Lavrenty Vasilievich Bruni

Born in Moscow, he is a member of the renowned Bruni artistic dynasty. On his family heritage, he shared in an interview: "Responsibility is a complex that I got rid of. I even sign as Lavrenty B. It has nothing to do with Bruni. I am starting my own story. I am not interested in being someone's grandson or great-grandson. I read a phrase from my grandfather [ed.: actually his uncle Ivan Bruni]: 'Ancestors and the very surname are a heavy burden. And it is quite hard to overstep this.' At first, I was surprised, but then I understood what he meant, and immediately cut it off for myself. (...) And I tried to stop all talk that I am an artist because of my name. But if there is such a family tradition, you cannot really escape it. One way or another—you have to take it into account..."
From 1979 to 1981, he served in the Soviet army with the parade troops of the Taman Division.
In 1983-1984, he studied at the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute, in the poster workshop, as a free-attending student in painting.
From 1986, he decided to take painting lessons in Yunus Karimov's studio (classical drawing), studying there until 1989. At the same time, he rented studios and engaged in creative exploration in graphics, painting, and watercolor.
He began to paint large bouquets of flowers, which over time became the artist's signature.
From 1987, he was for some time close to the circle of Moscow conceptualists, working at a squat on Kalinin Avenue with Maria Serebryakova, Anatoly Zhuravlev, and Vyacheslav Ponomarev, but eventually decided to move away from this trend.
He married Polina Bruni, with whom he is still married. They have five children: Mika, Fedor, Emilia, Vasily, and Eva.
In 1994, he became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists in the newly created “contemporary art section” along with Vinogradov, Dubossarsky, etc.
In 2003, he founded the Moscow Drawing Club, and the next year, the magazine "Afisha" published a spirited review about visiting the club. Anyone could participate in the club's classes, which lasted over ten years. It was the first of its kind and spawned many imitators in Moscow. The club's informal sales exhibitions were held in Gorky Park, the Moscow Observatory, and various cafes.
In 2003, Faina Balakhovskaya wrote about him: "Lavrenty Bruni is probably the trendiest artist in Moscow now."
He has held more than a dozen solo exhibitions in various countries worldwide. He has worked for extended periods in France, Spain, Switzerland, and other European countries, participated three times at the Tefaf fair, and exhibited in China, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Lavrenty Bruni's works are housed in various museums and private collections around the world and have been sold at Sotheby’s.

Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, USA
Bank "Incombank", Moscow, Russia

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1991 International Center of Culture and Humanitarian Cooperation "Na Ostozhye", Moscow
1992 "Untitled". "Velta" Gallery, CDSA, Moscow
1993 City Museum, Shuya
1995 "Graphics of Lavrenty Bruni". "Vmeste" Gallery. Central House of Artists, Moscow
1995 "Parade Bouquet". "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
1997 "I will have many, many different women..." "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1991 Spring Exhibition. International Association of Artists and Graphic Artists, Manezh, Moscow
"Novecento". L Gallery. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Exhibition Hall of the Culture Fund, Moscow
1992 Exhibition of Artists Who Are Descendants of Russian Nobility. Central House of Literature, Moscow
"Still Life". "Velta" Gallery, CDSA, Moscow
"Golden Brush" contest (Second Prize). Central House of Artists, Moscow
Graphics Exhibition. Exlibris Museum, Moscow
Exhibition Center, Johannesburg, South Africa
1993 Embassy of Germany, Moscow
"ART MIF 3". "ZERO" Gallery. Manezh, Moscow
1994 "Visio Beatifica". L Gallery, Moscow
"Summer Holidays". "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
May Exhibition of the Union of Artists. House of Artists on Kuznetsky Most, Moscow
"Border Zones of Art". Festival of Contemporary Art. Art Museum, Sochi
"Dream of the Silver Age". "ZERO" Gallery. Central House of Artists, Moscow
1995 "Graphics Bazaar". "Vmeste" Gallery. Central House of Artists, Moscow
"Charity auction in support of the burn center of Children's Hospital No. 9. Contemporary Russian Painting and Graphics". Sotheby’s, "ART MIF". Metropol Hotel, Moscow
"Artist and Model". "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
1996 "Summer". "Kino" Gallery, Moscow
"Summer Holidays". "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
"Galleries in Gallery". State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (catalog)
Charity Auction "Sotheby’s". Moscow (catalog)
International Art Fair "Art Manezh", "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery. Manezh, Moscow
1997 "Bleeding Spring". 28 Malaya Gruzinskaya, Moscow
"Totterode – Graphic – 1997". Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow
"Panorama Mesdag" Museum, The Hague, Netherlands (catalog)
Charity Auction "Sotheby’s". Knokke, Belgium
"Miss Moscow 850". "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow
"Three Generations of Bruni Artists". City Museum of Shuya
International Art Fair "Art Manezh", "Zero" Gallery. Manezh, Moscow
1998 "Summer Holidays-II" (together with artists of the gallery V. Dubossarsky, A. Vinogradov, N. Filatov, I. Snegur, I. Vulokh, etc.), "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery, Moscow

The "Moscow Fine Art" Gallery on Stary Arbat opened an exhibition of Lavrenty Bruni. The lineage of the young artist, tracing back to the celebrated academic painter of the past century, and his credentials from the Surikov Institute, the country's most prestigious art school, simply obligated Bruni to appear in a highly representative manner, even at a modest Moscow gallery. The pompous title of the exhibition—"Parade Bouquet"—competes with the pompous appearance of the exhibited canvases, in front of which viewers of a certain age experience mixed feelings of delight and wariness. They are pleased to encounter the familiar Soviet painting still lifes—lush to the point of sloppiness (as Professor Sidorov put it, 'thick-coated'), blooming to the point of variegation, but so familiar and common in the form of large-format reproductions of "lilacs," "roses," and "peonies" that once adorned the walls of communal apartments. They are on guard against the artist’s gigantomania: like nitrate-fed plants, huge poppies and lilies spread across the canvases, oozing with paint. The touching titles—"Ksusha," "Lenka," "Snezhana"—fit these leviathan canvases about as well as "Katyusha" fits divisional mortars. Learned gallery visitors, recalling Warhol's "Poppies," may think "Russian Pop Art"; critics may drop the word "simulacrum"; corporate collection experts would settle on "decorative." The artist would agree with them, though not entirely.
M. Bode. "Even Kitsch Has Flowers". - Kommersant DAILY, March 15, 1995