Dear readers, we bring to your attention an interview with the jury member of the third season of Gaudir, Elena Kunina.

"Elena Kunina is an art critic, teacher, author of teaching aids, laureate of many prestigious professional awards, her dolls are in private and museum collections around the world ..."

Elena, you were born and raised in Moscow at the Patriarch's Ponds, but today you live far abroad, in Israel. Some part of your biography was associated with Russia, but then life was divided into "before" and "after". What happened ?! What was the reason for your departure? Are there any regrets that you left here?

I am not inclined to dramatize emigration, my life was not at all divided into “before and after”, it is just that, apart from Russia, Israel appeared in it, and more recently, Spain.

I work a lot, I love to travel, I have four grandchildren - I really have no time to indulge in regrets. But if suddenly they appear, you can always go to Russia. For now, at least.

Your education is related to history (graduated from the Department of History and Theory of Art of the East Faculty of Moscow State University) We know that you worked in Moscow museums, specialized in arts and crafts and the history of costume, were engaged in classical painting and restoration of icons.

Why polymer clay ?! Traditional techniques and materials with which you worked did not meet the requirements of the time ?! Would you like to test your capabilities in new modern materials?

I like polymer clay for many reasons. First, there is no trail of historical associations behind it like old materials. For example, porcelain inevitably brings to mind small sculptures, like Meissen figurines. The widest range of associations is associated with wood, from Niccolo del Arco to Permian sculpture. And I must admit that all these comparisons are almost always not in favor of dolls.

Secondly, I like complex, detailed images, and polymer clay is perfect for them. This moment is perhaps the most important, because the material that we choose for the sculpture largely determines the entire style of the work.

Thirdly, polymer clay can imitate almost any material - from fabric to metal, from flowers to semi-precious stones - without their inherent disadvantages: fragility, difficulty in processing, fragility, etc.

 Fourthly, it is possible to paint polymer clay with the finest glazes, a covering layer, and even relief strokes, which gives a lot of scope for creating textures. It is ideal for painting with Genesis low-temperature paints, which are very durable and do not require fixing with varnish.

Fifth, polymer clay is very durable, unless, of course, the technology of its processing and firing is violated.

Did you create your first dolls in 1987? It was a difficult period when the country was on the verge of great political change. Have you ever felt pressure from the outside? Someone else's dictate? Did you have to work on orders ?! What were your first dolls like?

As all Soviet citizens knew, “you cannot live in society and be free from society,” and living under a totalitarian regime, it was necessary not to distinguish the country from the government at all, so as not to feel any dictatorship. Nevertheless, the Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, in which I worked then, was very far from the ideological front, and nobody was interested in dolls at all from the point of view of compliance with the party line. But seriously, I very early mastered the art of living in "internal emigration", which, of course, did not save me from collisions with Soviet reality, but made them less painful.

My very first doll is the Junk Man, an image from my childhood, attractive and scary at the same time. When I was about five years old, his van was parked in our Moscow courtyard, on the Patriarch's. Huge, fat, shapeless, like a doll stuffed with sawdust, he sat in his van, his legs dangling, and behind him were heaped treasures illuminated by a dim light bulb: old perfume bottles twinkling with colorful lights, velvet hats with feathers and veils, some faded silks and crumpled yellow lace, large books with worn leather bindings, defenseless porcelain cups with broken handles. And I even dreamed of a stuffed fox without a front paw, but with completely lively eyes. In a dream, this fox spoke to me in a terrible bass. The van smelled of damp, mothballs, dust, medicine. I especially remember how one day a junk dealer, sitting on the edge of his van, pulled out photographs from a bald velvet album and threw them on the ground. It was raining, the water was pouring into smiling faces that were no longer needed by anyone in the world, and for some reason it was very sorry for them. 

At first, I had the idea to make both a van and a stuffed fox, but then only the junk dealer remained.

Since 2002, you have constantly participated in International exhibitionskah. At the 5th International Exhibition of Art Puppets you received a prize in the nomination "Modern Original Doll", and at the 6th International Exhibition of Art Puppets - a prize in the nomination "Best Character Doll" ...

What, in your opinion, does participation in exhibitions give ?! Can an artist create masterpieces without leaving home, or does he need "feedback" from colleagues, viewers, connoisseurs of dolls as art ?! Is an exhibition an invitation to the world of your creativity or a place where you make useful contacts, conduct business negotiations, sell your works? Exhibition - a path to recognition of creative merit or a sales platform?

I have participated in a variety of exhibitions: the world's largest Toy Fair in New York, an exquisite curatorial exhibition at Farrach Castle in Austria, the Eurodoll competition (where twice, in 2001 and 2002, I won the Grand for the best doll made of polymer clay) and in many others. Each of these exhibitions has its own task: for example, “Toy Fair” does not work for the public at all, but for professionals - gallery owners, collectors, curators, etc. That is, by participating in this exhibition, the artist gets to know collectors, finds new sites for the sale of his works, receives orders and invitations to other exhibitions, contests and shows, and, of course, sells his works.

Curatorial exhibitions are a completely different format, participation in such exhibitions is often free (in contrast to large shows, where participation costs from several hundred to several thousand dollars). The artistic level of such exhibitions is quite high, participation in them is prestigious in itself, which does not exclude successful sales.

There are also exhibitions of various associations of puppeteers, for example, Dabida, Niada, DollArt; their level directly depends on the level of members of each association.

Personally, I am not carried away by the very idea of uniting artists, I am an individualist by nature and do not like obligations, and membership in all kinds of organizations always presupposes them. That is why I refused the invitation to join Niada - there you need to participate in conferences, business meetings, online discussions, all kinds of committees, do critical analyzes of work, vote for new members - yes, just listing these responsibilities spoils my mood.

As for the need for "feedback", it seems to me that it depends on the temperament and character of each artist. There are people who need active communication with colleagues and spectators, there are those for whom the exhibition is a tedious job.

Among your works there are characters from the Bulgakov series ... This year we are celebrating the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great writer. You are planning to resume the project on "MacTeru and Margarita "?! Perhaps with students (in the form of "live courses" or online)? How are the heroes of Mikhail Bulgakov close to you? Are there any "mystical" stories associated with their birth ?!

No, I don’t plan, I don’t usually go back to old projects. “Close” is not the word that I would use to define my attitude towards Bulgakov's characters, both negative and positive. They are interesting, funny, scary, disgusting, mediocre, brilliant, stupid, wise, mysterious, but I do not even partially associate myself with any of them, and this is what I need, as it seems to me, to feel the hero "close to myself." But I really like Bulgakov himself: his paradoxical thinking, his unique ability to verbally convey the visual, an unobvious but deep connection with tradition, an interweaving of mysticism and satire; I am close to his views - on literature, society, social order.

I constantly have all sorts of mystical cases, unlike Berlioz, my life has developed in such a way that I am used to extraordinary phenomena. I started the Bulgakov series with Azazello, made it very quickly and sold it, barely finished, I didn't even have time to take a photo. He simply did not have time to particularly swear, well, something fell, something broke, I did not attach any importance to it. Azazello was wonderful, with a bone in his pocket. But right after Azazello, I started doing Woland. I work mainly with baked polymer clay, and so, Woland's head cracked three times in a row during baking, I have never had such a thing. I was surprised, but did not heed the warnings. When I started to paint it, the troubles worsened: the TV broke, then the refrigerator, one after another the bulbs began to burn out. Then it finally dawned on me: I remembered that "Messire does not like electric light" and threw away this unfinished head. She wrapped it in a newspaper and took it to the trash heap of the next house. Immediately, as if by magic, everything started working by itself, of course, except for the burnt out light bulbs. This is true, so I never did Woland. I learned my lesson, stopped flirting with mysticism.

But the mystical stories with dolls do not stop. Here's the last one: I photographed Ao Andong, this ghost is so Japanese, and among the usual photographs there was an image of a ghost - as if my doll had turned into a real Ao Andong.  

What is your general attitude to the creation of episodes? What makes you be in a state of creative immersion in images (after all, creating a doll is a long and costly process) ?! If one doll has to be nurtured and created for more than one month, then what about several, connected by one storyline? What does it depend on? From the strength of the emotional impact of the character himself? From talented stylizations of other authors who challenge you (in cinema, animation, theater)?

The series are different, sometimes they are based on a common plot (illustrations for a literary work), sometimes - on an idea so complex that it cannot be expressed in one work (like my project "Kintsugi", for example). In any case, I try for the characters in the series to enter into dialogue, complement each other and create one whole together, and it is desirable that the whole is more than the simple sum of its constituent works. It's not difficult for me to work on episodes, it just requires a high degree of concentration and the ability to enjoy the process of work itself. I have no problem with that. I create the main part of the plots for the episodes myself; in the same cases, when it comes to illustrations, I always refer to the original source - to the text. I do not perceive the interpretation of other authors as a "challenge", I am simply glad when I see talented work, I generally like it when people know how to do something well.

It is known that you and your husband, Boris Kunin, recently became the "parents" of the first in Izraile of the exhibition-competition of author's dolls. This year the second one took place ... Please tell us how the idea of such a large-scale event came about ?! How did you handle the organization? What were the most difficult moments and you don't want to remember them? What, on the contrary, awakens warm and kind memories?

We do just exhibitions, we have no competition, but the exhibition is curatorial. I select works, guided not so much by my personal taste as by the desire to show the whole variety of doll art: a wide range of materials and techniques, interesting figurative and stylistic solutions. In fact, as a curator, I have already done several exhibitions in Israel, but exclusively using local material. We started doing international exhibitions after seeing the interest in the art of dolls in our country. And since we have few puppeteers of our own, although there are very good masters among them, we decided to try to invite artists from abroad. Almost all of them, with rare exceptions, agreed to send us their works, thanks to which the level of our exhibitions turned out to be very high.

Despite the fact that both of our exhibitions were held, one might say, in extreme conditions, there were a lot of visitors. The second exhibition even had to be extended. By the way, our viewers love dolls not only platonically: we have sold more than a third of all works. But the main thing is the reaction of people: so much joy, so much genuine interest, so much openness to a miracle and a child's ability to be surprised, I have not seen for a long time. There was, of course, a lot of work before, during, and after the exhibition, especially considering that we are doing the exhibition together with my husband. But our artists helped us a lot, without them it would have been much more difficult for us.

Many difficulties were associated with customs, and at the first exhibition also with observance of covid restrictions: this was generally the first exhibition at which I was worried that too many people came. During the second exhibition, Israel was subjected to massive shelling, and, nevertheless, there were even more visitors than at the previous one. I can't say that we have implemented absolutely everything that we have planned, this rarely happens at all, even without any force majeure, but to be honest, I am very pleased with both of our exhibitions.

As for the organization, the main organizer is my husband, I only deal with contacts with artists, selection of works, exposition, explications, labeling, press releases and partly advertising. Well, I also pack all the parcels for sending back to the artists myself, it is very important for me that this is done as well as possible.

When an artist begins to engage in large exhibition projects, there is no time and energy left for creativity. How do you cope with “multitasking”: being a wife, curator and organizer of exhibitions, artist, public figure ?!

I'm doing poorly. I haven't made dolls for almost a year now, maybe now, after the end of all the post-exhibition work, I will be able to return to them.

If not dolls, who would you like to become: an actress, a theater artist, a designer who produces your own clothing line ?! Do you have a dream and what is necessary for it to come true ?!

Actually, before the dolls, I still became an art critic and even managed to work for several years in my specialty. But I think that I would still end up becoming an artist, most likely a miniaturist or a jeweler. In any case, not a fashion designer, not a theater artist: for this you need to be able to work in a team, with other people, this is not for me.

It seems to me that a dream differs from plans in that a miracle is necessary for its realization. Miracles don't happen by order.

Your developments are a great contribution to the puppetry technology, a teaching aid for new generations of young masters. The name of Elena Kunina is synonymous with high professionalism and unsurpassed skill. Do you plan to republish your textbooks with additions, new editions and sufficient circulation around the world ?! Traveling around the world and giving master classes? Do you realize the importance of your educational mission and the need to transfer experience and accumulated knowledge to others ???

My textbooks are electronic, so their circulation is unlimited. So far I do not see the need for a new edition, but I am going to make two additional volumes.

At one time, I taught quite a few courses and master classes in different countries, now I give only private lessons, including an intensive course for foreign puppeteers.

I do not see my teaching as an “educational mission”. My task is much more modest: to teach my students to translate from verbal into visual, translate an idea into an image, understand how artistic means work, and achieve high technical quality. So that in the end they could not only mechanically reproduce this sample, but create their own unique art dolls.

Questions were prepared by Irina Panfilenok.