Vitaly Turlique (b. 1988, Moscow) is a historian-archivist, artist, head of archive of the Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow. In 2012 he graduated from the Faculty of History and Archives of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Turlique’s artistic practice is centred on hand embroidery, textile collage, and graphic work. His interest in art emerged in childhood, when he was deeply affected by the works of the Soviet artist Geli Korzhev, in particular the grotesque cycle he created around the turliques – awkward anthropomorphic creatures from which the artist later derived his pseudonym. Turlique notes that, in his view, there are many turliques among people and that he may well belong to their number himself. This sense of self-identification largely shapes his artistic interests, which are grounded in observing strangeness and the inner plasticity of the image. Unlike embroidery, textile collage allows him to work without a preliminary sketch, to outline a composition quickly, test visual solutions, and modify them directly in the process. He is also drawn to the rich textural and chromatic variety of the materials he uses. In 2023, the artist took part in WinWin fairs at Winzavod, and from February of that year became a resident of the ninth season of Winzavod’s Open Studios. He also participated in the group exhibition The Guiding Thread in Tula, at Oktava. In the same year, he led author workshops on textile collage at GES-2 and on hand embroidery at the Garage Museum. In 2024, Turlique’s first solo exhibition, Sleep Paralysis, was held at Ruarts Gallery. That same year, at the |Catalog| fair, he presented the collaborative work My Cozy Cage together with artist Alexey Luka at the Ruarts Gallery booth.