father mode

misha nikatin

September 9 — October 25, 2026
MMOMA (Petrovka, 25)

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Triumph Gallery are presenting Misha Nikatin’s solo exhibition "Father's Regime". A new series of paintings is dedicated to the experience of modern fatherhood and the changes that the birth of a child brings to the usual way of life. The project is being implemented as part of the MMOMA Young Art Support program and the Young Lions program of the Triumph Gallery.

Throughout the history of art, the image of the family has remained one of the key themes, but the figure of the father has rarely become an independent object of artistic expression. Most often, it was associated with ideas about authority, responsibility, and family hierarchy. Today, mindful parenting offers a different model of family relationships: the father builds a horizontal relationship with the child every day, based on observation, sensitivity and willingness to adapt to the changing fabric of everyday life. The modern image of a father is born not from the position of "towering over", but from the position of "being near" — at the child’s eye level and in the general rhythm of life. It is this view that becomes for Misha Nikitin the main tool for rethinking the image of his father. The focus of the exhibition is not the image of the father as a stable hero, but the state of a man who is gradually discovering new optics. The artist shows how the perception of time, space and everyday life changes when caring becomes a part of daily life, and the habitual way of life is formed anew from many small events.

The most convenient place in the world
2026
40×50 cm

Throughout the history of art, the image of the family has remained one of the key themes, but the figure of the father has rarely become an independent object of artistic expression. Most often, it was associated with ideas about authority, responsibility, and family hierarchy. Today, mindful parenting offers a different model of family relationships: the father builds a horizontal relationship with the child every day, based on observation, sensitivity and willingness to adapt to the changing fabric of everyday life. The modern image of a father is born not from the position of "towering over", but from the position of "being near" — at the child’s eye level and in the general rhythm of life. It is this view that becomes for Misha Nikitin the main tool for rethinking the image of his father. The focus of the exhibition is not the image of the father as a stable hero, but the state of a man who is gradually discovering new optics. The artist shows how the perception of time, space and everyday life changes when caring becomes a part of daily life, and the habitual way of life is formed anew from many small events.

Misha Nikatin’s artistic practice is characterized by an observer’s position: in previous projects, his interest was focused on the surrounding reality and social signs of modern society. The personal experience of fatherhood becomes the impetus for a new series in which his view shifts from the external environment to the inner life of his own family. Familiar objects, everyday rituals, and family scenes become a way to capture the almost imperceptible changes that occur in a person’s life with the birth of a child. In his new works, Nikatin turns to simple and touching images and moments: a child who fell asleep in a car, a mother with a baby in her arms, toys, flowers, groceries, random objects that turned out to be part of the home space. Misha records individual states and observations, which gradually form a new daily routine. Previously, the vast world seemed to narrow down to the space of a house, but attention to it, on the contrary, becomes more acute: the first mushroom found in the forest, a reflection in a puddle, or hugging a dog become independent events. Careful presence next to the child and an attempt to see the world around him through his eyes allow the artist to discover the significant in the unremarkable, the new in the familiar and the amazing in the mundane.

The summer that’s not over
2026
100×120 cm

Misha Nikatin’s artistic practice is characterized by an observer’s position: in previous projects, his interest was focused on the surrounding reality and social signs of modern society. The personal experience of fatherhood becomes the impetus for a new series in which his view shifts from the external environment to the inner life of his own family. Familiar objects, everyday rituals, and family scenes become a way to capture the almost imperceptible changes that occur in a person’s life with the birth of a child. In his new works, Nikatin turns to simple and touching images and moments: a child who fell asleep in a car, a mother with a baby in her arms, toys, flowers, groceries, random objects that turned out to be part of the home space. Misha records individual states and observations, which gradually form a new daily routine. Previously, the vast world seemed to narrow down to the space of a house, but attention to it, on the contrary, becomes more acute: the first mushroom found in the forest, a reflection in a puddle, or hugging a dog become independent events. Careful presence next to the child and an attempt to see the world around him through his eyes allow the artist to discover the significant in the unremarkable, the new in the familiar and the amazing in the mundane.

Misha Nikatin (born 1986) is a Russian artist. He graduated from the Joseph Bakstein Institute of Contemporary Art. He works mainly with such media as painting, graphics, book illustration. In his work, he observes the world around him and takes notes based on his inner feelings. The basis of his themes is a set of images found online and the real places where the author was. The focus of his attention is the aesthetics of simple objects and the beauty of elusive reality. Lives and works in Moscow.

"Young Lions" is a program of the Triumph Gallery to support contemporary art, launched in 2015. The program features artists who have already participated in major exhibitions and are familiar to the public, are laureates and nominees of art awards. As part of the Young Lions, artists present their premiere personal projects in the museum’s exhibition spaces and get the opportunity to look at their works differently, placed in a new context.

Triumph Gallery was founded in 2006 by Dmitry Khankin and Yemelyan Zakharov. The gallery is the first in Russia has shown exhibitions by world-renowned authors such as Damien Hirst and the Chapman brothers, and today represents more than 40 contemporary Russian and foreign authors of different generations, including AES+F, Alexander Brodsky, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubosarsky, Recycle Group, Dmitry Gutov, Sergey Filatov, Anatoly Akue and many others.

MMOMA Young Art Support Program is an institutional platform that unites the museum’s educational, exhibition, research, and partnership initiatives aimed at supporting and developing a new generation of artists, curators, and art critics. The program systematizes the work that the museum has been doing with young authors over the years, including around such long-term museum projects as the Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art and the Moscow International Biennale of Young Art. The program sets a general framework for projects providing professional development, the possibility of implementing artistic and curatorial practices, research and expert support, as well as the inclusion of young authors in the professional context of contemporary art.

For work and for weekend
2026
40×50 cm

Misha Nikatin (born 1986) is a Russian artist. He graduated from the Joseph Bakstein Institute of Contemporary Art. He works mainly with such media as painting, graphics, book illustration. In his work, he observes the world around him and takes notes based on his inner feelings. The basis of his themes is a set of images found online and the real places where the author was. The focus of his attention is the aesthetics of simple objects and the beauty of elusive reality. Lives and works in Moscow.

"Young Lions" is a program of the Triumph Gallery to support contemporary art, launched in 2015. The program features artists who have already participated in major exhibitions and are familiar to the public, are laureates and nominees of art awards. As part of the Young Lions, artists present their premiere personal projects in the museum’s exhibition spaces and get the opportunity to look at their works differently, placed in a new context.

Triumph Gallery was founded in 2006 by Dmitry Khankin and Yemelyan Zakharov. The gallery is the first in Russia has shown exhibitions by world-renowned authors such as Damien Hirst and the Chapman brothers, and today represents more than 40 contemporary Russian and foreign authors of different generations, including AES+F, Alexander Brodsky, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubosarsky, Recycle Group, Dmitry Gutov, Sergey Filatov, Anatoly Akue and many others.

MMOMA Young Art Support Program is an institutional platform that unites the museum’s educational, exhibition, research, and partnership initiatives aimed at supporting and developing a new generation of artists, curators, and art critics. The program systematizes the work that the museum has been doing with young authors over the years, including around such long-term museum projects as the Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art and the Moscow International Biennale of Young Art. The program sets a general framework for projects providing professional development, the possibility of implementing artistic and curatorial practices, research and expert support, as well as the inclusion of young authors in the professional context of contemporary art.