About the novel of young Kasparov with a wonderful actress Marina Neyelova all theatrical Moscow was gossiping. When they met, Marina was 37 years old, and Garik was 21.
In 1984, Kasparov met actress Marina Neyelova. He turned 21 and was the youngest world champion contender in the history of chess.
“Our close communication with Marina Neyelova lasted more than two years. She was 16 years older than me, like all my then friends. Partly because I matured very quickly. But much more due to the fact that peers, as a rule, sought to get married as soon as possible. Of course, I could not even think about this, as I was preparing for my first world championship match. Everything - my health, my training, my aspirations - was subordinated to this goal. On the other hand, I was a normal young man with ordinary needs and desires. Not a monk.
She and I had many mutual friends among writers and artists. She is a very extraordinary woman. It is quite possible that our union was based on the feeling of our exclusivity. " (From the book "Child of Change" by Garry Kasparov)
He then lived in Baku and visited Moscow only on short visits. Neelova received the young lover in her apartment on Chistye Prudy. But in the world they appeared together more than once. When, in 84, Kasparov first met in the match for the world title with Anatoly Karpov, Neelova was sitting in the hall next to the chess player's mother.
The actress supported Kasparov at a difficult time for him. In the match for the title of world champion with Anatoly Karpov, he first lost. And even with a score of 0: 5! Harry was even nicknamed the LP. At the matches, Neelova sat next to Klara Shagenovna. “Two mothers,” they said about them. 
“At the end of January 1985, when the score was 5: 2, Karpov and I were even driven out of the Column Hall of the House of Unions. Because Karpov, despite his assurances that he was about to squeeze me, could not win in any way, and here members of the Politburo were already dying one after another, and for the farewell ceremonies it was necessary to free the territory. Then Karpov passed the third game, and the question is not even that he was physically exhausted and could not continue to play ... He felt uncomfortable psychologically - he was simply frightened, and most importantly, those who were behind him got scared. "
But it was Klara Shagenovna who separated them.
First she said to her son:
- You need to focus on chess. And if you want to marry an actress, it is better to marry at once in a whole factory dormitory. She will infect you with a bad disease!
When Neelova became pregnant, Klara Shagenovna inspired her son that an illegitimate child could negatively affect his sports career. The ambitious Harry, who had already won the world title, did not object. His mother told the press: "This is not our child." As if hinting that Neelova was dating another man in parallel. The proud actress did not say a word then. But Nika's daughter, whom she gave birth, turned out to be like two drops of water similar to Kasparov. Neelova's colleagues at the Sovremennik Theater were outraged by the grandmaster's act, and Valentin Gaft publicly stated:
- Kasparov is not worthy to be received in a decent house.
“I almost stopped seeing Marina. Parting was becoming inevitable. Therefore, I was completely sure that the child she was carrying could not be mine. Each of us already had a separate personal life. I tried to get it all out of my head and focused on chess. "(From the book "Child of Change" by Garry Kasparov)
In 1987, Marina Neyolova's daughter Nick was born, like two drops of water similar to Garry Kasparov.
Now Nika is 28 years old. She went to first grade in Paris. Her father was replaced by the current husband of Neelova - Russian diplomat Kirill Gevorgyan... It was thanks to Nika's stepfather that she visited different countries at school age and learned several foreign languages. Neyolova's daughter, a burning brunette, looks very attractive, although she says that she never considered herself a beauty.
Nika studied at the courses of the chief artist of the Moscow theater "Lenkom" Oleg Sheintsis. Graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague in 2008. She studied abroad, or rather in the Netherlands, where her father, Kirill Gevorkian, was appointed ambassador of the Russian Federation several years ago.
It is known that she is not a lover of public life and has an incredible ability in learning foreign languages. In the Netherlands, she graduated from the academy, the second education, art, she received already in London, at the school of design.
In 2010 she graduated from the School of Art at University College London. Participated in several collective exhibitions, mainly in the Netherlands. In 2010, Nika won the New Sensations competition hosted by London's Saatchi Gallery with her installation Principles of Obedience. According to the terms of this prestigious competition, all graduates of art universities in the country are admitted to it. But from the numerous applicants at the first stage, the 20 best are selected, whose works are exhibited at the art fair in London. And only four winners receive a grant for the creation of new projects. After the victory, she received many interesting offers, she had a personal exhibition in London.
Her work has also been shown at exhibitions in Basel, Switzerland, Paris, Lithuania and Germany. The Principles of Obedience and another work were purchased for the Saatchi Gallery. And the rest went to private collections.
Marina was born in Leningrad. During the war, her mother volunteered for the front, abandoning her dreams of education, and participated in the most brutal battles, defending her homeland. Born in 1947, she adored the baby, supported and tried not to deny her anything.
Marina grew up as a calm and enthusiastic girl. At the age of four, having met with ballet, she literally fell in love with it. The future actress will carry the feeling of admiration for the dancing angels through her whole life, but for herself, already at school, she will choose another profession - an actress.
She recalls how she sat in class and dreamed only of the magical world of art, and in her dreams she seemed to be carried away somewhere far from the ordinary Soviet class. It was all the more surprising for her to return to earth when the teacher called her to the blackboard.
In high school, when Neelova chose a profession and voiced her wishes to her mother, she supported her daughter: why? Let him try!
Marina learned the most hackneyed passage from "War and Peace", burning with fear and embarrassment, entered the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinematography and found hundreds of tall, beautiful and slender applicants there.
Dreams
film "An old, old tale" (1968)
The actress with the eternal "ballet" weight - 45 kilograms, still loves to tell how she was shocked by the mere sight of her opponents and at that moment, in the corridor, she decided: she needed to somehow stand out, or she would not be noticed at all!
She read her monologue so heartfelt that the commission considered a dramatic talent in the little girl. Neelova did not disappoint the teachers, very soon gaining the fame of an extraordinary artist.
After graduating from the university, Marina dreamed only of the BDT, but she was ashamed to go there without experience, imagining what would happen to her if Tovstonogov himself refused her ?! I went to the Lenfilm state, dreaming that the great director of the coveted theater would see her on TV and invite her to work.
And indeed, after the "Old, Old Tale" Georgy Aleksandrovich was already ready to make an appointment for the young St. Petersburg artist, but she unexpectedly left for Moscow!
Of course, the actress got to the capital for a reason: on the next set she met the actor Anatoly Vasiliev, who made his debut as a director. An affair began, Vasiliev quickly realized that Neelova was a warm, sweet and sincere woman, and invited him to marry. She agreed without hesitation and went to her husband's place of residence - to Moscow.
Take a hit
Neelova lived with Vasiliev for eight cloudless years. She still remembers him as a delightful man, and with a smile tells that it was with him that she learned to take a punch.
The fact is that the actress has always been considered a person with a very good, flexible and compliant character, but the talented actor and director Vasiliev was not perfect. Temperament and willfulness sometimes slipped into their warm, affectionate relationship.
At first, Marina obeyed, and then she realized that she could stand up for herself - then Anatoly would compromise. This discovery later came in handy for the actress many times in life, on the set, on stage.
Eight years later, the lovers decided to leave. There was no particular reason for this. It's just that the marriage has exhausted itself. However, the actress remained in Moscow.
Scandal
Marina Neyelova was already nearly forty when the news spread around the secular metropolitan crowd: the beauty was having an affair with the young chess genius Garry Kasparov.
He was 21 years old and his mom was obsessed with his career and the string of victories he was winning. She did not want to endure any Neelova, who was 16 years older than her son. However, for some time, the lovers managed to ignore the claims of the worried mother.
The actress introduced her lover to all the highest circles of bohemian youth, to which only she herself had access. He was presented to the most talented people in the capital. They began to recognize him, his name began to appear in the media.
Kasparov lived in Baku, where Neelova never went. But the athlete did not deprive the capital of his attention, each visit appearing on the doorstep of the famous actress. The celebrity union was thwarted by Harry's mom. It seemed to her that her son deserved more.
Nika
Immediately after the break, which thundered as loudly as the beginning of the novel, it turned out that Neyolova was pregnant. Kasparov's mother disowned Marina's pregnancy in the media: “This is not our child,” she explained publicly.
Later in his book, Kasparov will write a few warm words about Marina and that at the age of 21 he was ready to believe that the child was really not from him - by that time each of them had already lived a separate personal life.
The supremely gifted daughter of the actress Nick bears her mother's surname. She is like two drops similar to Garry Kasparov, but neither Neelov nor Kasparov has ever confirmed the chess player's involvement in this child in official sources.
Nika graduated from the London School of Fine Arts, she is engaged in sculpture and receives critical acclaim and significant awards for her work.
Diplomat
Two years after the end of the scandalous relationship, the stay-at-home, who devoted herself to her daughter Marina, was pulled out by friends to an appointment. Her consent to participate in the event turned out to be fatal. It is there that Neelova will meet her fate - diplomat Kirill Gevorkian.
For the next five years, the beauty lived in two countries: Gevorkyan, who soon became her husband, served as an adviser to the Russian embassy in Paris, and Neelova could not leave her theater.
Volchek went to meet her beloved actress, reshaping the schedule for her. Then a joke appeared in theater circles that Neelova was Volchek's wife. However, these were just acting jokes.
In recent years, she still has to go to fetch her husband - now to Paris, now to The Hague ... Now the couple has settled in Moscow, Gevorkyan is waiting for a new appointment, and Neyolova can only guess where they will go next time? And in between expectations to play in his native Sovremennik and delight the viewer with appearances in one or another television projects.
Date of Birth: 04.02.1987
Citizenship: Russia
Nika, your art education began in Russia, where you studied at the courses of the chief artist of Lenkom Oleg Sheintsis. Then she entered the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (2008). What caused your choice, how did you study at the academy?
In the first introductory course at the academy, we studied all types of art - painting, graphics, sculpture, and then everyone chose a certain direction for themselves, got a studio and worked for four years, consulting with teachers. True, many students did not make it to the finish line. In fact, it is very difficult to work on your own. From the very beginning, teachers warned that, as a rule, only 6% of graduates of such art academies subsequently engage in their profession - the rest cannot stand it! We, of course, did not believe the teachers, we were full of enthusiasm and ambition, but now I am really convinced that very few of those with whom I studied in The Hague continue to pursue art.
What motivated you? You were the youngest of all on the course when you entered the class.
Probably, this was one of the motives: to prove to myself that I can work on an equal basis with others, and preferably even better!
Why did you choose installation and sculpture from all the arts?
For me, this choice was unambiguous from the very beginning. I somehow immediately fell in love with space, it was interesting to see and create things in space, in three dimensions. This process intrigued me, made me look for new structures, materials, shapes, sizes.
The installations that you have shown in the Netherlands are huge in size, require large expenditures of materials and, accordingly, serious financial costs. For example, 360 kilograms of burnt sugar was used for one of the installations. Who funded its implementation - college?
No. (Sighs) Me myself. I have always worked in some other jobs, in galleries, translated, wrote articles - and this brought me money, which I used to create my installations.
How do ideas for your work come about?
This is a rather long process of accumulation of everything seen, heard, read over the months, and sometimes over the years. I very often work with my own story, childhood memories.
Please tell us about the installation "There is always a time for departure ...".
This was my last examination paper at the Royal Academy of Arts, a month before moving to London. The long six-year period in my life was coming to an end, there was something new, unknown ahead. I wanted to capture this past stage and the uncertainty of the future. Stepping on the sticky "sensitive" floor, you feel its texture, interact with it, and leave traces. For me, this feeling was unusually exposed and intensified at that transitional moment in my life. The spiral in the installation is like a staircase that, resting against the ceiling, leads either up or down, or to nowhere. The work has many associations with Holland, its history, painting of the XVIX-VIII centuries: dark brown tiles found on Vermeer's canvases, their ocher burnt shades - as a symbol of the past.
How did the idea for burnt sugar come about?
As a child, we always burned sugar on a spoon. This smell for me is both the smell of childhood, and some painful memories, something burned out, which changed its consistency in short moments.
Many of your installations have a philosophical and pessimistic attitude: stairs leading to nowhere, bells that will never sound ...
Basically, they respond to a sense of loss - of childhood, history, time. Many of my works are based on personal experience.
It so happened that I moved a lot - every five years, and childhood memories of losses are associated with this. I lost one city - gained another, lost one life -
acquired another. It was a constant cycle of impermanence - I always knew that I was coming on time. This temporality and fragility somehow took root in me, it is interesting for me to reflect on this in my works. After moving to London, this topic has changed, I focus more on the idea of ruins and the restoration of history from memory, with the accompanying distortions of the past.
How was the installation Attitudes to a Miss? Created?
- I showed the Swing in The Hague, in a rather strange cathedral with ten-meter ceilings. I went back there for a very short time, after moving to London, just to do this installation. It was a kind of moment of returning to the past, and I wanted to convey a quick reaction to this room, and to my feeling of anachronism between the past and the present. A swing for me is, first of all, a childhood memory, and it is a very specific, real swing, a kind of iconic picture in my memory. I decided to reproduce the swing in a large size in the cathedral. The material was old boards from a destroyed house, and I attached new chains to the swing - as a connection between the past and the present.
How was your life in London? Why did you choose Slade School of Fine Art?
It is one of the top art universities in the UK. While still living in the Netherlands, I sent my documents to Slade - to be honest, not hoping for anything. Thousands submit documents, and 40 people are selected for interviews. And when I suddenly received an invitation for an interview, I realized that something was happening. This admission was for me, probably, the most unexpected and greatest achievement in my life.
After graduating from university, you took part in the "New Sensations" competition held by the Saatchi Gallery among graduates of art universities in the country, and became the winner ...
I took part in the competition out of despair. After graduation, I had no job, no studio, and my British visa was running out. Applying for the competition, I didn't really expect anything, and only when I entered the top twenty out of a thousand, and then got into the first four, I had hope, and I began to work like crazy. Installation with bells (Principles of Obedience, 2010) is by far one of the most difficult and interesting for me. As in working with trees upside down (The Grove, 2010), I wanted to show something that is hidden from view, but is of great importance in the life of the subject. I cast the bell tongues from wax mixed with ash - they lost all their acoustic properties and could no longer fulfill their main function. Obedience to the removed bells, which will never ring again, but only remind of something that could have been. I'm interested in taking things out of their natural environment and placing them in a completely different context in which they create a rather unusual strange impression.
Your mother, Marina Neyolova, is one of the most beloved actresses in Russia. Have you ever had the urge to become an actress?
No, it was not. Mom beat them off (laughs) when I was still at the age of three. I didn't know how to speak yet, but I knew that I would not become an actress!
And in your father's footsteps, in your diplomatic career, did you want to try yourself?
I have always really enjoyed playing the role of the daughter of a diplomat ... and over the years I have seen and learned a lot. But, as it seems to me now, I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to do some kind of art. Over time, the realization came that it would be a sculpture.
What happens to your installations after the exhibitions?
My works are basically the embodiment of the moment of presence. Usually they are captured at the moment of a protracted disintegration or just before the disintegration - on the verge of disappearing in the presence of the viewer. Of course, their lives are short-lived. But this is precisely their essence - to convey the temporality of life, the fear of disappearance, death. Until now, installations have been successfully bought, but what will happen next ...
Who are the buyers?
The installation Principles of Obedience was purchased by Saatchi for the gallery's collection and is now in his warehouse. A charcoal chandelier was bought for a private collection in London, mirrors ("Prophecies for the Past") from the exhibition "The Future Can Wait" are now being acquired by a collector, and inverted trees ("The Grove") were commissioned for a park in the Netherlands. So far, all the work is going somewhere, but I'm already starting to think about what needs to be done something more permanent.
What are your plans for the future?
I was lucky that lately I received three art awards in a row, and also sold three installations. This year I will have two solo exhibitions: in April at the Charlie Smith Gallery in London, and also in Berlin. This is my first experience of solo exhibitions, so I feel a huge tension and responsibility.
Your instalations are usually quite large, which, in turn, requires large studio spaces for their implementation. Where are you currently working?
I rent a small workshop. It's too small to do more than two jobs at the same time, so I'm looking for another room now.
Perhaps the fact that you speak several foreign languages helps to live in such a cosmopolitan city as London? What languages do you speak?
French, Dutch, Russian, English. Now I am studying Italian.
What is your perception of London from an artist's point of view?
Since my first visit to London in 2006, I have dreamed of living in this city. London shocked me, struck me with its extremely close coexistence of history and modernity, its dynamics. This city makes me want to create something, to respond to what I see, feel, experience here.
Marina Mstislavovna Neyelova has been an actress for the past 40 years, performing equally well in theatrical productions and on the set. The artist is incredibly in demand. She plays even in her old age in several productions. A new movie will be released soon, in which the woman played one of the main roles.
Family has always been in the first place for the artist. In the harsh 90s of the last century, for the sake of her husband and daughter, Marina leaves theater and cinema. She becomes the keeper of the home, providing comfort to her family. Upon her return, it turns out that fans were waiting for her new roles. The artist rewarded the admirers of her talent with various films and performances, allowing them to see her from different angles.
Height, weight, age. How old is Marina Neyelova
After the debut, they started talking about the young, promising artist. She had fans, whose number grew relentlessly. They know all the data about the star, including height, weight, age, how old is Marina Neyolova.
It's easy to find out the age of the actress. To do this, you can make simple arithmetic calculations in your mind, knowing the date of the woman's birth. Marina Mstislavovna Neyelova was born in 1947, after calculations it becomes clear that she is at the age of 70.
Marina Neyelova, a photo in her youth and now which attracts the attention of her many fans, has a weight of 68 kg with a height of 165 cm. For her age, the artist is in excellent physical shape.
Biography of Marina Neyelova
The girl was born in the city on the Neva a year and a half after the Great Patriotic War. Father always disappeared at work, and in the infrequent hours of rest, he painted pictures and hung them around the apartment. Mother - Valentina Nikolaevna developed the girl, encouraging all her desires. At the age of 4, Marina began to dance ballet. Still, dramatic art prevailed. Without any problems, yesterday's high school graduate enters a theater institute in her hometown. After receiving the certificate, the girl starred in the "Old, Old Tale", which was appreciated by viewers and professionals.
The biography of Marina Neyelova soon continues in the capital of the Soviet Union. After working for only a few months at the Yuri Zavadsky Theater, the actress, at the invitation of Konstantin Raikin, moves to the famous Moscow Sovremennik Theater. Since that time, she has been playing on his stage. There was no desire to leave the scene that had already become native.
Filmography: films starring Marina Neyelova
The filmography of the popular actress includes a large number of various works in cinema. For example, the audience fell in love with her in "Autumn Marathon", "Carousel", "Ladies invite cavaliers" and others.
In the 90s of the last century, the star of Soviet cinema was filmed much less. At this time, she begins to devote all her time to her beloved people. Marina Neyolova's husband is a diplomat. With him, the artist lived in Paris for several years. In the late 2000s, the husband went to the Netherlands as an ambassador. The artist went with him, only occasionally arriving and performing on the stage of her beloved Sovremennik.
Currently, Marina Neyelova plays in several productions at the same time. She is currently filming a new movie.
Personal life Marina Neyelova
The film actress married twice, each time for great love. The details of this have been of interest to journalists for a long time.
For the first time, Marina Neyolova married a colleague in the artistic department. For 8 years, the popular actress and her husband were often on the set separately from each other. In the end, the actors decided to divorce so as not to burden each other.
Personal life Marina Neyolova for a number of years ran in parallel with the famous chess king Garry Kasparov. Lovers often came together to various events. After a short time, the artist became pregnant, but the chess player said that he had nothing to do with the child. Until now, Marina Neyelova and Garry Kasparov have not revealed the secret of the birth of the girl. Former lovers do not communicate to date.
Currently Marina Neyolova is very happy. Her husband serves in the embassies of the Russian Federation in one or another European countries.
The family of Marina Neyolova
The family of Marina Neyolova consists of her beloved spouse and daughter Nika. A woman, despite being busy in theatrical performances, devotes a lot of time to her family and friends. In the 90s, the actress left for several years with her husband to France, where the man works in a diplomatic mission.
Neelova's parents had nothing to do with theater and cinema. Who the father worked, nobody knows. In his spare time, he was engaged in painting. The mother was a housewife and was engaged in raising her daughter.
Children of Marina Neyolova
Marina Neyelova became a mother only once, having given birth to a daughter, Nika. Until now, no one knows who is her father. According to rumors, the famous chess player Garry Kasparov became the girl's father. But the man himself denies this.
The children of Marina Neyelova are her two god sons, who are already quite old. They have their own families, in which children were born. The godchildren often call the actress, invite her to family holidays.
The actress considers her roles to be her children, each of which she loves. A woman cannot name her most important work, they are all equal for her.
Daughter Marina Neyolova - Nika
In the mid-80s of the last century, the popular artist gave birth to her only daughter. She named her Nika. The actress herself hides who her father is.
Daughter Marina Neyolova - Nika, together with her mother and stepfather, lived in France for several years. She is incredibly talented. Knows French, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.
Currently, the girl is a famous artist. She has already received several awards at various specialized events.
Nika recently met a young man whom she is going to marry in the near future. But his name is carefully hidden.
Former husband of Marina Neelova - Anatoly Vasiliev
The former spouse was born in the harsh pre-war years. Since childhood, he has shown himself to be a talented person. He read poetry perfectly, played in the performances of the school theater, which determined his fate. During his student years, he played in several films, after which his name became known to every resident of the Soviet Union.
The ex-husband of Marina Neyelova, Anatoly Vasiliev, met a girl in the early 70s of the last century. After the candy-bouquet period, the lovers got married. After a few years, the couple decided to leave.
Vasiliev, after parting with his wife, began to live with another star of Soviet cinema - Iya Savvina. The actors officially registered just a few days before Iya's death. After the funeral, Anatoly lives with his wife's son, Sergei, who suffers from an incurable disease.
Marina Neyolova's husband - Kirill Gevorgyan
In the mid-80s of the last century, the popular theater and film actress was vacationing in Italy. There she met an imposing man who began to show her attention. Without noticing it, Marina and Kirill talked until morning. The second time they met in Neyolova's native Sovremennik. After that, the lovers began to live together. After a year of living together, they got married. Marina Neyolova's husband, Kirill Gevorgyan, officially adopted the actress's daughter. She considers him her real father.
In the mid-90s, the husband worked in France. The actress left all business and went with her husband.
Currently, the man works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Despite being busy, Kirill still invites his wife to a romantic dinner. She believes that she was very lucky in this life, because their paths could never cross.
Instagram and Wikipedia Marina Neyelova
Nowadays, it is difficult to find a person who does not use social networks. The artist is a completely modern woman who is registered on many social networks. Instagram and Wikipedia Marina Neyolova allow you to find out the most detailed information about the life and work of a woman, her personal life.
Wikipedia tells in detail about the star of the Soviet and Russian cinema. But the page on Instagram, according to the actress, is maintained by her best friend, who posts photos of Neelova taken at different moments of her life. Here you can see videos from films in which the actress participated.
Last year Nika Neelova graduated from the sculpture department of the London Slade School of Fine Art. Perhaps this fact would have gone unnoticed in the art world if Nick had not won the New Sensations Prize. This annual competition, run by Saatchi Gallery and British Television Fourth, brings together thousands of UK art alumni. So the victory of Neelova is a serious recognition of the talent of the sculptor, who is just starting his career, and a great start on the way to conquering the London art market. Before moving to the British capital, Nika, along with her father, diplomat Kirill Gevorgyan and her mother, the famous actress Marina Neyolova, first lived in Paris for five years, then (in the late 1990s) the family returned to Russia. In 2003, Gevorgyan was appointed Russian ambassador to the Netherlands. In The Hague, 16-year-old Nika entered the Royal Academy of Arts - becoming, by the way, the youngest applicant in her history. And now - London, a victory in the competition "New Sensations", on the way - a personal exhibition in the gallery Charlie Smith ...
Nika, your art education began in Russia, where you studied at the courses of the chief artist of Lenkom Oleg Sheintsis. Then she entered the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (2008). What caused your choice, how did you study at the academy?
In the first introductory course at the academy, we studied all types of art - painting, graphics, sculpture, and then everyone chose a certain direction for themselves, got a studio and worked for four years, consulting with teachers. True, many students did not make it to the finish line. In fact, it is very difficult to work on your own. From the very beginning, teachers warned that, as a rule, only 6% of graduates of such art academies subsequently engage in their profession - the rest cannot stand it! We, of course, did not believe the teachers, we were full of enthusiasm and ambition, but now I am really convinced that very few of those with whom I studied in The Hague continue to pursue art.
What motivated you? You were the youngest of all on the course when you entered the class.
Probably, this was one of the motives: to prove to myself that I can work on an equal basis with others, and preferably even better!
Why did you choose installation and sculpture from all the arts?
For me, this choice was unambiguous from the very beginning. I somehow immediately fell in love with space, it was interesting to see and create things in space, in three dimensions. This process intrigued me, made me look for new structures, materials, shapes, sizes.
The installations that you have shown in the Netherlands are huge in size, require large expenditures of materials and, accordingly, serious financial costs. For example, 360 kilograms of burnt sugar was used for one of the installations. Who funded its implementation - college?
No. (Sighs) Me myself. I have always worked in some other jobs, in galleries, translated, wrote articles - and this brought me money, which I used to create my installations.
How do ideas for your work come about?
This is a rather long process of accumulation of everything seen, heard, read over the months, and sometimes over the years. I very often work with my own story, childhood memories.
Please tell us about the installation "There is always a time for departure ...".
This was my last examination paper at the Royal Academy of Arts, a month before moving to London. The long six-year period in my life was coming to an end, there was something new, unknown ahead. I wanted to capture this past stage and the uncertainty of the future. Stepping on the sticky "sensitive" floor, you feel its texture, interact with it, and leave traces. For me, this feeling was unusually exposed and intensified at that transitional moment in my life. The spiral in the installation is like a staircase that, resting against the ceiling, leads either up or down, or to nowhere. The work has many associations with Holland, its history, painting of the XVIX-VIII centuries: dark brown tiles found on Vermeer's canvases, their ocher burnt shades - as a symbol of the past.
How did the idea for burnt sugar come about?
As a child, we always burned sugar on a spoon. This smell for me is both the smell of childhood, and some painful memories, something burned out, which changed its consistency in short moments.
Many of your installations have a philosophical and pessimistic attitude: stairs leading to nowhere, bells that will never sound ...
Basically, they respond to a sense of loss - of childhood, history, time. Many of my works are based on personal experience.
It so happened that I moved a lot - every five years, and childhood memories of losses are associated with this. I lost one city - gained another, lost one life -
acquired another. It was a constant cycle of impermanence - I always knew that I was coming on time. This temporality and fragility somehow took root in me, it is interesting for me to reflect on this in my works. After moving to London, this topic has changed, I focus more on the idea of ruins and the restoration of history from memory, with the accompanying distortions of the past.
How was the installation Attitudes to a Miss? Created?
- I showed the Swing in The Hague, in a rather strange cathedral with ten-meter ceilings. I went back there for a very short time, after moving to London, just to do this installation. It was a kind of moment of returning to the past, and I wanted to convey a quick reaction to this room, and to my feeling of anachronism between the past and the present. A swing for me is, first of all, a childhood memory, and it is a very specific, real swing, a kind of iconic picture in my memory. I decided to reproduce the swing in a large size in the cathedral. The material was old boards from a destroyed house, and I attached new chains to the swing - as a connection between the past and the present.
How was your life in London? Why did you choose Slade School of Fine Art?
It is one of the top art universities in the UK. While still living in the Netherlands, I sent my documents to Slade - to be honest, not hoping for anything. Thousands submit documents, and 40 people are selected for interviews. And when I suddenly received an invitation for an interview, I realized that something was happening. This admission was for me, probably, the most unexpected and greatest achievement in my life.
After graduating from university, you took part in the "New Sensations" competition held by the Saatchi Gallery among graduates of art universities in the country, and became the winner ...
I took part in the competition out of despair. After graduation, I had no job, no studio, and my British visa was running out. Applying for the competition, I didn't really expect anything, and only when I entered the top twenty out of a thousand, and then got into the first four, I had hope, and I began to work like crazy. Installation with bells (Principles of Obedience, 2010) is by far one of the most difficult and interesting for me. As in working with trees upside down (The Grove, 2010), I wanted to show something that is hidden from view, but is of great importance in the life of the subject. I cast the bell tongues from wax mixed with ash - they lost all their acoustic properties and could no longer fulfill their main function. Obedience to the removed bells, which will never ring again, but only remind of something that could have been. I'm interested in taking things out of their natural environment and placing them in a completely different context in which they create a rather unusual strange impression.
Your mother, Marina Neyolova, is one of the most beloved actresses in Russia. Have you ever had the urge to become an actress?
No, it was not. Mom beat them off (laughs) when I was still at the age of three. I didn't know how to speak yet, but I knew that I would not become an actress!
And in your father's footsteps, in your diplomatic career, did you want to try yourself?
I have always really enjoyed playing the role of the daughter of a diplomat ... and over the years I have seen and learned a lot. But, as it seems to me now, I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to do some kind of art. Over time, the realization came that it would be a sculpture.
What happens to your installations after the exhibitions?
My works are basically the embodiment of the moment of presence. Usually they are captured at the moment of a protracted disintegration or just before the disintegration - on the verge of disappearing in the presence of the viewer. Of course, their lives are short-lived. But this is precisely their essence - to convey the temporality of life, the fear of disappearance, death. Until now, installations have been successfully bought, but what will happen next ...
Who are the buyers?
The installation Principles of Obedience was purchased by Saatchi for the gallery's collection and is now in his warehouse. A charcoal chandelier was bought for a private collection in London, mirrors ("Prophecies for the Past") from the exhibition "The Future Can Wait" are now being acquired by a collector, and inverted trees ("The Grove") were commissioned for a park in the Netherlands. So far, all the work is going somewhere, but I'm already starting to think about what needs to be done something more permanent.
What are your plans for the future?
I was lucky that lately I received three art awards in a row, and also sold three installations. This year I will have two solo exhibitions: in April at the Charlie Smith Gallery in London, and also in Berlin. This is my first experience of solo exhibitions, so I feel a huge tension and responsibility.
Your installations tend to be large in size, which in turn requires large studio spaces to complete. Where are you currently working?
I rent a small workshop. It's too small to do more than two jobs at the same time, so I'm looking for another room now.
Perhaps the fact that you speak several foreign languages helps to live in such a cosmopolitan city as London? What languages do you speak?
French, Dutch, Russian, English. Now I am studying Italian.
What is your perception of London from an artist's point of view?
Since my first visit to London in 2006, I have dreamed of living in this city. London shocked me, struck me with its extremely close coexistence of history and modernity, its dynamics. This city makes me want to create something, to respond to what I see, feel, experience here.
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