About the author

He studied at the Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after S. G. Stroganov, where he met Vitaly Komar. In the late 1960s, they began to work in collaboration, were one of the founders of Sots Art (parallel to the Western Pop Art movement). One of the organizers of the Bulldozer Exhibition. Under pressure from the Soviet authorities, both immigrated to the United States in 1977, settling in New York City. In 2003, each artist decided to continue their work independently. It was around this time that Melamid’s first son Dan introduced him to the world of Hip Hop, specifically DJ Whoo Kid and 50 Cent. Melamid was intrigued by this society because of its rich history and worldwide distribution and began to draw portraits of hip-hop artists. These portraits became his first personal works after parting with Komar. They were shown in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Detroit.

Alexander is currently working in Chelsea, New York on his Ministry of Healing Art project and has already completed a series of works called "Gold is back, thank god!" ("The gold has returned, Lord, thank you").
In 2019, Melamid presented the first solo project in Russia since emigrating in 1977. Performance "I'm — God!" was held on the territory of the JART gallery in May 2019. At the same time, at the DA! Moscow art show in Gostiny Dvor, Alexander Melamid’s project "Russian Version of Abstract Expressionism" was presented, a series of paintings also created during the performance.