Svetlana Valueva

“My heroes are women. Some were born from my imagination; others are real persons. Every new face, so unique and so unrepeatable, originates in my imagination and then finds its way to the canvas.”

Valueva was born in Moscow on the 24th of October 1966 and remembers drawing and painting as a toddler. Dated by her mother: a painting of a bird, a dog-like animal, and a queen confirms Valueva’s age as 18 months. Her father, an artist, recognizing her talent became her first and most important teacher, encouraging her to paint alongside him in his studio. At 5 Valueva began writing poems and stories expressing the feelings of the characters she drew. This treasured childhood art is part of her parents’ “private collection”.

Thirteen years of state structured curriculum taught by both the academic school and institute established Valueva’s art and drawing skills in “social realism”. Accepted at art…