Tiraspol, June, 14. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A member of the PMR Union of Artists, teacher of A.F. Foinitsky Art School and simply a talented person Tatiana Shuma has been engaged in the conservation of happiness for more than 30 years. She describes her works as “cans of happiness”, each of which is the master's revelation, the memory of a bright event from life.
Everyone knows that a talented person is talented in everything. This statement can be safely attributed to Tatiana Shuma, whose brush belongs to more than 500 works.
Among it are the famous pretentious ladies with cats, a series of paintings about goldfishes “Wishmakers”, the cycles “Housekeeper” and “Love”, works devoted to the Scythian theme, many landscapes, still lifes and portraits. She creates her works in various techniques: painting, drawing, batik. She has been engaged in ceramics for a long time.
Many of her works are based on contraction. This is a lighting in which the light source is located behind the object and is very strong or close. This direction can be observed in portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Therefore, her works are very bright.
Growth and Search for Self
It all started with the fact that Tatiana, as a child, showed a desire to study at an art school (by the way, in the same one she currently teaches). The girl submitted the documents on her own, easily passed the entrance exams and began to study.
“I liked the fact that the school was cozy: small bright classes, kind and at the same time strict teachers, pupils, each of whom literally lived with his hobby. Everything in this building disposed to limitless creativity, even the courtyard, where there was a nightingale, pleasing us with regular birdsong,” the artist recalls of that time.
Then there was the art-graphic faculty of the Odessa South Ukrainian University. One of the main teachers of Tatiana was Valentin Andreevich Zakharchenko, who helped his students to become real masters in their field. He used to say: “Why do you need to be in art if you are not among the first?”
It is noteworthy that he did not perceive the girls as artists, considering them to be hunters for a higher education diploma. One day, after another creative practice, Tatiana ran up to her guru with a lot of pictures, put them on his desk, hoping to hear a positive review of the works.
The teacher, with disdain, glanced at the canvases, and then slowly answered: “It’s a pity ... It’s very sad that all this good will be wasted... What’s the use of it if you don’t draw anyway? You're a woman. You need to do housework, not art.”
But the undisguised skepticism of the mentor did not shake Tatiana’s desire to be an artist. And now, for more than 30 years, she has successfully refuted the opinion of the master, who influenced her work in many ways.
“Cat Lovers”
The series “Cat Lovers” brought Tatiana Shum a wide fame. Paradoxically, it was created by chance.
In the spring of 2011, a personal exhibition of Tatiana was scheduled to be held at the Pridnestrovian State Art Museum. A few weeks before this event, she realized that she needed about 10 works to complete the exposure. It was then that she came up with the idea to draw cats, but in an unusual for her manner.
At that time, Tatiana experimented with paper of various textures. She tried to do it battered, put a gold base on it, saturate it, print patterns, etc. Each lover of cats — there were seven of them — were drawn on paper of different texture.
All the works of the artist are dedicated to her daughter Valeria, who became the prototype of the pathos, and at the same time magic women with cats. And the work of the “Queen of the Printing”, made on a newspaper canvas, Tatiana dedicated to the professional activities of her daughter. She is the printed products` designer.
“My daughter is a big cats fan. She draws them all the time, and she herself is somewhat similar to a cat: both in character and in appearance. In the family, we call her whippet,” the artist admits, smiling.
At the opening day among the many paintings, it was cats that aroused universal delight. A few paintings were purchased by private buyers, three paintings were purchased by the State Art Museum, only the “Queen of the Print”, which she presented to her daughter, remained in Tatiana’s funds.
By the way, a professor at one of the European universities of arts once admitted to Tatiana that she had identified three topics in the visual arts that would always be popular with the viewer. These include running horses, dancing women and boats at the pier. Our artist boldly added this list by cats that are already interesting to everyone, young and old.
“Wishmakers”, Terracotta Princesses and Other Experiments
After a successful exhibition, the artist continued her experiments with paper. This time, the focus of her attention was on advertising publications. After analyzing the ads, Tatiana Shuma decided that only a goldfish could fulfill such a voluminous number of desires (I want, I will buy, I will exchange), so she created a series of works on newspaper canvases.
And again, the master applied the troubles, applied various spraying on them, soaked, punctured, and made a lot of unusual things. After all these manipulations, they appeared - the beautiful and mysterious "Wishmakers". The fans of the author loved this colorful canvases.
A little later, Tatiana first presented her ceramic works: bells in the form of terracotta princesses, all kinds of cats, the series “All the King's Men” and other interesting figures, which also found its admirers.
"The Grapevine"
“The Grapevine” can become the apogee of Tatiana Shuma's creativity. The artist speaks about this plant with undisguised warmth.
“I look at the grapes with admiration: I admire its vine, fluffy buds, which then turn into majestic leaves. Sometimes I talk to it, I can cut it and take care of it. We have an invisible connection with grapes that only we are able to feel,” the artist says.
The author wants to capture all the stages of this plant`s growth in each of the seasons. We will see the winter period, when the grapes are under a dense layer of snow, gaining strength for the rest of the way. In the spring the vine will begin its awakening. In the summer we will see the birth of fruits. In the autumn there will be a riot of colors and a celebration of the harvest.
Tatiana Shuma will add her "canned happiness" upcoming series by "The Grapevine"...
Svetlana Gulinskaya, Anton Voloshin and ArtemKulekin worked on the project.
