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Anya Tikomirova
Interview with the artist
What do you like best about being an artist?
Freedom and the ability to see and appreciate beauty, more so - to create beauty with my own hands. It's incredibly rewarding to stand back and realize that the new work happened, it looks good and now will have a life of its own and probably will give some pleasure to someone. As an artist you are able to leave a mark, a positive mark in this wonderful world.
What do you like least about being an artist?
At times I have a distinct feeling that I am a kind of a bird that Christ mentions somewhere in the New Testament. All I do is just singing praises to the Creation. It's not a bad thing in itself but it bears with itself a greater then average deal of uncertainty in the future. That can be distressing when one has a dependent family. Then again you can't have all the good things without paying for it somehow.
Which artist, past or present, would you like to study under or collaborate with
Oh, it would have been magical to paint au plein air in the company of Issac Levitan and Valentin Serov. Also I would love to take a few master classes from John Singer Sargent. Oh, and how interesting it would have been to watch how exactly worked Ingres! I should stop thinking about it, it's a bit frustrating :-)
What is the best tip you can offer budding artists?
Study Nature. It develops your technique and makes you kinder and humbler. Nowadays "cool" is driving away the warmth we used to have. As a result people are becoming more and more cynical.
If you could pick just three colours to work with what would they be?
I love pearly shades of gray, muddy, earthy colours. Three essential colours for me would be yellow ocher, ultramarine blue and indian red.
What is your favourite media and why?
I love variety. I usually go through periods of favouring one media over the rest but inevitably there come the time when I want to have a rest from it so I rediscover the pleasures of the others. Thus I endlessly migrate between oils, watercolour and pastels with variations in between.
How long does it usually take you to complete an artwork?
It depends on my mood. Sometimes I work feverishly on one piece until I complete it - usually it happens with the commissions. Those I can finish very quickly, usually with a fortnight. Then there are times when I slow down or stop before I finished and put the work aside for a while, sometime a long while. Usually I have several works going on at the same time and they are in different techniques and medias to provide distraction from one another.
When and where did you first exhibit your work?
When I was a child I have spent a lot of time in my parents studio. It was a magical place full of interesting objects, smells and sounds. My Dad showed me how to work with metal very early on and soon I was making my own simple rings and trying my hand in enamel miniature painting. My very first artist object which got exhibited and sold in one of Moscow's gallery shops for the professional artists was a little oval metal box with the enamel miniature top. I made it myself under the guidance of my Dad at the age of 15 and was very proud of it.
Have any of your artworks ended up in unusual or famous places?
My biggest claim to fame so far is executing a group portrait of "Vogue children" as I nick-named it for myself. In 2000 when I had my works exhibited in East West Gallery in Notting Hill I received a call from the gallery owner who said that Mrs Runge, the wife of the Vogue magazine owner Bernd Runge, wanted to have her children painted and that she had chosen me. Needless to say that I was thrilled. The portrait was intended as a surprise Christmas present to her husband so we've had to make sure that we are careful with our sittings. I usually take a lot of pictures of the sitting and then chose with the client the best one to work with. In the more expensive cases, like that one, I make several preliminary sketches. I had to make a composition of two older children and a lively baby. It took me about a month to complete the work. I was relieved to know that the portrait was favourably received.
Which is your favourite art gallery and why?
The Wallace Collection in London. This small, secluded museum contains a wonderful baroque art collection. It has very warm and intimate atmosphere and it is not too overcrowded as well.
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