photography EMMIE AMERICA for Vogue Russia, June 2021

Born to a painter father in a Russian family, living in the rural environment of a village which once had just 200 people, Alisa Gorshenina takes us into the world of - as she calls it - Huarealism.

Alisa’s works have been exhibited in multiple galleries, that have exposed her various mediums highlighting the concepts and notions of her self expressions.

“I wasn't brought up much, I think I was more formed freely, by myself. I started doing art since early childhood, when I was 4 or 5 years old, I was already quite consciously thinking that I would never get tired of drawing.”

In addition to drawing, she is fond of modeling. With her siblings she often performed home-made theatrical productions for the adult family members;

“I think such creative moments have greatly influenced me.”

The artworks revolve around her personal story, focusing on her childhood as they often include images of her past, or recently developed fantasies;

“For example, sometimes I turn to the different cultures of my country. In the project ‘Russian Alienated’ you can see images of the Ural village and various hints at the Slavic culture – all these images were taken during my childhood, which, as I said, passed in the village.”

Surrounded by wooden carved houses and women in beautiful bright scarves referencing the Turkic fashion, in the project ‘Granddaughter of the Tamerlane’ she refers to the culture of the Republic of Bashkortostan, as she presumes to have Bashkir roots.

In the project ‘samoiskusstvlenie’ (self-art), she talks about the close connection between her and her works;

“I show how over time I began to interact with the works and began to create more and more wearable art intended only for me, since the image I created works only in direct connection with the creator.”

In this project, by addressing the human body through her personal history of acceptance and illnesses, she also raises the subject of physicality.

The political culture of Russia concerns her directly and is part of her life, but she seldom reflects on such topic in her works, as if she wishes to escape it through her art, serving as a shelter. She says

“Politically directed public statements exist in parallel with my art. I reserve myself the right to separate the real world and the one that I create with my own hands with the help of art. Although sometimes of course these worlds connect. I studied at the art school for four years, then the Art Institute in Nizhny Tagil (current residency) and received a higher art education.”

In total she devoted eight years to her artistic training.

“I cannot say that I was taught there what I am doing now. For example, I was not taught textile art anywhere, and moreover, I was not even told about such practices, but the atmosphere of the art institute and school itself greatly affected me. As a child, I changed a lot of schools, and in the last one I had a lot of problems with my peers, that's when I decided to go to an additional art school.“

A glimpse of surreal hermetics and esoterica is commonly seen in your works, how come? Tell us about your inclination towards cults and art theories - what interests you the most within these subjects?

Yes, many people see some esoteric symbols in my works, some even think that I belong to a secret society of Freemasons, some think I'm a witch, it's very interesting, but art is just intuitive presentation. The symbols I work with came either from childhood or were taken from my environment, I interact a lot with the place I live in - this is the Urals. I feel this place as something very strong and alive, filled with a lot of symbols. In general, working with symbols is always something ambiguous, for example, I would use the eye symbol in some of my work to animate it, and the viewer could see it as an ancient Masonic secret sign. I'm not against such interpretations, as long as they are harmless, but I still want people to see that I'm a little bit about something else. I am a person deeply rooted in my native Ural land, I feed on it, so my art is rather a set of symbols of personal mythology. I even came up with my own term, which means something like my personal universe or my personal direction in art - Huarealism. It’s a combination of my creative pseudonym and some kind of "ism", such as Surrealism, Dadaism, etc.

How would you describe the growth of your artistic practice over time? What has changed or perhaps evolved in your arts?

I started my journey with graphics, planar images, but at some point this was not enough for me, and I started experimenting, it happened during my studies at art school. When I studied at the Art Institute, I created works from everything that caught my eye. I wanted to try everything. I have worked (and still working) with ceramics, wood, metal, textiles and other materials. In addition, about five years ago I started making video art and digital photo collages. Every time I master more and more new materials, I don't know if this can be considered growth, but I think it can definitely be considered development. I used to think less, but now I want to speak through my art, I began to work with words more and more often, they are also part of my art. At the same time, I don't like when there are a lot of them, it seems to me sometimes a few succinct phrases and a visual image are enough. The names of my projects are an element of the art themselves, I often play with words, sometimes it is only intelligible to a Russian-speaking viewer.

Can you take us through your list of favourite artists, topics of interests, films, which strengthen you to keep going?

As a teenager, I was greatly influenced by Kurt Cobain. At first I accidentally got acquainted with his painting, the images from his paintings very much echoed what I was drawing at that time. Later I listened to his music, studied in general everything that he created and was very impressed. I think he was a real artist, the album "In Utero" and the clip "Heart-Shaped Box" are the quintessence of his artistic thought, in my subjective opinion. I admire his works endlessly. During my studies at the Art Institute, I met a teacher, Larisa Grachikova, she taught me on the subject of "Composition", she influenced me a lot. She has the ability to charge people with the energy of art, as well as to see important moments in the work of other people. Once she saw an important detail in my works, in the second year I changed my technique, made a small experiment with collages, but did not attach importance to it, the teacher drew my attention to that and helped me a lot, this experiment led me to what I am doing now. Also speaking about some influences, I remembered the artist Leonid Tishkov. In 2015, his solo exhibition was brought to my city, I remember that I was very impressed with it then. At that time I started to study textile art, and at Leonid's exhibition I was just attracted by the fact that he also works with a similar medium. Leonid's most memorable work is "My Uterus", a sculpture created from scraps of his late mother's clothes, an incredibly strong work and an equally incredible and strong artist. At the same time, I learned about Louise Bourgeois, her works are very close to me, I like that she was not afraid to talk about very personal stories through her works. In addition to people, I am sometimes very impressed by things, for example, ancient anatomical sculptures or artifacts of ancient Egypt. Time as an artist, perhaps, evokes the strongest emotions in me. I can't calmly walk past an abandoned wooden house or antique jewelry. From the movies, to be honest, I adore Shrek, I know him by heart. This may not be the answer that is expected from the artist, but I can't help myself. In addition, I like "The Science of Sleep" by Michel Gondry and "The Truman Show" by Peter Weir, these films are very beautifully made, visually it's just brilliant. I recently got acquainted with the work of David Lynch and I am still very impressed. Russian films I love "Night Watch" and "Day Watch" by Timur Bekmambetov, I think these are very authentic Russian films. Another TV series "The Master and Margarita" by Vladimir Bortko is a wonderful adaptation of one of my favorite works by Mikhail Bulgakov. And Roman Kachanov's "Down House" is a modern interpretation of Dostoevsky's "Idiot", if the actions took place in Russia in the late 90s and early 2000s.

What changes has the pandemic brought to your practice as an artist? How are you processing in such times?

In 2020, I had to present my work more widely in Europe, I had such experience earlier, but it is quite small. Unfortunately, many exhibitions were canceled, especially those that were planned outside of Russia. Otherwise, there were not so many changes, the fact is that I was a little lucky, during the period of strict quarantines I had the opportunity to travel safely to nature, and for me and my art it is simply necessary. In addition, all clear deadlines have gone and I have time to freely engage in art. It's like I'm trying to find the pros in all this horror) During the pandemic, we all found ourselves in the digital space, sitting at home, we all continued to live and interact using the Internet. I admit honestly that it was hard for me, despite the fact that I actively maintain my Instagram page and perceive this site as my personal gallery, I still prefer real exhibitions and I really missed them. Now the situation has weakened a little and I hope to implement the plans that have been "hanging" since 2020.

What is your philosophy for life? What would you like say to your younger self and older self?

It seems to me that I do not have a well-formed philosophy of life, because there are a lot of questions and very few answers in my head. I am a person constantly questioning this world. I have several fundamental beliefs that are mainly related to art, for example, I do not recognize success without difficulty, because I have been working hard all my life, I just can't imagine how it could be otherwise. In addition, I am sure that the quality of art is not affected by the place in which it was created. I often encounter prejudice when people think that if I live in a small town, then my art is "small". I stand by the mountain for regional art and try to prove to everyone that there are many strong artists in Russia, primarily in small towns. I also always try to be honest with myself and the audience, if I have nothing to say about a particular work, then I say that my thought is in the process. I don't want to look like an omniscient artist far from reality, it is always important for me to show that I am an ordinary person who often doubts, sometimes does something intuitively and sometimes only in the process realizes and analyzes my work. I would wish the same thing for myself in the future and in the past – continue in the same spirit, only several times more confident.