Bloomberg called Victor Pinchuk the biggest art collector of the former Soviet Union

"His collection includes some of the most expensive living artists: seven works by Briton Damien Hirst, two by American Jeff Koons, and six by German photographer Andreas Gursky. All three men attended the opening of an exhibition in Kiev this month displaying the works -- showing Pinchuk's strength of contacts and determination to put the city on the art map."

``I still love Russian and Ukrainian impressionism and modernism, but my main focus now is contemporary art,'' Pinchuk said in an interview. Well groomed, wearing a suit minus a tie, he speaks fluent English. His passion for art collecting began in the early 1990s with pre-World War II Russian and Ukrainian paintings. He began collecting contemporary art in 2002. The new show is at the Pinchuk Art Center, which opened in September 2006 as the first private museum of contemporary art in the former Soviet Union. Admission is free and it had 150,000 visitors in its first year. Pinchuk said he spent as much as $15 million to acquire and renovate the six-floor Czarist-era building, though it is already too small. Next year, he starts work on a larger museum near the Dnieper River. He hopes it will be completed by 2012.

``We plan to make Kiev a really important international destination for contemporary art,'' he said. ``Contemporary art will help modernize society, especially the young generation.''

See the whole story in the Bloomberg Mose show by following a link  . To see a video press a «Trumpeter Terence Blanchard, Pinchuk Art Center» link on the left. Story about Victor Pinchuk starts on minute 6:21 of the video.

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