In Russia we have this sort of English
dream where like I know that a lot of
people want to go to America but in Russia
everybody is keen about England about the
traditions, culture, music, and everything.
I was studying how to draw paintings and
pictures and one of the sort of
movements in art that we were studying
were impressionist and expressionist, and
I realised that I am really
interested in that, about it, because it
was not just sort of the technique of
the art, it was also the soul and the
interest of the artist. So from there I
realise that I'm really interested in
the history, the biography of the artist
himself, and then I decided to study
history of art to realise what is art,
what is so unique about it and why one
painting is different from another, and in
what way. I decided to study history
of art in the University of Birmingham
mainly because of the Barber Institute of
Fine Arts which is the gallery in which I
am now; and I found it's really great when
you have a gallery near you so whenever
you want you can come up and look at the
paintings, and particularly in the
first year we had lectures that were in
the gallery, so whenever you need it you
can come up and again look at the
painting and the lecturer was giving you
some examples based on the painting. And
I also like the way of teaching here and
the modules we had. It was not just a
plain biography of their artist, it was
also the what art critics thinks about
it and the critical reading and
everything, so you sort of could make
your own opinion about the painting. As
part of my degree I had an opportunity
to go to Italy and this was one of the
most amazing things because I get to
know other cultures, other way of living,
I had a lot of international friends now
which are great because they're all
amazing and interesting people and also
the galleries and the art they have there
were different from English which is
amazing as for me as being a history of art
student. I'm on my final year of university so
I'm looking for a job in London and in
Birmingham that would be connected with
art somehow or working in the museum's
for example; because my ideal plan for
the future is to open a gallery and find
new talents and sort of show them to the world.
