Volodymyr Makarenko (also known as Makar) was born in 1943 in the village of Novo-Pushkarivka, near the city of Dnipropetrovsk. He studied at the Art School of Dnipropetrovsk and the Mukhina Institute of Applied Arts in Leningrad, from where he graduated in 1969, with a Diploma in Monumental Art. That year he became a member of the famous St. Petersburg Group of Artists, which became known in the West as the “Leningrad Group.” Forced to leave Leningrad in 1973, Makarenko settled in Tallinn, Estonia. While in Tallinn, Makarenko participated in numerous exhibitions. In 1975, one of his works, which was accepted by the XI Biennale of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, was awarded First Prize. In December of 1975, Makarenko, together with F. Humeniuk, V. Sazonov, and V. Strelnikov, organized, in Moscow, the first unofficial exhibition of Ukrainian Non-Conformist artists. Makarenko’s first solo exhibitions were held in 1979 in Tallinn and in Paris. A catalogue of his water colors was published by the Hardy Gallery in Paris. His paintings were included in the catalogue and exhibits of “Contemporary Art from Ukraine” in 1979 and 1980 in Munich, London, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Cleveland. Finally, in 1980, Makarenko was allowed to emigrate to the West. Together with his wife and daughter he settled in Paris. In 1982, he had one-man shows in Paris, Stockholm, and Toronto. In October, 1982, Makarenko participated in the group exhibition of “Contemporary Artists from Ukraine” in Metz, France. His oils, watercolors, and acrylics were exhibited in the “Contemporary Artists from Ukraine” Group Exhibit in Toronto and Winnipeg, Canada. Makarenko lives and works in Paris. Artfira Gallery published an album “Volodymyr Makarenko. Paintings” in 2010 with texts by Vita Susak, Jean-Claude Markade, Daria Darewych, Ph.D. and Alex Demko. In October of 2020 Kyiv based, Golden Section Galleries Auction exhibited works by Volodymyr Makarenko from private and artist collections.