Victor Nikonenko graduated from art school in Irkutsk, Siberia in 1976 and has been involved in theatre production design since 1979. He has worked on many stage productions, taken part in Russian and overseas exhibitions, and attended international theatre festivals in Russia, Finland, Croatia, Serbia, Iran and Poland. He has designed more than ninety productions belonging to a range of genres in countless theatres in Russia and beyond. This includes productions of works by many renowned literary figures, including Shakespeare, Molière, Colin Higgins, the Brothers Grimm, Aleksander Pushkin, Gabriel García Márquez, Nikolai Gogol, and Anton Chekhov. He has won numerous awards, including several “Golden Masks”, which are the most prestigious theatre awards in Russia.  His works are held in the Bakhrushin State Theatre Museum as well as in private collections in Russia and abroad.

“Viktor grew up in Siberia in the boreal forest as well as around Lake Baikal and the seasons, climate, air, people, wildlife and water in these two areas could not be more different. Maybe that’s why he has such a love for pomegranates? After all, you can’t grow them in Siberia … Perhaps it explains why this artist has so many styles and facets, so many paths in his Siberian Wizard’s secret garden.  I know that there is a small Indonesian corner, as well as a Mexican and an African. Don’t believe me? Look at the pictures … they show such cultural diversity, and yet the artist’s portrayal only touches upon this plurality. He has only scratched the surface.”