Vasily Slonov

Vasily Slonov (17 September 1969) is a Russian political artist. He lives and works in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.

Slonov gained fame in the west in 2013 when his exhibition of Welcome! Sochi 2014 was shut down by the Russian authorities and the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art director sacked.

Slonov was born on 17 September 1969 in the village of Shushenskoe, Shushensky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. In 1984 he became a student of the Department of Design at Surikov Krasnoyarsk College of Arts. Between 1988-1990 he did military service in the Soviet Army.

In June 2013 Slonov's Welcome! Sochi 2014, which satirised the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was to be exhibited as part of the White Nights city-wide arts festival in Perm, organised by Marat Gelman. The authorities shut down the show shortly after its launch but Gelman moved it to Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, where it was also shut down. The authorities concluded that the works were extremist, and sacked Gelman.

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