Yurii Dyshlenko was born in Novosibirsk in 1936, but his family later moved to Leningrad. After graduating from the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute, he began studying under Nikolai Akimov at the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography and became a set designer. After graduation he worked at the Saransk Theater before returning to Leningrad, where he began his painting career. Dyshlenko sought to explore the correspondence between color and music and developed a system within his abstract paintings to illustrate this relationship. He took part in the major exhibitions held in Leningrad in the 1970s, at the Nevsky Palace of Culture in September 1975 and at the Ordzhonikidzhe Palace of Culture in October of 1976. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Dyshlenko was an avid participant in the activities of the Leningrad underground.
In 1989 Dyshlenko emigrated to the United States. Following this transition Dyshlenko’s art became more rational and often took for its subject the creative process. His work reveals his artistic independence; he was careful neither to oppose nor to identify himself with anything or anyone. Dyshlenko died in New York City in 1995.
