Alexander Melamid came to prominence in his native Russia in 1972 at the forefront of the Sots Art, movement, the Soviet answer to Pop Art. Attacking the state’s ideology and propaganda, he saw his work censored and destroyed and his shows closed by the government. To escape this artistic persecution, he emigrated with his collaborator Vitaly Komar in 1978 to New York City, where they maintained a studio. Komar & Melamid quickly rose to the top of the conceptual art world. In 1983 their work was shown at the Museum of Modern Art; in 1987 they were the first Russian artists at Documenta; and in 1999 the Venice Biennale. Their paintings are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim, and MoMA. They are featured in the "Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art," "The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History," "Art Since the ’40s," and "The 20th Century Art Book." Two of their projects were the subjects of documentaries on Channel 4 UK and the BBC and 60 Minutes, USA.
In 2004 Alexander Melamid broke up with his collaborator .
Not long after he has started his Art Ministry and the Art Healing Crusade as well as the program of self-aggrandizement.
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