Location: Russian Federation
Anna was born in 1962 in Moscow (Russia), traveled worldwide, and still lives in her native city that has become one of the core themes of her art.
She received her formal art education during 10 years of studies at the well-known Krasnaya Presnya Art School in Moscow that focused on training comprehensive skills in the arts along the traditional academic lines.
Later on, she enrolled in the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages, graduating in 1985. She worked for several Russian publishers, authoring the translations of more than a dozen book titles (some of them are released in English, with her name on their title page).
It was Anna's unconscious habit, since childhood, to carry (and use) her sketchbook wherever she traveled. But it was only in her thirties that her unique and recognizable style began to evolve. She moved on from oils that she mastered in her youth to painting in acrylics and alkyds, and from the strict teachings of Realism to the free, more fluid world of Symbolism and Expressionism.
Anna's meticulous approach to producing a painting requires long hours of work with an increasingly tiny brush, applying layers of paint and fine details, until the desired image finally emerges. The result can be described as 'drawing with paint', or 'painted embroidery'.
A colorful splash of warm rain in July; the onset of northern spring, snow giving way to ice; dancing trees along a night boulevard; and golden silhouettes in a window; all these are painted in so many shades.
2018 acrylic on canvas 40 x 50 cm
A colorful splash of warm rain in July, in a small park, or more precisely a side of hill covered with trees, with some designed geometry of flowerbeds and paved paths spreading across several levels of ground.
For those who know Moscow, this is near Clean Ponds, but hidden behind walls of houses inside a rectangle of old streets and lanes.
The umbrella appeared there as a final stroke, a symbol of urban elegance.
The painting was completed in 2018.
2015 acrylic on canvas 40 x 50 cm
This is the very beginning of spring in Moscow, when days get longer and the sun warmer, as it shines down from behind the tall bulky but silvery clouds that build up in the sky, created by the invisible vapors streaming upwards from the ground still covered by snow.
The thawing snow freezes again at night as the temperature drops, and sometimes the cold returns and lasts for days. The icy coating on the ground reflects the bright sunshine and throws it around and onto the dark walls, and the beams bounce back from shiny windows.
In a yard between residential buildings a small sports ground can sometimes be found, with net fencing decorated by rainbow-colored garlands of small flags, which flicker in the wind and, when lighted by sunbeams, look like multi-color hard candy drops.
2018 acrylic on canvas 30 x 40 cm
In many old cities across Europe one can meet elegant buildings like this, dating back to late 19th century when Art Nouveau style was high fashion. They are, naturally, private mansions commissioned by the wealthy complete with gardens and small urban-style orchards.
I had in mind Moscow – the Boulevard Rind; Kiev – old Lipki; and certain gardens and riverside palaces in St. Petersburg – though the latter is too Nordic, it really never displays such warm glowing colors. And you have guessed it, this is a colorful summer night.
2008 acrylic on canvas 40 x 50 cm
A fantasy of an on old Victorian house, seen from its back yard on a summer night
“Veil of Rain”
“Icy Spring”
“Art Nouveau Boulevard”
“Golden Shadows”
