I was born in Tashkent where it’s too hot to love the sun, so I like St. Petersburg with its rainy weather. I drew since I was a kid, in a way it's like a birthmark meaning an inherent propensity for creative thinking. As a kid I visited an art room, then went to a junior painting school but that was it as far as my formal art education is concerned. By nature I am inclined to self teaching and experimentation. All the same, I gained the social status of an artist having joined in 1989 the Association of Independent Painters. Since then I regularly participate in various exhibitions. I would describe my painting as experimental despite the fairly traditional technique. Being self-taught, often I have to reinvent the wheel but then I am able to venture off road at times...