Yuriy Musatov

Yuriy Musatov is a Ukrainian artist who, after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in 2022, was forced to relocate to Spain. In 2024, he received the 2nd Prize at the International Biennale of Ceramics in Manises for his work Saint Alien. Musatov was born in the small town of Konotop in northern Ukraine, where he studied at a local children’s art school. He later attended the Sumy Higher School of Arts, where he was introduced to ceramics. From 2002 to 2008, he studied at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

Before the outbreak of war, Musatov lived and worked in Kyiv. He taught ceramic art to young talents and organized exhibitions for his students. In 2019, his solo exhibition Invasion was held in Kyiv, where he presented his groundbreaking Aliens series for the first time—works that marked a turning point in his artistic journey. Invasion was an exhibition born out of a premonition of something inevitable.

Since 2017, he has been a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) in Geneva and the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Musatov actively participates in international symposia, biennales, and group exhibitions. Since 2012, he has held over 20 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 100 group exhibitions, including Migration(s) at the Musée Ariana – Swiss Museum for Ceramics and Glass (Geneva, Switzerland), Yingge IAC Members’ Exhibition – New Orientalia at the Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei City, Taiwan, 2018), the 18th Biennal de Ceràmica d’Esplugues (Spain), and the XII Biennial of Artistic Ceramics (Portugal).

Over the past seven years, several Musatov’s ceramic works have been acquired by major international museums and collections, including the Musée Ariana (Switzerland), the Ceramics Museum in Ludwigsburg (Germany), the FuLe International Ceramic Art Museum (FLICAM, China), the National Museum of Slovenia, the Aveiro Municipal Museum (Portugal), the National Open-Air Museum of Ukrainian Pottery (Ukraine), and the Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery (Lithuania).

Visit Yuriy Musatov’s Instagram page.