Mikhail Podlesnykh  – Biography

In 1942 was called up for military service in Red Army. M.Podlesnykh had fought at Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, was wounded, has eleven war decorations. In that period he also displayed himself as an amateur artist. He worked as a decorator in 36^th Rifle Division with such masters as M.Gordon, P.Vaneev, S.Philippov and others. In 1945 he participated in an exhibition of Leningrad Front artists.

In 1945-1947 Mikhail Podlesnykh studied in Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (named by I.E.Repin) at Painting and drawing class. Among his mentors were V.L.Serov, professor and P.V.Vaneev, graphic artist.

In 1948 he moved to Karaganda, Kazakhstan due to family circumstances.

In 1950 moved to Temirtau (a town near Karaganda). Worked as a decorator artist at the plant Kazmetallzavod.

Since 1950 M.Podlesnykh had regularly took part in many exhibitions – both international and domestic. Also he held his personal exhibitions. During his work in Temirtau M.Podlesnykh had created an original «paintings chronicle» of the town («KarGRAS-1», «Samarkand Water Storage Reservoir», «By the Open-hearth Furnace», «Magnitka», «Ice Fishing» etc.). For his participation in Moscow exhibition he was awarded with the diploma and certificate of honor.

In 1954-1987 he ran the Young artists workshop (later turned into young artists school for 50-60 children) at the plant. He became an artistic mentor for many painters, architects and designers: V.Ni, V.Nenyanov, A.Korovin, V.Tereschenko, R.Salkayev, V.Alimov, S.Makarov, E.Erlenbush, E.Kyttibayev and others.

Since 1962 Mikhail Podlesnych was head of the group of decorator artists at integrated iron-and-steel works plant in Karaganda. He was also a head of artistic studio, regularly took part in outdoor decorating of Temirtau.

In 1971 he created a series of paintings “My Moscow Suburbs”.

Since 1982 M.Podlesnykh regularly took part in muralists exhibitions

M.Podlesnykh was awarded with many diplomas, certificates of honor and medals for his creative work. He was a Honorary Citizen of Temirtau. His work was a subject for many publications in newspapers and magazines, such as “Temirtau Metallurgist”, «The Builder», «Temirtau Worker», «Socialistic Karaganda», «Industrial Karaganda», «The Builder`s Newspaper», «Bulgary», and many others. He also was invited to TV shows where the artist told about his creative work.