Prize-Winning Painter

         Natasha Hohonova (born 1961 in Sverdlovsk, Russia) and Boris Hohonov (born 1958 in Nevyansk, Russia) are wife and husband artists from Ekaterinburg (Ural zone in Russia). Although they paint separately, working together they developed the unique art project ‘Ural Petro Art’. Ural Petro Art is a technique in which Boris and Natasha take the inspiration for their paintings from patterns in the slivers of minerals and precious stones they personally select and embed in their paintings.

         Between 1986 and 1991 Boris and Natasha were members of an underground artist group called “Vernisaj” (“Open Day”). Since 2002 they have also belonged to the Creative Union of Russian Artists and the international Artist Federation.

         “Petro” is Greek for “stone”. The art of engraving on stone is rooted deep in the Ural culture, but the idea to combine the traditional technique of painting with thin sections of natural Ural stone is a first. (The rough stone is sliced into thin fragments that are carefully polished and affixed onto the canvas in a special way).

         Here the stone is the tuning fork. The unique pattern of the stone, unsullied by man, becomes the epicentre of the forthcoming painting. At the junction of canvas, paint and stone an unexpected phenomenon of art is born. The artists neither argue with nature nor copy it – they accompany it, creating at the same time their very own and unusual work. Nature becomes a co-author, being a competent participant in the creative process.

         Today, despite the importance attached to the often used term ‘relevant’ the issue of true originality and novelty is particularly acute. It is obvious that synthesis and ecology have prominent place amongst the tendencies defining ‘new art’. Stones without doubt embody the idea of synthesis of nature and ecology and are also aesthetically self-sufficient. Additionally, because nature contains no two identical stones, each painting is unique such that even the original artist could not make a perfect copy of his own stone-infused painting.

        Boris and Natasha Khokhonov have had their work displayed in a number of exhibitions in Russia, USA, France and GB.

Main exhibitions:

Solo - duet (co-authorship with wife Natasha Hohonova):

1989 - art exhibition (Sverdlovsk, USSR).
1993 - art exhibition- action “Act ?1”, Cinema House (Ekaterinburg , Russia).
1994 - art exhibition in Actor's House (Ekaterinburg , Russia).
1994 - art exhibition in Cinema House (Ekaterinburg , Russia).
1995 - art exhibition, House of the Peace and Friendships (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
1996 - art exhibition, House of the Peace and Friendships (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
1987 - art exhibition, Exhibition hall of the Urals State University (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
1998 - painting trade exhibition, art gallery “Mart” (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2000 - art exhibition “Down the River”, Atrium Palas hotel, (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2001 - art exhibition “Petro-Art Collection”, The Fine Art Museum (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2001 - painting trade exhibition, art gallery “Ural Imports”, Seattle (USA).
2002 - art exhibition “Color Stripe”, gallery of the State Philharmonic Society (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2002 - art exhibition “The Beginning of Century”, The Fine Art Museum (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2003 - art exhibition in the hall of State elective legislative assembly (Moscow, Russia).
2004 - painting trade exhibition, art gallery “Shejure”, (Astana, Kazakhstan).
2004 - exhibition in the Regional Gubernator Residence (Ekaterinburg, Russia).

Collective exhibitions:

1987 - art exhibition of art union “Open day”, (Kirov, USSR).
1987 - art exhibition of art union “Open day”, exhibition hall “5 corners” (Leningrad, USSR).
1988 - art exhibition of art union “Open day”, Palace of Youth, (Leningrad, USSR).
1988 - art exhibition of art union “Open day”, Krestovozdvijenskiy cathedral of the Yriev monastery (Novgorod, USSR).
1986-1991 - exhibitions and actions of art union “Opening day” in Sverdlovsk (USSR).
1993 - art exhibition of urals painters “From avant-guard to postmodernism”, exhibition hall “On Petrovskih avenue” (Moscow, Russia).
1994 - painting trade exhibition, art gallery “Artko”, hotel “Druo” (Paris, France).
2000 - art exhibitions “Fathers and Sons”, “Nude Arts” and others, The Fine Art Museum (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2000 - painting trade exhibition, art gallery “Ural Imports”, Seattle (USA).
2000 - participation in the annual art competition “World of Stone”, Urals Gold Foundation, prize-winner medal (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2001 - participation in the annual art competition “World of Stone”, Urals Gold Foundation, prize-winner medal (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
2003 - Ural- Siberrian scientific-industrial exhibition (art department), (Ekaterinburg, Russia).
Since 2005 - take part in art projects of OnlineArt gallery (Ekaterinburg, Russia).