1. When did you arrive in Hungary and what brought you here?
I came to Budapest in 2014 as a startup art-director. Since then I quitted the job of a graphic designer, changed my life and stuck in Budapest without a certain reason. Just enjoying the turpentine smell in my studio and Károly Kert most of the time.

2. Have you ever been an expatriate elsewhere?
In Bali, but there were too many ceremonies and yoga for my artistic soul which requires more drama, politics and polluted air.

3. What surprised you most about Hungary?
That I have known lots of Hungarians, who had inspired or touched me somehow before my immigration to Hungary. And I thought they were all from other countries. In 2016 I’ve dedicated the series of portraits to them. I’ve named the series simply — ‘Famous Hungarians’ — and the composer Chilly Gonzales named his melody same way after being portrayed by me. Coincidence? I have never asked the maestro.)

4. Friends are in Budapest for a weekend - what must they absolutely see and do?
I would suggest to visit the local baths Veli Bej, to check the local ceramist Ksenia Wallenstein  and to paint a Budapest landscape at my workshop of Kunstfuck Art Residency.

5. What is your favourite Hungarian food?
Fried kárász . Though I know that locals don’t eat fish, and the dish is not really Hungarian).

6. What is never missing from your refrigerator?
I wish I could finish the bucket of that curry paste one day.

7. What is your favourite Hungarian word?
Gyönyörű.

8. What do you miss most from home?
The Tsar.

9. What career other than yours would you love to pursue?
Alchemist. 

10. What's a job you would definitely never want?
A teacher of Hungarian.

11. Where did you spend your last vacation?
Good question during the times of Corona. Nagymaros!

12. Where do you hope to spend your next holiday?
St. Petersburg and the planet Venus.

13. Apart of temptation what can't you resist?
Hand-made ice-creams and grey hair dudes.

14. What was your favourite band, film, or hobby as a teen?
Being 6 years old I wanted to go to the concert of Michael Jackson to Moscow. But as a teen there was no humour in me anymore — Portishead and Radiohead were my favourite bands. Teens do like pumping chords, don’t they?

15. Red wine or white?
As a Russian, I don’t drink anything except vodka.

16. Book or movie?
Youtube

17. Morning person or night person?
24-h mummy

18. Which social issue do you feel most strongly about?
Feminism, and I am sometimes beheading the Olophern’s head on my self-portraits.  By the way, my surname is translated as ‘girlish’ from my native language, so I am convinced it is a sign to work further with female issues.

19. Buda or Pest side?
Pest, though my fav area is Béla Bartók ut. I so much like it, that one day I researched who he was and today I even play some pieces from his Mikrokosmos.

20. What would you say is your personal motto?
Art is a life long canvas — that belief helps me to calm down my anxiety about my artistic career at least. I paint for money, I paint for fun, I paint to forget myself and to find myself same time. My super power is bringing a social message and a beauty to the world.

Learn more about Kunstfuck Art Residency