I told a little about myself and my life to the Berlin project about women Imagofeminae.
Imagofeminae is an independent quarterly women’s magazine in online and print formats. It is published mainly in English, German and Russian. This project was founded in Berlin 10 years ago. The creators and editors of Imagofeminae are women. The project publishes images, biographies and works of women, including news about women’s political, cultural and social movements. It also publishes news about women in art, literature, science, economics, sports and the media.
Imagofeminae opens up a space for women in every country. The project focuses on how women prefer to represent themselves. Imagofeminae makes films, videos, digital and printed articles and books, photographs, events.
The interview was published in English and Russian on their website in March 2022. The printed issue XXXI WINTER 2022 was to be released later.
OLESYA RAPOTKINA. Works & Visions
INTERVIEW by: Dipl.-Psych. Paiman Maria Davarifard
Edited by: Olesya Rapotkina & Paiman Maria Davarifard
Original language: Russian / translated by imagofeminae
I am an artist, graphic designer, art manager. I was born in Aktyubinsk (now Aktobe) of the Kazakh SSR, USSR. Among my relatives there were no artists and designers. I first studied art at the Art School. Then at the Art Lyceum, where I acquired the expertise of a graphic designer. After graduating from the lyceum, I entered the Aktobe State University. K. Zhubanov for the field of fine and decorative applied art. After graduating, i received a pedagogical education with a specialization in Graphic Design. My graduation work at the university was plaques depicting the architecture of my hometown. It was metal carving, although the work was originally conceived as metal casting. For several months I have been preparing gypsum matrices for casting. This is a delicate work, because the plaquettes are miniatures. The casting had to be done at the factory. But 3 days before the defense of my diploma, my teacher informed me that the casting at the factory did not work out, and the matrices were destroyed. In the shortest possible time, I had to carve the metal of four plaquettes according to previously created sketches. It was an unforgettable 3 days. Thesis defense was successful.
I left my native Aktyubinsk a long time ago, moving first to St. Petersburg and then to Moscow. In Moscow, I learned about the existence of a master’s program at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RANEPA) in the direction of Management, management in the art business and I entered there in 2019. At the Art School and the Art Lyceum, and at the University, we, artists, unfortunately, were not taught to combine money and art. They didn’t teach self-presentation, building an artist’s own brand, interacting with art institutions and much more. And these are very important questions for artists. After receiving an education, artists go out into the big world and do not understand how to build their careers, how to earn money with their art. They feel unclaimed and go to work not in their specialty, often leaving art. I did not find answers to all questions at the Academy. But it was interesting to learn the experience of teachers in the field of art business. The topic of my master’s thesis was “Transformation of the Russian art market in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic on the example of art institutions in Moscow.” I have been researching what is happening with art institutions in Moscow since the beginning of the pandemic. Considered auction houses and art galleries in Moscow. The hypothesis of my research was the assumption that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the Moscow art market. But according to the results research hypothesis was not confirmed! More precisely, it was only partially confirmed. Yes, during periods of strict quarantine restrictions, theeducational art institutions had to close, cancel planned events, etc. But during periods of less severe quarantine restrictions, many galleries and auction houses managed to catch up and even surpass the sales results of previous years. And for some, 2020 was the best year in terms of sales for the entire period of the companies’ activities! Both auction houses and galleries have noted an increase in the number of collectors, especially among young people.
Moreover, there were more women among the buyers of art than men. It would seem that people should stop buying art during a pandemic. Art is not a matter of prime necessity. But people in difficult times became more interested in art. And not just to look, but began to buy, join the collection. Even those who never bought art before the pandemic. Also In this study, I noted the huge impact of digital transformation on the art business and looked at the state support for the art business. The purpose of my master’s thesis was to create recommendations on the use of the most effective tools for optimizing the art business, finding ways to reduce costs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent years of overcoming the crisis, which I did. As an artist, I prefer painting and drawing. Rarely arts and crafts. Among my favorite materials are oil, watercolor, dry and oil pastels, ink, canvas, paper, etc. I love to paint with a palette knife. It allows you to create emotional, dynamic, textured painting. My work is not limited to one genre. More often I work in genres: portrait, landscape, still life, animalistic genre. My watercolor is light and transparent, the oil is pasty, textured. There are almost no gloomy colors in my works. I participate in various online and offline exhibitions, albums about artists, etc. I experiment with new materials. As a graphic designer, I am engaged in printing, web design, outdoor advertising, logos, corporate identity, various presentations, etc. For a long time I worked as a designer in marketing. In recent years, I have been involved in the development of online courses.
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You can learn more about my works published in interviews by clicking on the titles: Dunya on pillow, Over a cup of tea, Self-portrait by palette knife, Kolomenskoe (a series of 4 artworks), The blossoming Russia!, Self-portrait on the blue, Four seasons (a series of 4 artworks).
