The charm in the moonlight makes it the most admirable in the night sky. To own that kind of magic one must be unique and build an aura with originality and love. The unprecedented beauty of being the only one to own the variation of work is a task for the extremely talented and determined. Composing new alternatives to bridge the gap between creativity and standing out to be noticed is a very important and difficult task to accomplish.
Someone who has truly worked to identify the relevance of being unique is Valentina Alexeevna, a Russian artist based out in the UAE. Valentina lives through the eyes and the world of a doll. She is a visual artist who works in a variety of mediums. Her art explores identity, femininity, and energy visualisation. She often paints dolls and creates abstract mixed media art. She encompasses vibrant colours, solid shapes and a focus on aesthetics with elements of glitz, where perfection is essential. United with circles, squares, 3D elements and childlike motifs.
She stays away from trends and follows her vision and embraces the unfound differences in art and complexity. Addressing a trend, she prefers going in the opposite direction has it gives her the benefit of not being one in the crowd. She loves her style of being unique and original and enjoys challenging herself to make an impactful difference.
Valentina has a novel take on the aim of her artworks, on being asked she revealed her thoughts by quoting, "I live through the eyes and the world of a doll. My dolls are an extension of me, and their world is my inner reality, they represent my essence and help me explore, express and embrace my true self. My dolls are personified indirect self-portraits and dollified mini girls with enlarged baby schema features, referring to facial proportions found in infants. These features amplify doll’s cuteness and youthfulness, to signify a deep appreciation for the delicate feminine nature of women. My dolls are inspired by children illustration, kawaii culture and Blythe dolls." Her divergent take on the kind of art she portrays is discrete and new.
She was always passionate about art, however, she pursued business from The University of Leicester, U.K. for many years before coming to art. She learned fine art in the form of private tutoring, from artists from the Fine Art Society of Moscow and became an artist by profession in 2017. She started teaching workshops for kids and adults as she got back to Dubai, the place she was brought up in and the city that kept her inspired and motivated her art career. This career path took off very quickly as she created signature workshops with her own techniques, which was completely new, and nobody had taught before. She worked and spread her knowledge and views of art and technique in almost all art schools in Dubai, various festivals and was the main art teacher at World Art Dubai in 2019. Meanwhile, Valentina was working on her new art series and have now left teaching to focus and give more time to her creative ideas and art. She exhibited her work across the UAE, including Maker Fair and World Art Dubai exhibitions as a solo artist. This was an impeccable achievement and a milestone to the blooming career of the Dubai Doll. Yayoi Kusama and Jeff Koons are her inspirations for their art, persistence and success.
She experiences immense happiness and pride in the fact that she had been asked to exhibit and run almost all the art workshops at World Art Dubai in 2019. She further says, "This was definitely a major achievement, considering I am a self-taught artist." She also shares her experience working with WAD, "In the previous years, the wonderful WAD team has always worked with large art centres and many different artists, while last year they chose a single art teacher. It was a wonderful experience for me and a big responsibility to deliver excellent workshops!" This reflects on the huge potential and talent Valentina possess as an artist and a teacher. Her dedication and hard work have gifted her a chain of memories and achievements to celebrate along with new work relationships and one-of-a-kind experiences.
She believes, art enables us to see and beyond this reality, it opens creativity, intuition and feelings. These are very important for any career path hence art plays a crucial role in a student's life. Enabling them with the liberty of exploring what is boundless will teach them lessons of decision making and creativity at the same time. Exploring ideas yet to be explored is an accomplishment you should encourage children to aim.
"Artists should make it a priority to learn everything about the art world and how it works. Speaking with artists and curators is the best, to gain this understanding." This is a very thoughtful message Valentina wants to share with other artists.
We at ARTOZE encourage and highly appreciate such actions where artists come forward to stand along with the other fellow community members to share their experiences, views and knowledge through "Inspire and Empower", a series By the Artists, For the Artists in association with ARTOZE Gallery and Exhibitions.