Currently based in Berlin, emergent Russian artist Anna Nezhnaya addresses contemporary trends and motifs through the creation of her works. By moving fluidly between painting and neon modelling, she aims to give a voice to an imaginary world without binding herself to a single medium or means of expression. The abstractions of the mind reach tangibility, at times through the touch of the brush on the canvas, at others through the winking artificial colours provided by flashing lights.

A lively interest in the digital world and the sense of virtuality that pervades and influences our present typifies her practice, and serves as an inspiration to give unrestrained vent to her creative spirit. More than for an aesthetic factor, but for an emotional impact, the Internet, in fact, appears as a constant subject in her pieces.

An inclination towards other disciplines such as fashion and photography also informs her approach, giving rise to spontaneous but at the same time motivational collaborations. Therefore, openness and experimentation emerge as primary sources of her working process and take towards art.

Would you like to give us an overview of your artistic practice and introduce us to the essential aspects while realising your pieces?

Within my artistic practice, I am developing narratives of the imaginary world, where the transformations of the female go wild. For me, this is a grotesque metaphor of the modern-day femme fatale with its inner demons, idealisation and sexuality. It is about danger, fear, redefinitions and self-determination.

What are the sources of inspiration, and which artists or creatives, in general, do you feel most connected to?

The first and unlimited source of inspiration for me is literature like James Joyce’s Ulysses or The Metamorphoses of Ovid. And of course, I never stop exploring Internet trends: I love how nowadays the real world is mixing with the virtual dimension and art itself in the post Internet age flows between reality and virtual reality.

How did you start to approach neon as media, and what is its potential according to your vision?

My method of producing art has changed precisely in the year of lockdown because a very close friend of mine and curator, Noelia Gaite-Gallardo, approached me by proposing to do a duo show in a young gallery. She pushed me to develop a new method of creating neons, which I always wanted to try, but I never dared. Eventually, I did. The goal was to realise neons starting from hand drawings I produced within the Notes app on my iPhone. These uncertain and weird lines have their new specification in the neon glass. It looks truly unusual, I think.

Photography and fashion seem to be two fundamental fields embedded in your practice, as we can perceive from the visual material delineating your feature for Coeval. Would you like to tell us how the collaboration with photographer Vladislav Sinchuk and designer Litichevskaya came about and what is the primary purpose of this association?

I love the idea of the collaboration itself; it helps to generate and develop a vision together. Vladislav Sinchuk, a young photographer and filmmaker from St. Petersburg, spent a day in my studio catching the lights of neon and the November sun with his camera - an old-school but at the same time unique medium. I also believe that these colourful outfits by the talented Berlin fashion designer Litichevskaya fit, at best, the scenario of this photoset. I felt completely free, comfortable and joyful during the shooting.

How do you see your work developing in the future, and what are your upcoming projects?

I am very excited to announce my upcoming solo show opening on 11.12.21 at ForA Gallery in Berlin, where I will present a few of my most recent neon works alongside new paintings. For me, it is a big step forward as I have been focusing on various techniques for a while now, trying to consider all my pieces as a whole, a common and united body of works, no matter what medium - neon or lacquer, or oil - is implied for their creation.