The Profession of an Artist Helped Me Bring My Dream of Creating My Own Universe to Life
Your education is connected with fashion design. What did you lack in that role, and what did you find as an artist?
By the time I approached my final year at St. Petersburg State Art and Industry Academy named after A.L. Stieglitz, I realized I wouldn’t become a fashion designer. I preferred drawing dresses to sewing them. For me, as an artist, it’s important to be fully responsible for the finished work. If something doesn’t work out, there’s no one to blame but myself. A designer, on the other hand, has to share responsibility with the team.
My studies gave me a solid artistic foundation. Painting and drawing were prioritized. Stieglitz Academy provided a serious art education first and foremost, and only then a practical one. After winning a student competition, I interned with fashion designer Tatyana Kotegova. My task was to create quick sketches based on her ideas. But I realized that working in fashion meant being a bit of a “tyrant” and a team player at the same time, whereas I was drawn to independent creation.
In the end, instead of sewing a collection, I painted it. Designers supported me—they saw an artist rather than a fashion designer. Already during my final year, I began participating in group shows and held my first solo exhibition. That’s when I chose my path—to be an artist accountable only to myself.
Your fashion experience clearly influenced your art: for quite a while, your paintings featured glamorous, hyperrealist scenes. When did you shift toward the surreal, cosmic imagery?
I think my heroines in red evening gowns simply moved from cityscapes into the cosmic spaces of Cosmodreams. That glamorous undertone still hasn’t left me. I love these images, though I don’t always treat them seriously—there’s always some irony in them. If I paint a woman in a red dress, she might be standing on the Moon’s surface with a suitcase—her spacecraft forgot to pick her up. Or maybe she’s holding a Strugatsky book.
As a child, I witnessed the fascination with Soviet space achievements. I grew up on science fiction—my shelf was filled with Kir Bulychev, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov. The profession of an artist helped me bring my dream of creating my own universe to life. Space became a limitless world where I can create endlessly. I believe I will continue working on Cosmodreams for many years.
The project combines painting, sculpture, AR- and VR-technologies. How do these directions interact?
Cosmodreams is a project I carried within me for a long time. It emerged from my interest in painting, sculpture, and new technologies like AR and VR. It’s an attempt to create an entire universe where traditional art is reimagined and brought to life through digital media. I start with a painting and build a narrative around it. Then, with designers and animators, we animate the drawings and create a “script” for their life. VR and AR usually complement the entire exhibition, not individual canvases. For example, in 2020 for the first Cosmodreams show, we launched “Museum on the Moon”—a 3D tour during the pandemic so people could “visit” the museum virtually.
I’ve been interested in new technologies since student days, when digital programs were just emerging. When the opportunity came, I started experimenting with other media. I’m still curious about the new, but painting remains my main and favorite technique, while digital is a pleasant addition. Another reason was my desire to create relevant art for new generations. It saddens me how gadgets consume children’s attention, so I decided to draw them to art through phone screens. Bored by static paintings? Watch them come alive with VR and AR. I started with simple scenarios but got hooked. For the 2020 Cosmodreams launch at Erarta Museum in St. Petersburg, we made a mobile app to animate all paintings and sculptures, creating digital copies in a parallel reality. Now my dream is a full virtual museum for all Cosmodreams works—their number nears a thousand!
You’ve shown Cosmodreams at solo shows and fairs not only in Russia but in China, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. What resonates most with audiences there?
All these countries have strict censorship. I don’t show provocative works—I respect cultural norms. The UAE loves my glamorous side: beautiful dresses and glossy images catch attention. Chinese viewers are curious like children, open and disarming. Many want to talk to the artist and hear the story behind a work. Nature preservation and contemplating beauty matter to them too, so I emphasize conceptual depth over visuals. Nuances differ everywhere, but Cosmodreams appeals universally, especially its technical side—the idea of paintings with storylines captivates all.
At this year’s ART021 fair in Shanghai, you designed a booth as a red room with a checkered floor—very reminiscent of the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. Coincidence or intentional?
Intentional, of course. It was my first childhood series. David Lynch and his mysticism hugely influenced me early on. I wanted to create things that feel otherworldly, like David Hopper’s paintings—realistic everyday life but with a chill down the spine. That’s the state I always aim to convey.
The Dinner in Red project was a shake-up from my usual cosmos, flowers, nature style. I fear getting stuck, so sometimes I show the artist can joke—ironic, grotesque projects. But Chinese audiences missed the Twin Peaks reference and took it literally. I had to explain the woman eating a man’s brains as a nod to the Russian idiom “to eat brains with a teaspoon,” or that the cracked face is Humpty Dumpty from children’s lit.
How has the project developed in Russia? Do you focus more on the domestic art market or international audiences?
Cosmodreams was born in Russia and grew abroad. Working there lets me share my art and culture with global viewers. I often draw from Russian fairy tales, Soviet heritage, cultural codes—like my “Русские сказки” and “Патриотизм” clusters. I love this return to cultural roots and have many ideas to expand it.
Research fascinates me. As an artist, I find endless inspiration plunging into mythologies, fairy tales, traditions of different countries. Cosmodreams fills with vivid images: Chinese blue orchids, UAE night legends, Russian space legacy—reimagined in my unique vision. I see myself as a creator of engaging stories making culture accessible, uniting people through familiar traditions and new discoveries. Now it’s vital to revive past archetypes of resilience, beauty, victories for the new generation—to inspire, remind, provide grounding. Art for me is seeking deep meanings, crafting images, preserving traditions; it’s beauty uniting people, giving emotional strength, inner stability in a changing world.
What impression do you want to leave with viewers after interacting with Cosmodreams?
Like a trip to another world, another planet. Each show is a Cosmodreams cluster, a separate world. Leaving, people feel like they’ve returned from another dimension. I want to gift fantasy. Cosmodreams is pure fantasy, my creator’s realm. I invite viewers to journey to other worlds with me.
Source: www.theartnewspaper.ru
