Yuri Shementov was born in 1982 in Magnitogorsk, Russia.

Yuri graduated with a diploma from the Magnitogorsk State Art School and has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts and Education from the Magnitogorsk State Institute of Education. Upon graduation, Yuri taught Fine Arts in the Bratsk School of Arts. In 1986, he moved to Krim and took a job at the Krim Art League. While in Krim, Yuri founded several Art Galleries.

Upon relocation to Argentina in 1996, Yuri made a living as a painter. His oil paintings are currently displayed in various private collections in Argentina, Canada and United States.

The main purpose of Yuri's artwork is to convey the interrelation of colors. He has always been fascinated by the play of colors, lights and shadows in the works of French Impressionists. Yuri's passion is integration of light and color. Soft pastels of the Russian landscapes and bright, luscious pallets of the seashore have been the main subject of Yuri's work in his homeland and continues to inspire him today in Colorado.

Multiplicity of textural techniques as additional means of transmitting the color variance has always interested Yuri. The objects of his painting are still lives, landscapes, abstract compositions; any subject that allows him to convey the magnificence of color.