Igor Makarevich (b. 1943, Trialety) is a leading artist of the Moscow conceptualists. Makarevich’s works reflect Russian life and culture, which for him aims at deflating individual identity and seeks to efface nonconformist art. His works are often in the media of collage, photograph or installation. A frequent motif is Buratino (Pinocchio character) who is a metaphorical figure of a new Soviet man. Since 1979 he has been a member of the Collective Actions group. Since 1990 he has worked together with his wife, Elena Elagina.

Igor Makarevich sends for the project his greetings from his home near Moscow, where he is preparing for a new exhibition. As all cultural events, this too was postponed, but there is hope that the situation will normalise until the end of the year, and the exhibition would take place.

Moscow, 22/04/2020

Artists Respond project was started by the Institute for the Research of the Avant-Garde and the Marinko Sudac Collection. Addressing the current global pandemic, the project aims to virtually present the thoughts and attitudes of neo-avant-garde artists, their energy and the message they have for the present moment. This is the moment in which the world as we know it is on hold and the moment in which we need optimism and solidarity more than ever. We wish for the public to welcome the creative energy of these artists - artists who are ready to point out the state of things, to respond with art and creativity, as they have done in all difficult times in the past.