Sculptor ARAM GRIGORYAN is Chairman of the Board, Novosibirsk Union of Artists of Russia. Current membership in the Novosibirsk Union stands at one hundred and two artists. Applicants to the group are voted upon by the board of about fifteen members. Their decision is forwarded to Moscow for ratification.	Grigoryan with his sculpture of Olympic wrestler Alexander Karelin
The Union mounts twenty-four exhibitions a year in its renovated halls. Though the budget is limited, the Chairman manages an active program.
No video or computer art has been exhibited in union galleries. In justifying the organization's antipathy to contemporary art, Grigoryan quotes Salvador Dali, "An artist needs to know how to draw and paint."
Grigoryan emphasizes that the Union of Artists of Russia favors artists who work in the Russian tradition. This tradition is now adrift, a battleground of competing visions of Russia's past and future. Yet Grigoryan's meaning is clear: The Union supports art that follows the line laid down by government mandate.
Artist Ombish-Kuznetzov	MIKHAIL OMBISH-KUZNETZOV is a renowned Novosibirsk artist. He exhibits throughout Russia and in foreign countries, too. The artist owns his studio, which is bathed in northern light from high windows. Clearly Kuznetzov is successful, though his work has not attracted many collectors. There are no collectors in Russia, Kuznetzov expounds.
Kuznetzov's output covers a wide range of styles, from Social Realism to "trompe l'oeil." He finds working within a single form tedious.
The Road (1987, workmen detail)	Object No. 1 (1998, detail)
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