Capital Painting: A Tilburg Alumna Creates Pieces of Arts, Inspired by Overhaul

An alumna of Tilburg University, Yana Yarovikova was inspired by buildings that were being renovated and created a series of paintings called Capital Painting. In the beginning, bright colours of the renewed buildings had attracted Yana - she realised that it was quite hard to paint them as bright as they were in real life. Then she contacted the overhaul fund responsible for that renovation to get answers. Read her interview to know how she created these wonderful paintings! 

Sometimes - surprisingly - the overhaul of residential buildings inspires the townspeople. Thus, a young artist from Russia decided to create a cycle of paintings dedicated to the transformation of high-rise buildings. 

The art project called "Capital Painting" appeared all of a sudden when a Muscovite Yana Yarovikova got interested in the new look of skyscrapers in the Kapotnya area of Moscow. The lady decided to repeat the colours in which the high-rise buildings were painted in her works, but the complexity of the shades made her wonder how they turned out to be so bright on the houses. So Yana came to the Fund for Capital Repairs for answers to her questions.

"I was very happy to help with the project," Yana says. "Usually at work from graphics, I deal only with drawings and projects, but here are pictures and sketches. I must say right away that I did not touch on the artistic part."

"Yana asked questions regarding the technical part, and I was happy to give answers to them," said Evgeny Chuishchev who is the head of the technical policy department of the Fund for Capital Repair of Moscow.  "Now we communicate twice a week, together we come up with interesting angles for her paintings. In general, it is great to realise that our work is noticeable, that new facades please Muscovites. And the fact what they inspire young artists is doubly pleasant.

In addition to full-fledged paintings, Yana draws sketches. To do this, she visits houses where work is still in progress in order to convey the process of an overhaul on canvases as realistic as possible.

"Since 2014, I have noticed how Moscow started changing. In addition to the fact that the government was engaged in working on historical objects, they also began to actively restore the housing stock. As a colourist, I am interested in unusual, complex colours. These are exactly what the outskirts lacked," the artist shared.

Today Ms Yarovikova is completing the first series of her works. An exhibition of her paintings is planned to open in mid-December in the building of the capital's mayor's office. But the artist admits that her work is a gift to Muscovites for the New Year. Therefore, the plans are to move the exposure to online mode so that it is available to everyone.

This article was created with the support of Vechernyaia Moskva newspaper.