Victoria Anadenko’s art bridges two worlds
Nearly 40 works spanning different years, media and styles fill the galleries of Allied Arts in Milledgeville this September, offering a look not only at artist Victoria Anadenko’s work, but also at the places, memories and experiences that have shaped her life.
Anadenko’s exhibit opened Sept. 4 at Allied Arts in downtown Milledgeville. Throughout the evening, visitors moved through the galleries, viewing works ranging from detailed black-andwhite drawings and pencil studies to brightly colored acrylic paintings. Animals, landscapes and architecture appear throughout the exhibition, alongside more imaginative compositions. The exhibit continues through Sept. 24.
The variety reflects Anadenko’s own artistic journey. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, she studied at an art school affiliated with the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. She began her creative career as a jeweler before moving into graphic design and later immigrated to the United States, settling in Georgia in 2015.
One of the largest works in the exhibition brings viewers directly to her native city. The 48-by-41-inch painting depicts the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, one of St. Petersburg’s most recognizable landmarks, viewed from a bridge over the Griboyedov Canal.
But perhaps the most personal work in the exhibition is “Bridge Between Worlds,” a painting Anadenko describes as a kind of visual “all about me.”
The composition brings together the different worlds that have become part of her identity. St. Petersburg and its architecture occupy one side, while images of America appear on the other. Water — a recurring source of inspiration in Anadenko’s art — reflects both worlds, while above them stretches a sky filled with stars, galaxies and planets.
At the center, a raised bridge connects the two sides.
Anadenko herself appears in the painting, seated near the water and drawing.
Each element represents something important to her: the city where she was born, the country she now calls home, her fascination with water and space, and her lifelong connection to art. The bridge represents the connection she has built between all of those parts of her life — two countries and the different worlds that have come together within one person.
Another striking work in the exhibition is a large, vividly colored peacock. The subject also has an unexpected connection to Milledgeville and Baldwin County’s literary history.
Writer Flannery O’Connor famously raised peafowl at Andalusia, her Baldwin County farm, where she lived and wrote from 1951 until her death in 1964. Historical photographs preserved by the Digital Library of Georgia document the birds at Andalusia, and the peacock remains closely associated with O’Connor and her life at the farm.
Art was not the only creative element of the opening reception.
Throughout the evening, Anadenko’s 16-year-old son, Mark Pinchukov, provided live music at the keyboard. Pinchukov has studied piano for about seven years and performed both familiar music, including Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and his own original compositions.
He also releases his original music on music platforms under the artist name KopyKot.
The combination gave the reception a distinctly personal dimension: Anadenko’s paintings and drawings filled the walls while her son’s music filled the gallery.
Rather than presenting a single series in one recognizable style, Anadenko’s exhibition brings together works that differ considerably in subject, technique and mood. A quiet architectural study may hang near an intensely colored landscape; detailed pencil work gives way to expressive acrylic; familiar places share space with imagined ones.
The range of media and styles also reflects different periods of the artist’s life. Some works look back toward St. Petersburg, while others were inspired by places and experiences in the United States. Animals, water, architecture, light and the natural world recur throughout the collection, even as the way they are depicted changes.
Taken together, the nearly 40 works form something broader than a collection in a single style. They trace the visual path of an artist whose life has crossed countries, professions and creative disciplines — and who continues to find connections between them.
The Victoria Anadenko Exhibit is on view through Sept. 24 at Allied Arts in downtown Milledgeville.