From 1961 to 1967, he studied at the Leningrad Vera Mukhina Higher School of Art and Design.
He was significant in the cultural history of Leningrad (later Saint Petersburg) as an organizer of the Independent Society for Experimental Exhibitions.
In 1974, Jarkikh organized, with O.Rabin, E. Ruchin and A. Gleser (non-conformist artists), the Bulldozer Exhibition (Russian: Бульдозерная выставка) in Moscow.
[10][11] Together with 14 other contemporary French artists, he held exhibitions at the Palais des congrès de Paris, from 1987 to 1988.
In the judgement of gallery owners, Jarkikh's creativity developed under the influence of the Russian vanguard and German Expressionism.