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# Remembering Erik Bulatov, Kazuki Motoyama, and Ken Parker
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-erik-bulatov-kazuki-motoyama-and-ken-parker/
- Published: 2025-11-12T22:36:11.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:11:21.000Z
- Description: This week, we honor a pillar of Soviet pop, the man behind Mario, a founder of an art commune, and more.
- Author: Lisa Yin Zhang
- Tags: Community, News, Obituary, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:41 (2025)

[*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.*

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**Erik Bulatov** (1933–2025)  
*Pillar of Russia's contemporary art scene*

He was a leading figure of the Soviet pop art scene, founding the Moscow Conceptualists, which opposed official government art, as well as the Sots art movement, which remixed Soviet slogans. In 2015, he was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. "I have been working on connecting the space of the painting with the space of our life," he said in a [2017 interview](https://www.izbaarts.com/interview-conversation-erik-bulatov-monumental-installation-tate-modern/?ref=hyperallergic.com).

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**Eileen Harris** (1932–2025)  
*American-British architectural historian and museum consultant*

The scholar and writer was an [expert](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/11/11/eileen-harris-robert-adam-architect-historian/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on neoclassical architect and designer Robert Adam.

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**Kazuki Motoyama** (1956–2025)  
*Japanese gaming and manga artist*

He was [behind](https://screenrant.com/super-mario-artist-death-kazuki-motoyama-death/?ref=hyperallergic.com) 1988's *Super Mario* video game, helping propel the character to global recognition and affection.

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/11/rr9ny.jpg)

An installation from the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix featuring a Parker Guitars instrument at center (photo by Terry Ballard via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haiti%5F-%5FMIM%5FPHX%5F%282022-04-06%5F03.02.27%5Fby%5FTerry%5FBallard%29.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en?ref=hyperallergic.com))

**Ken Parker** (1952–2025)  
*Iconoclastic guitar maker*

He [made](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/arts/music/ken-parker-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) objects fit for the art museum — in fact, his works have been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

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**Peter 'Jungle' Phillips** (1956–2025)  
*Australian self-taught artist*

His house in Adelaide was [known](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-06/adelaide-artist-jungle-phillips-dies-in-his-gallery-home/105978944?ref=hyperallergic.com) as an "open gallery" with colorful artworks and furniture. He started out painting "sadness," incorporating angels and demons, before his work shifted toward happiness, hope, and love.

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**Nikos Stefanou** (1933–2025)  
*Greek ceramicist, sculptor, restorer, and founder of an artist commune*

He [wore](https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1285940/nikos-stefanou-founder-of-athens-art-commune-dies/?ref=hyperallergic.com) many hats, among them a copyist-restorer of mosaics and icons from the Daphni Monastery and Mount Athos in Athens. He also founded an art commune in the city.

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**Sharon Von Senden** (1942–2025)  
*Self-taught mosaicist*

She [made](https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/a-work-of-art-sharon-von-senden-woman-behind-city-museums-mesmerizing-mosaics-dies-at-83/63-ed63b2b5-e75c-4374-bf60-e65d96882658?ref=hyperallergic.com) the intricate and expansive mosaics at the City Museum in St. Louis, including the sea creatures across the lobby, reptiles that climb up the columns, and more.