Art in Clouds
Artist Statement and Resume
Artist statement
Partly because of my awareness of the body as a dancer and choreographer, and partly because of being enchanted with and conscientious about nature, my art creations often include recognizable human or animal body parts, under the disguise of plants. Plant life draws my attention as more organic in the sense of being closer to the origin of life than human life.
Right now I find myself engrossed and wandering in miniature groves of forest or individual plants which I create by a process of drawing with pastel, painting, and adding a multitude of materials: objects and textures, found, envisioned, created by printing or other processes, and conceptualized, like the printed words “leaf” on a tree trunk. All these additions create a third dimension and a special kind of presence and reality. These works are usually representational and detailed yet uncannily unreal; each single part has its dominating color and somewhat its own space. On another level of perception, all of these parts create a dance of abstraction as a result.
Part of my creative spirit is involved in photography and creation of films. While photographs often give me ideas for different media creations or work on their own, films incorporate my other creations or ideas from them into a moving canvas. My films are often dance-based and deeply experimental. They were shown in many different venues.
I also continue work on my everlasting but always fresh subject of clouds, present both in my visual and dance art, and a series of black-and-white plant-muscle characters, using charcoal, black pastel, pencil, and ink drawings. Here, I am enchanted by the meticulous laborious processes of the old classical European masters, as well as master drawers of other world cultures. To these inspirations, I add some chance and modify classic techniques in a contemporary manner, focusing on the clear and straightforward in representation and sophisticated in meaning.
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Mission Statement
I try to first look inside myself, and this way to find more fresh ways to establish connection with the outside world. In communication with everything which surrounds us, be it plants, rocks, or small or big creatures- we find new knowledge and new ways to get across that knowledge, that is, new language.
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Education
1977
School #190 at The Mukhina Industrial Arts Institute, Leningrad, USSR.
La Scuola Internazionale di Grafica di Venezia, Venice, Italy
1995
2001
Workshop in creative portrait photography. Anderson Ranch Art Center, Aspen, Colorado, USA. Instructor: Judy Dater.
Exhibitions
Solo
2019
Recent drawings at Muddy's Coffee House, San Francisco, California
2001
Photography at The Youth Center of Northern Countries, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1999
Al-Ferdous, The Rose Garden, works on paper at The Jordanian Association of Plastic Artists, Amman, Jordan
Group
2024 Rhode Island Watercolor Society
Luminous Landscapes juried online show. Juror: Maris Platais.
Aedra Fine Arts juried March 2024 online exhibition. Juror: Michael Hanna.
2023 Light and Shadow juried online exhibition at Fusion Art Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Open Studios at Journal Building, San Francisco, California.
2017 Visual art and films at 1890 Bryant Street Studios in San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, USA.
2009 Digital print in ArtAuction09 at SomArts Gallery, San Francisco, California.
Digital prints and mixed media in Annual Holiday Art Sale at Gallery 146, San Francisco.
2008 Drawing in Art for the House exhibition at The Shooting gallery, San Francisco.
Drawing in The Love Show exhibition at Gallery 146, San Francisco.
2007 Drawings in 7th Annual Monster Drawing Rally at Southern Exposure, San Francisco.
2006 Improvised drawings and dance performance in Raw and Uncut Festival at Shotwell Studios, San Francisco. Choreographer Martin A. David
Digital print at CounterPulse Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
Improvised drawings and dance performance in ...And Still Dancing at ODC Theater, San Francisco, USA. Choreographer Martin A. David.
2005 Digital prints and mixed media in Bayennale, Bay Area International Arts Festival at Cellspace, San Francisco, USA.
Digital prints and drawing in The Third Annual Art Nouveau exhibition at Whitney Young Cultural Center, San Francisco, USA.
Sculpture Convoluted in EcoArts, Lake County Sculpture Walk, Trailside Park, Middletown, California.
Digital print in 20th Annual Hospitality House Art Auction at Haley Martin Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
2004 Digital and collagraph prints and drawing in Nouveau Salon exhibition at Whitney Young Cultural Center. San Francisco, USA.
Sculpture True Faker in EcoArts, Lake County Sculpture Walk, Trailside Park, Middletown, California.
2003 Sculpture, prints, photography in Nouveau Salon exhibition at Whitney Young Cultural Center. San Francisco, USA.
Drawing in 18th Annual Hospitality House Art Auction at Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
2002 Digital images at Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA.
Photography and mixed media in Wigged Out exhibition at Arty Pants Gallery, San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSalon.
TV installations, prints and performance "The Heroman" in "The TV Show", The Boon Project Juried Exhibition at The Warehouse, San Francisco, USA. Jurors: Mark Scandrette and David Starfas.
Digital graphics in The Flag Project at Culpepper Gallery, Abrons Arts Center, New York, USA
Collagraphs, photography and mixed media at Muddy's café, San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSalon.
Collagraph at Art with a Heart, Ritter House Juried Exhibition and Auction, San Rafael, California, USA. Jurors: Chester Arnold, Joanne Chappell, Robin Critelli, Charles H. Curley, Tyson Underwood.
Installation at Sucky Tapioka café, San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSF.
Collagraphs at Build Gallery, San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSalon.
Digital graphics at Exit Art Gallery, New York, USA.
Sculpture Fly Like an Eagle at Christensen Heller Gallery, Oakland, California, USA.
Prints, two-person exhibition at Backstage Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
2001 Performance Under the Straight Line in Exit, International Festival for Unusual Live-
Performances, Helsinki, Finland. Curated by Roi Vaara.
2000 Prints in CSW Cyber Art & Poetry Spring/Summer Show 2000, based in USA. Organized by Sandy Curtis.
Performance From Holland to New Holland in Emplacements, International Art Project, St.
Petersburg, Russia. Curated by Gail Pearce, Great Britain.
Commissions and projects
2005 Photography for Alma Cunningham Movement Dance Company, San Francisco, USA.
2004 Photography for West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival, Berkeley, California
2002 Photography for Beckett’s Last Dance, dance, choreographed by Jon Whittle, San Francisco Fringe Theater Festival, San Francisco, USA.
Photography for 9 Days on Dark Water, dance, choreographed by Angus Balbernie, Dance Mission Center, San Francisco, USA.
2001 Photographic images in Vexations, dance, choreographed by Kerstin Kussmaul, ODC Theater, San Francisco, USA.
Installation for Iguandance, Canondance Theater, S. Petersburg, Russia.
1997 Outdoor sculpture, Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
1982 Stage design for The Sandpit Generals, ballet, choreographed by Leonid Lebedev for The State Maliy Theater of Opera and Ballet, Leningrad, USSR.
Publications
Anthology of photography Sketches Of The Eye by The International Library of Photography, USA, 2001.
Publicity
2002 Digital prints and mixed media in Bayennale, Bay Area International Arts Festival at Cellspace, San Francisco, USA. Reviewed by The San Francisco Art News Extra.
Collagraphs, photography and mixed media at Muddy's café. San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSalonSF. Reviewed by SanFranciscoArtMagazine.com based in San Francisco, USA.
Collagraphs at Build Gallery, San Francisco, USA. Organized by ArtSalon. Shown by French-American Television.
2001 Performance Under the Straight Line in Exit, International Festival for Unusual Live-Performances, Helsinki, Finland. Curated by Roi Vaara. Shown on ATV in Helsinki, Finland.
Installation for Iguandance, Canondance Theater, S. Petersburg, Russia. Shown on Channel 26.
2000 Performance From Holland to New Holland in Emplacements, International Art Project, St. Petersburg, Russia. Curated by Gail Pearce, Great Britain. Reviewed by Vecherniy Peterburg.
1999 Al-Ferdous, The Rose Garden, works on paper at The Jordanian Association of Plastic Artists, Amman, Jordan. Reviewed by Al-Arab-Al-Yawm.
Awards and Honors
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Residency at Journal Building, San Francisco, USA, 2022-2023.
Residency for dance film at Moving Arts Studio, San Francisco, USA, 2018.
Residency for dance performance at Performance Art Institute, San Francisco, USA, 2012.
Scholarship at 17th Annual West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival, Berkeley, California, 2005.
Grant for creative portrait photography workshop and travel. Anderson Ranch Art Center, Aspen, Colorado, USA, 2001.
Honorable Mention. CSW Cyber Art & Poetry Spring/Summer Show 2000, based in USA, 2000.
The Artist Magazine (USA) Award. CSW Cyber Art & Poetry Spring/Summer Show 2000, based in USA, 2000.
Residency for printmaking at Darat al Funun gallery/The Khalid Shoman Foundation in Amman, Jordan, 1999.
Experience and Collections
Worked in printmaking in universities, cultural centers and with individual artists in USA, Russia, Finland, Spain, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Syria, and Jordan.
Prints and other works are in state, corporate and private collections in above mentioned and other countries, including The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., USA.
Dance and other films were shown at many international film festivals.