Ney Alexander

Alexander Ney is a Soviet-American artist who is mainly known for his sculptural work. He was born in 1939 in Leningrad, USSR. He studied at the Art School of the Surikov Moscow Art Institute (1957 — 1959), and later at the Repin Academy of Arts, Leningrad (1959 — 1967). Ney created sets for a screen adaptation of King Lear by an acclaimed Soviet director Gregory Kozinstev. In 1972 he emigrated to Paris due to the ideological conflicts with the Soviet regime. In 1974 he settled in the USA. Ney is primarily famous for his porous terracotta heads inspired by the ancient civilisations. The infliction of perforation is a highly difficult process that includes the usage of the surgical and dentist equipment. Ney lives and works in New York. 

His work is in numerous public collections around the world including the State Tretjakov Gallery, Moscow; the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg; the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. It is also included into the private collections of Mikhail Gorbachev, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Conan O’Brian, and Elvis Costello.