Nikolay Koshelev (b. 1987) is a contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses painting, graphic art, sculpture, ceramics, large-scale installations, and theatrical design. He lives and works between Paris, Dubai, and Brooklyn, New York.

Koshelev's work draws on his formal art education and early immersion in graffiti culture, fusing traditional techniques with contemporary influences like game design and post-Internet aesthetics. His mature practice explores imaginary worlds populated by avatars, using mediums such as painting, ceramics, and theatrical installations.

Born in Moscow, Koshelev graduated from the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry in 2010, specialising in Monumental and Decorative Art. He later pursued a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the New York Academy of Art, where he studied under renowned artists such as Eric Fischl and Margaret Bowland. During this time, he received the prestigious Dedalus Foundation scholarship for painting.

Artistic Language and Influences

In his paintings, drawings, and ceramics, Nikolay Koshelev revives the vocabulary of decadence and the occult, characteristic of fin-de-siècle Europe over a century ago. Through a palette of pinks, blues, silvers, and ochres, he evokes a twilight landscape of indecision and atopia, where recurring characters — such as a kneeling anthropomorphic figure reminiscent of Greek vase-painting — and protagonists, including storks, owls, and fantastical beasts, wander through deserted landscapes and dusty museum halls.

Koshelev’s dexterity in ceramics and enamel establishes a link to international symbolism circa 1900, as he follows in the footsteps of Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, Mikhail Vrubel, and other notable practitioners of applied arts. However, he updates this language for the 21st century by blending figurative elements with abstract planes and textures. His art resonates with the present moment, reflecting a renewed cultural interest in mysticism and intuition as alternatives to scientific certainties.