розвиток і поширення українського художнього авангарду в першій половині 20 століття.

20/06/2026

Les Noms Galerie proudly presents 'Kolia Novikov: Outcast, Rebel, Artist' on June 19, 2026, at 6:00 PM at Palazzo della Racchetta, an exhibition that delves into the life and work of a 20th-century artistic genius, Mykola Novikov, who left an indelible mark on the Ukrainian artistic avant-garde, inspiring a new generation of creatives to challenge the status quo and push boundaries.

13/06/2026

Mykola Novikov — a Lonely Rebel Genius!
Like a legend of the city, a sign of his time. Yet how terrifying it is to imagine what the life of the artist became. What were his paintings like in those years? Almost caricatured visions of the world, yet painted with power, with distinction. For an artist it is vital to recognize one’s path, to arrive at oneself — at the fusion of a harsh rejection of the world and a desperate love for it, because from this world — whether one likes it or not — there is no escape.

His works constantly turn to the realm of spirit — a reflection of his life, a struggle with that time, that world we now call the “stagnation”… Aggressive, nervous painting, paintings that scream. This was not a sentimental reflection of nature’s beauty. It was the clash of a personality with a society that rejected it.

Piecing together fragments of his story, one sees the consistent life of a man with a heavy fate, who lived in complete underground existence yet remained independent; an artist who, over forty years, honed his technique, sharpening line and style.

Novikov was born on August 27, 1935. Nothing is known of his parents, except for his patronymic — Yakovlevich. In 1940, at the onset of war, he was placed in a Kazan orphanage. Five-year-old Kolia grew up in the shadow of World War II. He left the orphanage in 1951 at sixteen, trained at a vocational school in Nizhny Novgorod as a ship engineer. Until 1954 he worked odd jobs across the USSR: stoker on Volga steamships, checker in the North, ship repair plant worker in Mykolaiv. At adulthood, he was conscripted to the army in Murmansk. There he suffered a serious injury — struck by a logging truck. After hospital, he returned to Mykolaiv, then wandered again: trained as a tractor driver, went to the Kazakh virgin lands, back to Ukraine, to Proletarsk in Luhansk region, worked in a mine, then as a concrete worker in Kirovohrad. Gradually he became fascinated with drawing and decided to study in Odesa. In 1961 he entered the Grekov Art School, but was expelled a year later for poor grades in general subjects. Over ten years he was expelled and reinstated four times. He had no permanent work, slept at friends’ homes or on the street. He was imprisoned four times for vagrancy — the Soviet police’s favored way of combating “parasitism” and street dissidence. The revised Criminal Code of 1961, Article 209, prescribed up to two years’ imprisonment for systematic vagrancy or begging. After release he was sent for forced employment in other cities, yet always returned to Odesa. This marginal lifestyle was a kind of asceticism, an ideological existence outside the system — but art always came first.

In 1985 Novikov turned fifty. His artist friends had him admitted to a psychiatric hospital — there he could live and work in peace, without fear of arrest. He kept refining his technique, experimenting with style. Works from his “Matisse series” appeared: minimalist lines on pure backgrounds, abstract figuration. Even his signature evolved: initially the initials “N.Ya.” in a decorative circle resembling a halo; later barbed wire grew around it. He signed with his full name, “Mykola Yakovych,” especially telling, given his orphan background. His style became unmistakable: ink graphics with distorted human bodies, psychedelic saintly faces, a mixture of sacred and prison symbols. Halos circled with barbed wire, skewed churches, hermits and convicts — an iconography of society’s underside. His special technique: rubbing ink with his finger to create blurred trails.

His work carried a palpable masculine force. At a time when Soviet art cloaked itself in “morality,” preaching a kind of neuter sexuality, Novikov, without making erotic art, clearly asserted that power.

Many biographical details are difficult to verify — Novikov loved to tell stories at the edge of fiction. He lived without documents, lost his passport once it was issued. In contemporaries’ memories he exists outside time: no dates, only folklore and myth. The myth became the only way to unify the structures of his daily life. Ordinary, non-mythical perception no longer sufficed to comprehend such a monster as the Soviet Union, with its ideology and twisted fairy-tale laws.

His art also reveals strong folkloric tendencies and awareness of ancient cultures and myths. A ritual motif throughout is the omnipresent female form: broad hips, spilling breasts, faces often left outside the frame. Woman as protector of the artist, source of life — mother or mother-earth, stone goddess or modern icon. Woman became the symbol of a primordial deity, conferring pre-Christian spiritual intensity upon his work. She may be angel, lover, mother-earth or goddess — but always Woman.

In the 1990s he produced countless works in his “final” style: backgrounds crosshatched like cages, ink drips used extensively. By then Novikov was perceived as a living legend. In 1991 the Odesa Literary Museum held his solo exhibition; the next, The World of Kolia Novikov, took place in 1993 but lasted only two days. In 1996 Kolia died in hospital from tuberculosis — the vagrant’s typical disease.

For many, the story of Mykola Novikov reads like an adventure novel. Yet the myth and legend are mere byproducts. What truly deserve attention are his works, his technique, his style — aesthetically relevant even in 2020. Austrian art historians Georg Schöllhammer and Hedwig Saxenhuber, renowned curators of the 2015 Kyiv Biennale, described him as Ukraine’s Egon Schiele and Picasso combined. Kolia never dreamed of being a legendary tramp; he wanted to be an artist. And he became one — an artist transforming social consciousness.

For an artist it is essential to recognize one’s path, to arrive at oneself, at the fusion of rejection and desperate love for the world — because from this world, whether one likes it or not, there is no escape.

Oksana Tsybka

Art curator

12/06/2026

A Mystical Encounter in Odesa

The distant year of 1989. Summer in Odesa. An exhibition of French artists within UNESCO’s cultural program “Year of the Country in the Country” — USSR–France. The private gallery of Christine Cola presented its artists, and it was an event not only for Odesa. Artists arrived from different cities of Ukraine. Christine allowed us to watch the unpacking of works and the installation of the exhibition in the museum. For the artists, it was a “breath of fresh air,” true “food for thought” and inspiration. We watched as the wooden crates were opened, and inside the foam balls appeared the works of art — and for our artists, this careful, respectful treatment of creative labor was invaluable.

Christine asked to be introduced to the so-called “clochards” — as she called the unconventional artists who did not fit into the local elite. We took her through communal apartments and basements where unrecognized geniuses created. The “Martynchiks” — Marta and Hosha — had nothing but mattresses to sleep on, yet produced astonishing works and hundreds of plasticine soldiers, each unique, later to appear in the writings of Max Frei. That was Svitlana Martynchyk — an extraordinary talent. We also went to Valentyn Sirenko, to his beloved creative basement, and to many other artists. We told Christine that many artists lived in a “psychiatric hospital.” We were not allowed inside, but we met the chief physician, Borys Khersonsky, who invited us into his office, and we remained there for several hours. Novikov, Asaba — today their works are known and valued, but at the time they provoked shock and even horror. Christine was especially impressed by the works of Kolia Novikov. She asked us to tell her about him, deeply interested. If memory serves, Khersonsky even gave her a couple of works. She invited him to the exhibition opening and very much wanted to meet Mykola.

My then-husband, the artist Serhii Ivchenko, knew Mykola well — indeed, who didn’t? He learned that Mykola had no proper clothes for such an event. He joked: “I don’t have a tuxedo for this.” Serhii gave him some of his own clothes, slightly too large, but it didn’t matter. And so Mykola Novikov came, personally invited by the French gallerist Christine Cola, who considered his works the most interesting of all. She offered him the chance to move to Paris, to give him a studio, every condition for creativity, promotion in the best galleries. But… Kolia refused. He said: “Without Odesa, I will die at once. There will be no art without the environment I live in.” That atmosphere nourished and inspired him.

Christine then asked what she could do for him. He requested money for paints, canvas, and ci******es. She left $100 with Ivchenko, who bought everything and gave it to Mykola. It was a mystical encounter, a true moment of destiny. Why mystical? Because today his works are displayed in Europe’s finest galleries. And, God willing, there will be a museum of Mykola Novikov — a remarkable, ingenious, self-born artist “born” by Odesa.

The exhibition traveled across the Union for a year, opening in various cities. Christine attended the openings, sending greetings to Mykola through Oleksandr Kravchenko, who was the project’s curator at UNESCO. She repeatedly reminded everyone that she would be glad if he accepted her invitation — but he remained unyielding. The mission of promoting Mykola Novikov’s art was taken up by the collector, researcher, and inspirer Yurii Hutsu. It is difficult work: exhibitions, catalogs, articles — telling with passion about the artist everywhere. His idea of creating a Museum of Kolia Novikov, I believe, will come true. And so it shall be!

Halyna Kostina

Artist. Gallerist since 2009, Nika Gallery, Odesa.

Awarded a diploma for contribution to cultural diplomacy between countries.

11/06/2026

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
“I deeply wish with all my heart to be useful in art...”

My life, of course, is like everyone else’s, but I also have my own peculiarities, my own character, my own troubles and adventures. I was born in Moscow. My relatives perished during the war. I was sent to an orphanage. Even there, I loved the open spaces, my Russia with its meadows, forests, lakes full of fish, hayfields, the Volga, night bonfires — especially I loved herding horses. In the orphanage I finished 7 grades, then in the city of Gorky RU-2, I studied to become a ship mechanic.

In 1951 I finished a two-year trade school. Afterwards, I worked for the Volga Cargo River Shipping Company. I worked as a stoker. I was often seen off by countless beacon lights. But life was empty. There were clashes more than once. I do not write out of pity for myself. These are my pure memories. I missed a chance: I was not alone in the orphanage — I had an older sister. Her name was Nina, but in 1947 she died of hunger. And afterwards I was left alone, and my loneliness has always been with me. This is the heaviest burden that sits in a human soul. In 1949 I finished 7 grades, as I wrote. Afterwards I was sent to work, then to the North. Geologists, taiga full of gnats. But I did not lose heart. I lived and worked. Even before the army I worked as a “checker” — binding logs with cables, having to run around them and secure each one. Waist-deep in snow, with sores on my hands and face. We slept in barracks. The only pastime: vodka and hunting hazel grouse. Poverty forced me to go south.

Very simply: waiting for spring, I left the North. I climbed into a Pullman car filled with coal, buried myself in it and waited for the wagons to be aired. Then a jolt — and the train moved. When approaching Kotlas station, from there to Moscow — but usually there were many camps in the North. And there were escapes. But I neither stole nor fought. When the train stopped, I heard dogs barking. Then something rustled strongly in the coal where I was lying. I shoveled the coal away to see where I was — and saw in front of me a policeman and a bayonet black from coal. I understood everything at once. And he said: “Eh, pup, I nearly killed you.” He showed me the recess where I lay: “Look, how many centimeters the bayonet missed, and several times over. You were born lucky.” Coming to his senses, he shouted: “Documents!” I showed him my passport and work book. Then I went to the duty officer at the station. He gave me a certificate, put me in a passenger car, and bought me a loaf of bread.

I arrived in the city of Nikolaev. Worked at a shipyard as a laborer. In 1954 I was drafted into the army. And again I ended up in the North, even further, beyond Murmansk. Again the forest, again logs, loading wagons. Sometimes forty wagons a day were loaded with timber heading south. I ended up under a timber carrier. Landed in a hospital in Arkhangelsk. I was discharged, and I left. Again to Nikolaev. In 1956 I studied to be a tractor driver. Then virgin lands, Kazakhstan, Akmolinsk, Karashalginsk MTS. I had to plough not only by day but at night as well. Sometimes the run reached 17 kilometers. In the morning you would draw a furrow there, and by the time you returned, it was already dark. It was hard. The virgin lands were being raised, and I was caught in that upheaval. Once I fought a fire, ploughing a line so the grain would not burn further. Afterwards I went to Proletarsk, Luhansk region. Mine 1–2 named after Melnikov, extra-category. Worked underground, studied right in the mine and passed the technical minimum. And there I had to sweat too. I worked in the seventh coalface, where the seam was forty centimeters. Lying down, I scooped coal behind the cutter of the combine.

I wandered a lot and for the first time met an artist. His name was Sasha Sashnev. I liked the guy. He was simple, always ready to advise. In the orphanage I usually got failing grades in drawing. Once in free time I opened a box for the first time, where paints were neatly arranged. Before that I had never held a pencil in my hand. I often visited this guy, and he said: “Do you want to paint a study? Come with me.” And I went. I had already had some strange feeling before. I didn’t paint, but everything around me seemed beautiful — I would stand for long looking at the phosphorescent spoil tips glowing with many lights. I painted a study, and for the first time something new awoke in me. Thus began my adventures in art. I went to the city of Kryvyi Rih, where I worked as a concrete worker, painted a lot, but all in vain. I got angry, tore my works, nothing came out. I met a factory artist, Uncle Petya, washed his studio, primed canvases, ran for ci******es — he was the first to show me studies. Once I showed him my works, he picked several and said: “Go to Odessa.” I quit the factory and came to Odessa. In the city I knew no one, lived at the train station, at the cemetery — I experienced and saw everything. People laughed at me, but above all I hoped for the best.

Twice I applied to the Odessa Art School. I worked there as a laborer, stoked furnaces, washed studios, repaired the director’s car, and studied. All the while I worked in construction. And I never had my own shelter. I won’t lie — I was expelled from school because I failed general education exams. I visited exhibitions, studied on my own. Once, while working at a shoe factory, I learned that there was an exhibition in Leningrad. With forty kopecks in my pocket, I went to Leningrad. There too I wandered, slept wherever night found me. In winter I had to sleep in telephone booths: half an hour dozing, two hours warming up. I wandered because I had fallen in love with art, because I was completely alone, because my parents had died; several times I drank myself into ruin out of vexation. I came to the exhibition at the Manege in winter, without a hat, hungry, barely moving my legs. I had to sleep on the street, in the metro, in entrances. After the exhibition — Penza, the Savitsky Art School. They did not accept me there, so I walked to Tambov. From Tambov — to Odessa. I am still young, my only goal is painting. This is my last hope: to draw, to paint, and to bring joy. I await the day when I will be able to express my thoughts in my own way. I deeply wish with all my heart to be useful in art. These two years are the most important for me — I want to search for myself, and it seems to me that I must find it. I hope for it and will achieve it. I could tell much about myself, I’ve had countless adventures, but one cannot describe it all.

Lately I worked at a shoe factory. I left it. I could no longer endure the dormitory, where it was impossible to engage in art...

Nikolai NOVIKOV

June 19, 1966

10/06/2026

https://amnesia.in.ua/novikov

История художника-бродяги, ставшего культовым персонажем и легендой для нескольких поколений одесского подполья.

09/06/2026

Kolia Novikov: Reietto, Ribelle, Artista Geniale

Comunicato stampa

Date: 20 giugno – 20 luglio 2026
Inaugurazione: 19 giugno alle ore 18:00 (su invito)
Palazzo della Racchetta, Ferrara, Via Vaspergolo 6

Enrico Ravegnani e Les Noms Galerie presentano il 19 giugno 2026 alle ore 18:00 la mostra «Kolia Novikov: Reietto, Ribelle, Artista Geniale», un progetto espositivo che conduce il visitatore nella vita e nell’opera di uno dei più sottovalutati artisti-genio del XX secolo.

Mykola Novikov è stato un artista straordinario che già in vita era diventato una vera leggenda di Odessa. Kyiv, Kharkiv e Odessa costituiscono quel triangolo geografico che ha determinato lo sviluppo e la diffusione dell’avanguardia artistica ucraina nella prima metà del XX secolo. Negli anni Sessanta, durante il periodo del cosiddetto “disgelo”, si formò una cerchia di artisti che, rifiutando il realismo socialista, ritornarono ai principi dell’avanguardia. Tra loro vi era anche Kolia Novikov, esponente dell’underground artistico di Odessa.

I noti storici dell’arte, pubblicisti e curatori austriaci della Biennale di Kyiv del 2015, Georg Schöllhammer e Hedwig Saxenhuber, hanno riconosciuto nell’opera di Mykola Novikov una forza artistica e una statura paragonabili a quelle di Egon Schiele e Pablo Picasso, considerandolo un artista del livello dei più importanti maestri europei del XX secolo.

Fin dalla nascita Novikov dovette lottare per la sopravvivenza. La povertà, l’assassinio della madre da parte dei nazisti, il padre che p***e entrambe le gambe in guerra, la morte della sorella in un orfanotrofio, il coinvolgimento nel mondo criminale e i numerosi arresti segnarono profondamente la sua esistenza. Il filo conduttore della mostra è la costante e inevitabile ribellione di Novikov contro un sistema che non lo accettava né come artista né come individuo.

La sua vicenda umana rappresenta una straordinaria sintesi di ribellione, marginalità e genialità. Le sue opere costituiscono un manifesto visivo di protesta interiore, espresso attraverso un linguaggio pittorico aggressivo, nervoso e intensamente emotivo. La mostra «Kolia Novikov: Reietto, Ribelle, Artista Geniale» è un viaggio attraverso la vita eccentrica e l’eredità artistica di un autore che testimonia tanto la drammatica lotta di una personalità fuori dal comune contro il mondo quanto la continua ricerca di un proprio posto in una società che respinge, ignora e circonda di ostilità.

«Mykola Novikov fu personalmente invitato dalla gallerista francese Christine Colas, che considerava le sue opere le più interessanti tra quelle che aveva visto. Lo invitò a trasferirsi a Parigi, promettendogli uno studio, tutte le condizioni necessarie per creare, una forte promozione e la possibilità di vendere le sue opere nelle migliori gallerie. Ma Kolia rispose che senza Odessa sarebbe morto immediatamente, che senza l’ambiente in cui viveva non avrebbe potuto creare. Era proprio quell’ambiente a nutrirlo e ispirarlo», sottolinea la storica dell’arte Halyna Kostina.

Curatrice della mostra: Halyna Kostina, storica dell’arte
Esperto del progetto: Yurii Hutsu, collezionista, Les Noms Galerie
Partner del progetto: Enrico Ravegnani

Luogo: Palazzo della Racchetta, Ferrara, Via Vaspergolo 6

09/06/2026

Коля Новіков: Ізгой, Бунтар, Художник-геній

Преcреліз

Дати: 20 червня – 20 липня 2026
Відкриття: 19 червня о 18.00 (за запрошеннями)
Palazzo Della Raccheta, Ferrara, Via Vaspergolo 6

Enrico Ravegnani та галерея Les Noms Galerie 19 червня 2026 року о 18.00 презентують виставку «Коля Новіков: Ізгой, Бунтар, Художник-геній» – мистецький проєкт, що занурює у життя і творчість одного з найбільш недооцінених художників-геніїв ХХ століття.

Микола Новіков – видатний митець, який ще за життя став одеським міфом. Київ, Харків і Одеса – той географічний трикутник, що визначав розвиток і поширення українського художнього авангарду у першій половині ХХ століття. А в 60-тих роках в часи «відлиги», сформувалося коло митців, які повернулися до авангардизву відкинувши соцреаліз, серед них і був представник одеського андеграунду – Коля Новіков.

Відомі австрійські мистецтвознавці, публіцисти та арт-куратори Київської бієнале 2015 року — Георг Шолльгаммер та Гедвіг Саксенхубер — відзначали у творчості Миколи Новікова масштаб і художню силу, співмірні з постатями Егона Шіле та Пабло Пікассо, називаючи його митцем рівня найвизначніших європейських майстрів ХХ століття.

Від самого народження Новіков мав боротися за життя. Злидні, вбивство нацистами матері, батько, який втратив на війні обидві ноги, смерть сестри в дитбудинку, занурення в кримінальний світ, арешти. Лейтмотивом виставки є вічний вимушений бунт Новікова проти системи, що не приймала його ні як митця, ні як особистість.

Його життєва історія є гармонійним поєднанням бунтарства, маргінальності, геніальності, а його картини – це візуальний маніфест внутрішнього протесту, що знайшов вираження в агресивній і нервозній манері живопису. Виставка «Коля Новіков: Ізгой, Бунтар, Художник-геній» – це мандрівка крізь ексцентричне життя і творчий спадок художника, що відображає як драматичну боротьбу непересічної особистості зі світом, так і постійний пошук свого місця в суспільстві, що відкидає, ігнорує й оточує ворожістю.

«Миколу Новікова особисто запрошувала французька галеристка Крістін Кола, яка оцінила його роботи як найцікавіші. Вона запросила його переїхати до Парижа, обіцяла надати майстерню, усі умови для творчості, рекламу, продавати його роботи у найкращих галереях. Але... Коля сказав, що без Одеси він одразу помре, що не буде творчості без середовища, у якому він жив. Це середовище живило його та надихало», – наголошує мистецтвознавиця Галина Костіна.

Куратор виставки: Галина Костіна, мистецтвознавець
Експерт проєкту: Юрій Гуцу, колекціонер, Gallerie Les Noms
Партнер проєкту: Enrico Ravegnani

Місце: Palazzo della Raccheta, Ferrara, Via Vaspergolo 6

01/06/2026