Contemporary Kazakhstani artist. His solo works include sculptures and graphic art. Installations, performances, photo and video art are characteristic of his collaborative work with Elena Vorobyeva. Key methods in V. Vorobyev's works: irony, absurdity, surrealism, symbolism, found objects, allegory. Key themes: everyday life, the interaction between man and nature, power, society.
V. Vorobyev studied at the Gogol Art School (1975–1979, Almaty) and the T. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts (1986–1991, Almaty) in the sculpture department. Since 1995, E. and V. Vorobyevs have been creating joint art projects.
In his practice, V. Vorobyev explores everyday life and works with symbols. His installations and sculptures are elements of urban reality that provoke people to interact with nature (sketches for the joint project Installations for observing sunrises and sunsets in their natural habitat, 2021) or are themselves natural artifacts (Iron from the series Fossils, 1995–2000s). In their joint practice, E. and V. Vorobyevs turn to contemporary artists (The Artist Sleeps, 1996), speak about the aggression of power (Vintage, 2018), and discover surrealism in everyday life (Jewelry for the Sky, 2001–2007).
Works by E. and V. Vorobyevs were presented at the festival of creative youth Zhiger. XV Republican Exhibition (Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists, Almaty, 1988), an exhibition at the Central Exhibition Hall of the Directorate of Art Exhibitions and Auctions (Almaty, 1994), the sixth Istanbul Biennial (1999), No Mad’s Land (Haus der Kulturen, Berlin, 2002), Tracing Roads through Central Asia: Dilemmas and Travelers’ Perspectives (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, 2008), At the Crossroads: Contemporary Art from the Caucasus and Central Asia (Sotheby's, London, 2013), LVII Venice Biennale (2017), Phantom Reality (Aspan Gallery and DOM 36, Almaty, 2022), Documentation: Imagining Central Asia on the Map of Contemporary Art (Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Almaty, 2025).
Photographs of V. Vorobyev’s works and information about him are stored in the collection of the Documentation project: Yelena and Viktor Vorobyevs’ collection and the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph provided by Yelena and Viktor Vorobyev