Nika and her victory

The daughter of my friends Kirill Gevorgyan and Marina Neelova is recognized as the main "new sensation" of the British Saatchi gallerist competition

The New Sensation is a competition held annually by the Saatchi Gallery among graduates of art institutes in the UK. Thousands are looked through, two hundred of them are selected, then twenty applicants, then four finalists and, ...

The New Sensation is a competition held annually by the Saatchi Gallery among graduates of art institutes in the UK.

Thousands are viewed, two hundred of them are selected, then twenty applicants, then four finalists and, finally, the winner - he is the sensation. More precisely, she, because this time the first was Nika Neelova, the daughter of my friends: the Extraordinary and (naturally) Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Russia Kirill Gevorgyan and the actress (without epithets) Marina Neelova.

Nika, whom I have known for all her twenty-three years, received her prize on the air of the fourth British channel. The world-famous gallery owner Charles Saatchi, the founder of the competition, not only named Nika the best, but also wanted to purchase her work "Principles of Obedience" for his gallery. This is admission. In fact, he also liked the previous installation by the Russian artist - a sunken anthracite chandelier, but it had already been bought by another gallery owner.

The “Principles of Obedience” is a complex structure made of burnt wood with a large number of bell tongues, molded by Nika herself (using wax and ash) and tinted with coal dust left over from the chandelier.

Nika is a man of amazing determination. And, now obviously, unconditional talent. I have been drawing since childhood, but never went to art school. She was attracted by spatial compositions - installations.

She speaks fluent French and English, and when she came to the Netherlands with her parents, where her father headed the diplomatic mission, she learned Dutch and at the age of 16 entered the Royal Academy of Arts, becoming the youngest entrant in its history. She graduated brilliantly from the Academy and applied to the UCL SLADE of FINE ART, where she received a Master of Fine Arts diploma.

Installations are an extremely complex and time-consuming art. Getting noticed in this genre is not easy. Rare artists are honored to get into permanent exhibitions or private collections.

The most famous master who rose to the top of the world artistic elite was Ilya Kabakov, and today he works with great success in the installation genre as well. Nika Neelova-Gevorgyan at the very beginning of her journey. But I, knowing her, am sure: she will pass it with dignity and brilliance.

Go ahead, Nick!