Pasha Mikushev – the Komi ethno-futurist
painter
Son of a traditional Komi hunter and trapper, Pasha Mikushev (officially
Pavel) was born in Syktyvkar - the capital of the Republic of Komi -
in 1962, being the youngest of the family's seven children. As the Komi
tradition provides that the family emblem is inherited by the youngest
son, so the first letter of Mikushev’s signature on his paintings -
Pasha - is a stylisation of the inherited emblem.
Pasha Mikushev graduated from an art college in the Republic of Komi
in 1990. He works as a teacher in a grammar school with a specialisation
in the fine arts. Mikushev is the head artist of the Komi magazine on
the arts ART. Co-designer of the encyclopaedia of Komi mythology with
Yuri Lisovski, with whom he shares a studio and appears on exhibitions.
Mikushev’s works have been exhibited in his homeland as well as in other
Finno-Ugric countries, Estonia included.
The works of Pasha Mikushev belong to the post-Perestroika period of
awakening period in Finno-Ugric art. Komi, Mari, Udmurt and Erzya art
share the expressive mythological
The abundance of mythological content and the frequent use of old symbols,
patterns or signs based on ethnic traditions is common in to contemporary
largely ethno-futurist Komi, Mari, Udmurt and Erzya art. Pasha Mikushev
has been inspired by the first Komi alphabet, created by the Russian
Orthodox missionary St. Stephen of Perm. But the far-reaching memory
of these paintings is accompanied by a very modern spirit.
Estonian artists akin to Mikushev include Navitrolla, Albert Gulk,
Peeter Allik, and Ilmar Kruusamäe.
