about me

I was born in 1967 and grew up in Russia; I have Latvian and Russian blood. My journey in art is different from the typical journey of Latvian artists. In my childhood I attended children’s art school in Russia. Then I started to study at the Latvian University, Faculty of Pedagogy, in art department. Only later I changed to the Pedagogical department of the Latvian Art Academy and graduated in 1993. I only came to fulfilling my dream to study painting in 2016, when I started the Master’s program of the Latvian Art Academy graduating 2018. Participating in exhibitions since 2017. Since 2020 year I am a member of Latvian Artists’ Union.

When I paint, importamnt is tonality. Drama draw me. And character is important for me as well. I try to implement a message in my painting, so that it would tell a story. For me important is the person. His inner life, his experiences. A portrait that speaks. If it is nature, still life or anything else, still it will speaks about human.

I am painting people. From an early childhood, I was mesmerized by life-stories. I like it when it is for real. In a way also in painting it is important for me to have the feeling of authenticity – that you can feel shadows, light, air, depth in all their aspects. As one of my teachers, Ivars Heinrihsons used to say, there has to be the “nerve”. I try in some way to have this nerve, at least in one point. I am learning. I am attracted to Drama. I want to talk through the portraits, to talk about life of a man, hardships, beauty of the soul, way of live, sometimes I am not really sure about what, but there is the image, and the message comes only later. And it can even change. But really, may everyone who looks, be addressed in a different way, however they need. I am interested in stories where people have overcome hard times and have survived. Through the portraits I want to show that life is not easy but in the same time, it is beautiful. That life is beautiful although there is the Drama in it. People go through storms, and there is its own beauty in the drama. This is the reality and truth, the authenticity of life. It is important for me that it is real.

If people want to look at the painting for a long time or return to it again, then the painting is good. My artworks are impressionistic and real in the same time, in other words, they can be defined as contemporary realism. Neorealism with romantic mood.