Ilya Medvedev

Ilya Medvedev (born 1981) is a contemporary artist and educator whose multidisciplinary practice spans large-scale oil painting, drawing, photography, and site-specific installations. Currently based in Basel, Switzerland, the work constructs a raw visual universe that navigates human anatomy, classical traditions, and the psychological realities of the human condition.

Foundations of this artistic drive trace back to childhood encounters with visual staging at the Tashkent Puppet Theater. This environment of dramatic storytelling and physical fabrication fused with an obsessive study of classical compositions—specifically Rembrandt prints and anatomical medical plates—to establish a lifelong interest in classical gravity, raw anatomy, and deliberate visual staging.

Mature studio practice operates at the intersection of performance and composition. Complex physical installations are orchestrated using live models, anatomical skulls, and curated props. These meticulously staged scenes are documented through precise photography, serving as the definitive visual prototype for the final canvas. In direct contrast, live session drawing in public spaces serves as a vital, spontaneous pillar. Drawing in real time establishes unfiltered,...

2011-2012 Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

2007- 2010 Bachelor of Education in Fine Arts (B.Ed. FA), Beit Berl Art Academy Kfar Saba

2000-2007 Byzantine Iconography Painting, Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Patriarchy

2025
Group: Dreams and Memories
Meta Space Gallery, London

2016
Group: A Way of Thinking
Serge Tirosh Contemporary, Jaffa

2013
Cargo Cult
Moby Contemporary Art Museum, Bat Yam

2012
Group: Without Money
Gross Gallery, Tel Aviv

Bezalel MFA Open Studios
Bezalel MFA Studios, Tel Aviv

2011
Solo: Distorted Idyll
Serge Tirosh Contemporary, Jaffa

Group: Rodina
Hapiramyda Contemporary Center, Haifa

2010
Solo: Graduation Exhibition
HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts, Kfar Saba

Group: Story Slam
Kishon Gallery, Tel Aviv

Wall Art
Gymnasium Herzliya, Tel Aviv