Marina Davydova

No matter how fast you move towards your goal,

 the main thing is not to stop

Confucius,

ancient thinker and philosopher of China, 551 - 479 BC

With this motto, the artist Marina Nikolaevna Davydova goes through life.

She was born into a family of teachers on May 27, 1972, in a working settlement in the Altai Krai, where she spent her childhood years. Kuzbass became a second homeland for the artist, where her youth passed. She now lives in the Moscow suburb city of Khimki.

A passion for creativity appeared in her childhood. Drawing with school chalk on the wardrobes in her childhood room, she believed that everything is "within reach," that if you really want something, it will definitely work out. The artist carefully preserves this childhood faith in herself and in human abilities and carries it through life to this day, inspiring everyone with her inexhaustible energy and optimism. 

In 2021, Marina graduated from the art school of OCHUDPO "School of Drawing and Painting" in Moscow and is currently a member of the Eurasian Art Union. She collaborates with various creative artist associations in Russia, participating in their projects. 

She is a versatile artist, skilled in many techniques and constantly searching and experimenting. Therefore, her works are diverse and multifaceted. Her interests range from animalistic art to portraits and genre scenes, often using both painting and graphic techniques. But the artist’s favorite medium is oil in all its forms, whether oil paints or oil pastels. Even in graphics, she uses oil, promoting and refining the Dry Brush technique.

"Dry Brush is an amazing technique that can very well be used for teaching drawing in art schools and universities. With its help, one can study and practice tonal relationships and 'train the eye'," says the artist, who successfully applies this technique in her master classes to engage and introduce beginners to drawing.

 The artist’s paintings are a kind of invitation to a conversation; they contain ideas, and each viewer can interpret their meaning in their own way. 

"For me, an artist is a philosopher; he strives not only to depict the world with the means available to him but also to try to understand it. He enters into a dialogue with the viewer and with himself every time he conceives a project and takes up the brush. He is a conversational partner inviting you to join the discussion. He asks questions and tries to answer them himself, creating a field for reflection," says the artist.

 Thus, the painting "Contact" is a reflection on the evolutionary status and development of humanity, an invitation to a conversation about self-identification and self-awareness of the Homo sapiens species, about the awareness of the macrocosm itself as a living substance, and about the possibility of connections and communication among all beings. This painting is interpreted differently by different viewers. The flight of viewers’ imagination amazes with its variety. Some see a Vedic Goddess in this painting, while others see the Mother Universe and her child Earth, describing the energy of love and light. 

"The truth is that it is the viewer who gives life to the creation, endowing it with their energy. And every version is a truth..." says Marina.

 The painting "Evolution. The Backup Path" depicts a monkey wearing glasses at a computer. Behind it are shelves with books, a clock, a musical instrument — all things that help us understand that before us is a quite intelligent being.  Not only humans evolve, but animals do as well; evolution runs in parallel. If in the course of our life activity we come to a sad end, then our lesser brothers will take our place," explains the artist the meaning of the work. Later, she painted another work: "Evolution. Dead End," which shows a man with a bottle of vodka and empty shelves behind him, symbolizing the senselessness of his lifestyle.This series of works in no way diminishes human abilities. On the contrary, Marina is convinced that each of us can achieve great success if we move in the right direction.

 She spoke about this in the painting "The Road Will Be Mastered by the Walking." It depicts a snail crawling through space toward Saturn. "This is a motivating painting. The road is thorny and winding, but with small steps, you can reach even another planet," says Marina, "you can learn and create anywhere and at any age. Not everything is done immediately. A person comes into this world unable to walk, ride a bike, or even speak. But he masters all this. There is no need to be afraid — it is a normal state when you don’t know how to do something. The meaning of our life is to move forward and evolve in every segment of the time allotted to us. Isn’t that so?"

Journalist Anastasia Vinogradova