Anna Tagantseva’s works are almost mythological – her characters seem to come out of ancient tales, and her abstract paintings depict a disembodied spirit. The combination of many techniques and forms in her works never feels overloaded, and even flirting with lubok images looks modern.
Your projects are multidisciplinary, with both augmented reality and conventional painting as mediums. Is this nature of your work important to you?
I have had several projects with augmented reality. At the same time, it is not my main technique. In projects with augmented reality I was interested in expanding the field of painting and combining it with digital objects. Besides, the themes of those projects correlated with digital space.
But in general I have many works where there is no such superstructure and painting exists in the classical field. Just like with objects or installations. Nowadays, it seems to me that all art objects are hybrid to a greater or lesser extent: painting can turn into sculpture, and graphics or performance can be integrated into an installation.
Are there any themes that run through all your work? Where do you draw inspiration from?
I think I take inspiration, like everyone else, from the things that surround me. I notice some nuances and ideas (sometimes misconceptions and utopias) and incorporate them into my work.
In terms of ideas, yes, I definitely have a spectrum of themes that I am constantly working with and that move from work to work, merging and complementing each other.
You have participated a lot in group and individual exhibition and fair projects. Can you please share some advice for emerging artists – how best to build communication with art institutions?
I think it’s important to be consistent and realize that people like you work everywhere. And, of course, to be polite, to work on the quality of your work and to think ahead. It is also important not to be afraid of rejection and to try something new.
What projects are you working on now?
There is a lot of administrative work at my GALLERY 19, where I act as a curator.
I’m also preparing a big solo exhibition and have a few group projects in mind. I also have a digital project that I did for Garage Digital (the platform of the Garage Museum), but due to certain circumstances I never showed it. So I plan to present it soon.
What is your dream project?
I have several projects that I dream of realizing, of varying degrees of complexity. Among the nearest ones that I plan for this year is a landscape series that I want to write in Plyos, where many painters worked. In general, it is interesting now to modernize the landscape and try to work with it somehow, strange as it may seem. Perhaps even combine it somehow with other objects.
