Biography
Andrey Krikis was born in Yaroslavl, Russia in 1950 and studied at the Yaroslavl Institute of Art from 1972 to 1976. He spent most of his working life in Uzbekistan — in Samarkand and Tashkent — where he became known among artists and collectors as the "King of Colour" for his sustained, intuitive engagement with pigment and form. He moved from academic figuration toward bold abstract expressionism, developing a visual language rooted in the colour and atmosphere of Central Asia rather than its iconography. Samarkand enters his paintings as sensation rather than subject. He exhibited widely during his lifetime: solo exhibitions in Tashkent, Samarkand and Moscow; group shows in Greece, Mongolia, India, Bangladesh, Germany, Sweden, France, South Korea and the United States; and a solo presentation in San Francisco in 1993. He died in 1994 at the age of 44. Posthumous exhibitions have been held at the Academy of Art of Uzbekistan, organised with support from the Swiss Bureau of Development and Cooperation.