Moving to another country can be compared with replanting. For a while, you are a nomad and then the settlement process starts. The new roots are growing in the new place.
I left Russia almost two years ago, spent a month in Armenia, then nine months in UAE. I moved to the USA one year ago. I looked at the mountains and the ocean of the West Coast. They were here for a million years, they will stay for the same period. I felt like I was a plant trying to root here, to connect to the new place.
I used the stones from the Davenport shore and Half Moon Bay shore in the pots. That is how I visualize settlement in the Bay Area.
You can grow plants in these pots or use them as pen holders at your desk. I hope they will inspire and encourage you.
A series of mixed media works.
The series is a metaphor for fragmented memories that form unclear pictures - it is very similar to the dream we can't remember. Each work has multiple layers. The base is made of newspapers. It was a common practice in the USSR to use newspapers as a base for the wallpapers. This method was affordable, simple and helped to flatten the surface. The next layers consist of puzzle fragments you can't put into a clear image. The last sandy layer represents the passage of time.
Each work is sealed with several layers of UV-protecting Matt varnish.
This self-reflective series unites sculptures made in 2021, 2023, and 2024. Each sculpture was created to respond to current events or even the coming ones. Due to the well-developed sensitivity, the artists can feel the changes in the air. The first sculpture was made in Russia in 2021 when state restrictions and repressions rose to a new level. The other sculptures were made in the USA, where the artist is based now. Each one is a visualization of the artist's internal dialogue on the topics of home, freedom and identity.
