In 1959–1962, Strelnikov studied at the Odesa Art School, but did not officially complete it due to his rejection of the Soviet academic program. Already in the early 1960s, he joined the “apartment” exhibitions of the nonconformists — a movement of artists who opposed official socialist realism and sought new freedom of expression.
Together with his Odesa colleagues, Strelnikov became one of the founders of the association Mamai, which brought a new neo-formalist aesthetic to Ukrainian art. In his works, the artist combined folk motifs, archaic symbols, and a vivid reflection on contemporaneity, forming a true “dialogue of epochs.”
Under pressure from Soviet security services, who persecuted the organizers of unofficial exhibitions, he moved to Germany in 1979. It was there that he first presented Ukrainian Contemporary Art at unofficial fairs in Munich, and later in London, Paris, and New York.
Since the early 1990s, Volodymyr Strelnikov has regularly returned to Odesa, restoring contacts with the local gallery community. In 1993, NT-Art Gallery in Odesa hosted the artist’s first solo exhibition after his return. In 2012, the same gallery organized the exhibition Blossom. Form. Walks. Strelnikov’s series of monochrome works and graphic cycles confirmed his status as both a classic and an experimenter.
Strelnikov’s works are preserved in leading museums in Ukraine and worldwide: the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Jersey (USA), the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Odesa, and the Odesa Fine Arts Museum.
Volodymyr Strelnikov is a vivid example of an artist for whom artistic freedom was the highest value. His paintings and graphics continue to inspire new generations of Ukrainian and European artists to search for their own artistic language.