Alexander Lobanov

Russian visual artist (b. 30 August 1924, Mologa; April 2003, Yaroslavl). Introduced to drawing and sketching in 1953 while undergoing therapy at the Afonino Psychiatric Hospital of the Yaroslavl Oblast, Lobanov discovered an aptitude for the medium and produced a large number of works in the years prior to his discovery by the mainstream art world in 1997. Lobanov's self-portraits and photography adopt the idiomatic motifs of Russian heroic realism, and they are characterized by his inclusion of guns and firearms (the "firearms" in his photographs being illustrated cardboard cut-outs rather than actual firearms which were forbidden within the grounds of the asylum).