Mikhail Shemyakin (04.05.1943 p.) is a Russian painter, graphic artist and sculptor, also a theater painter.

In his youth Mikhail Shemyakin was expelled from the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture for ideological reasons, continued his studies independently, copying Old Masters in the Hermitage. In the USSR Shemyakin participated in underground exhibitions and exhibited his works in the West. In 1971, Mikhail Shemyakin was expelled from the country.

Until 1980, the artist lived in France, then in the USA; Mikhail Shemyakin’s works are characterized by an appeal to the grotesque, phantasmagoria, masquerade, hallucinations; he inhabits his paintings with masks, puppets, phantoms, creating their often surreal images with the whimsical, elaborate curving sharp line, where some objects or pieces can come over to the others, interweaving with them. Mikhail Shemyakin is close to carnival culture, color, paint, mix of mystery games, laughter and absolute seriousness, his element is mystery; Shemyakin sculptures arouse most discord in our country. The artist brightly approved himself in the field of theater design. In the West, Mikhail Shemyakin started nearly from scratch, but managed to make a name for himself and go down in the history of the world art. In 1993, Mikhail Shemyakin was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

Today Mikhail Shemyakin is one of the most recognized Russian artists. He is an honorary doctor of a number of higher educational institutions in Russia and abroad. The range in which Mikhail Shemyakin works is very broad: from drawings to monumental sculpture, theater and cinema. The subjects of his works are also diverse: from the theater grotesque to metaphysical images.