Born in Russia in 1975, as a child her creativity was encouraged by her father, an artist and fashion designer. “From a very young age, I was creating murals and collages and drawing or painting on any surface I could find. Many children have their own fantasy worlds but I was able to make mine come to life through art. The pen, the pencil, the paintbrush have always been a part of me, an extension of myself. My hands are never still, they are always working, even while I do other things, it’s like an energy that escapes through my fingertips, bringing life to the ideas in my head.”
Natalia had a classical training at art school in Kursk and later Kiev, learning about the history of art and basic artistic techniques such as still life and landscape painting. Her training brought a solid base to her creativity, giving form and direction to her artistic energy.
After finishing her formal education, Natalia moved to Munich, Germany where she studied fashion and tailoring, taking her talent into the world of fashion design. In tandem with her studies she continued to express her own creativity and began working with illustrations. Natalia was commissioned to paint portraits and specialist works for private homes and in workplaces. This was the start of her artistic career, and she began to develop a figurative style, using surrealist interpretations with fantastical figures, both human and animal.
Natalia successfully completed her fashion design education and received a number of accolades for her work, including a special prize from the government. She went on to work in this field for three years, gaining a Masters Degree in design and tailoring and completed a further two years in the fashion industry.
Natalia continued to work on her own paintings and drawing and around this time she began to develop a specific style which was still surrealistic and figurative, but with romantic and mystical elements. It was more graphical and illustrative and she worked on paper, using ink lines. One painting which represents what she was doing at this period her career is Rainman from 1997.
Natalia moved to the island of Sardinia where she worked with another artist, decorating private villas. She was also exploring new mediums and techniques within her own art and took her first steps from figurative to abstract art, feeling it was a more intuitive form of expression. Natalia used sand and acrylic on canvas to create her effects alongside strong colours and surrealistic forms, injecting movement, energy and the influence of pure nature into her work. Two paintings which are typical of this period are Beside, 2004 and the dramatic Solaris, 2005.
During the years 2005-2007, Natalia travelled extensively and was influenced by many other artists. Her style continued to evolve, moving more strongly towards abstract. She was impressed by a wide range of artistic techniques, particularly those of glassblower Dale Chihuly, nature photographer Peter Lik and artists such as Vladimir Kush and Patrick Boussignac.
Since 2006, Natalia has begun to collaborate with interior designers and architects for big casino projects in Eastern Europe and her work, which is mostly a selection of triptyches, is displayed in VIP rooms of casinos in the top hotels, including the Hilton, Radisson and Carlton. Natalia first began this type of work in 2006 for the Olympic Casino Group in Riga and has since completed similar projects in Warsaw and Bratislava. She has used long, expansive canvases and the paintings are abstract, decorative compositions, using vivid colours. Her work is permanently on display as part of the interior design of the casinos.
2007
Natalia moved to Marbella and began a new phase in her artistic development, using less detail, larger canvases, more relief and a combination of different materials. It was a very productive year and Natalia’s art seemed to have no limits, which is exactly how she wanted it. At the time she said “I often feel there’s not enough space for an idea. I need freedom to spread, to allow a painting to go where it wants to.” Her paintings during this period are a complex construction of forms and colours and have a depth which is best viewed with an open mind and an eye that is willing to see several layers of possible meaning hidden within. Natalia’s most dramatic paintings of this period are Pearls from the Shell and Flying Jewels, both 2007.
2008
During 2008, Natalia continued to work on her own artistic style and to receive commissions for creative artwork from companies and individuals. She has been experimenting with using less colour and more graphic lines. Two works that she produced in 2008 are Life Ending – Life Beginning and Jazz Club.
2009
Natalia completed two paintings for a new casino, Bora-Bora in Bucharest, Romania, which will open in 2009. They are Black Pearl and Tahiti Dream and both contain elements of all Natalia’s techniques bringing a figurative and fantastical style to her latest works.
She started the project "Town in Colors" and realized the works Sketches Of Tallinn and Sketches Of Paris.
2010 > 2012
Natalia moved to Vienna and her baby girl was born. Isabel inspired her work
Enchanted (2010).
Her book "
Dreamlike" was published in 2011, showing a collection of artworks realized between 2006 and 2011.
She is presently realizing a series of paintings to be exhibited at an international charity organization in Vienna.
The Future - A Word from the Artist
Over the past 25 years, I have been constantly experimenting, pushing boundaries and learning about the limitlessness of my work, that, of course will continue, how can it not?
My art is my life, the essence of who I am, it’s not something that can be contained, I have to be able to express it. I have learned the importance of listening to my soul, allowing my instincts to take my work where it wants to go.
I am lucky enough to have people around me who allow me to do that, who believe in me and my work - they are the ones who encourage me to take on new challenges, to find new frontiers. When someone sees one of my paintings and connects with it in their own way, when it touches an emotion deep within them, that is what brings me the greatest satisfaction and joy as an artist.
