Yuliya Yuzhakova
Russia, Moskow
www.yukidoll.com
www.instagram.com/yukidolls
yuliya@yukidoll.com
www.facebook.com/yuliya.yuzhakova
Dolls were always around me. My mother was a director in a Puppet Theater and a talented teacher. She made puppets for our school theatre and kept in her archives wonderful hand dolls and very big marionettes about a meter high each.
I loved marionettes as they were bright, live and could move. I remember Shahrazada doll very well. She was dressed in sequins, fine light clouds and satin pants; moreover, she had eyeliner on her eyes. Her look impressed me so much! There was Emelya, the hero of Russian folktale with a wooden bucket and a glance pike in it. The smell was also pleasant; it was similar to an old theatre backstage scent.
When I got older Barbie dolls arrived, they were wonderful and unattainable for us, so tan and toothy. I dreamed about Barbie, but this dream couldn’t come true because these beauties were out of my mum’s budget, as she was just a teacher with two small children. Being an adult, I’ve bought Barbie dolls for my collection. I found two dolls issued in 1989 and 1990.
I decided on the profession I wanted to have when I was fourteen. I had in thoughts that it should be a kind of job I love and couldn’t be without it. I studied a lot to be ready to enter the Moscow Art College, and I became a student of the Art Painting department when I was just 16 years old. Education process wasn’t impressive; we made a lot of useful things like geometry plasterwork, sketches and ornaments, but they bored me so much! From my point of view, it was necessary to learn how to paint and only then create artworks. I left the College and worked as an artist for landscape design office, created illustrations for glossy magazines and concept-art objects for games. At this time I started to develop characters, at first, they lived just in my mind, but later materialised in dolls. Now I study Art and Metalwork at the Moscow State University of Arts and Industry named after S.G. Stroganov.
My first doll was made in 2008. I decided that I’m not ready for this kind of art and I had to make sketches for three or four years before the next trial. Despite this, I keep my first doll and sometimes take her from the box with mixed emotions. I think that professional growth is very important. A good artist always sees shortcomings of his (or her) artworks and wishes to overcome them; that process is natural for artist’s skills development. While you are sculpting, it’s important to stop when your artwork is ready, but not to tire it up. It’s necessary to keep the sense of lightness and freshness in your artwork. But try to remember all the mistakes to avoid them in the next doll.
I make sketches for my works. Despite this fact, my dolls are not always following these sketches because the idea could be transformed on every stage of work. Sometimes I am ‘thinking’ with my hands and don’t need drawings or notes at all.
It’s difficult to say what motivates me to create my dolls. I’m happy to say that the most part of my skills was developed during college years. Drawing, painting, work with colours, light and shapes were learned under the supervision of very talented people. One of them was Evgeny I. Tretyakov, magnificent artist and teacher. It’s not enough to have a set of drawing or sculpting skills, you need to have a specific artist experience. You have to attend exhibitions, galleries and museums, look at the art objects with a great history and at the same time compare artworks, analyse technique and try to understand the backstage[1] of every art object.
I use different materials, for example, ‘LaDoll’ and epoxy resin are perfect for master models. Epoxy is very strong and gives an opportunity to make your doll with lots of details. To work with this material I use a dental burr. For dolls themselves, I prefer polyurethane synthetic resin which has positive features and shortcomings as well. I love this material for its strength, beauty and tactile comfort. It is also good for painting. But if a doll will stay at sunlight, its painting would require restoration and resin will change colour. These are significant shortcomings of this way of doll making.
I do not sort my characters to favourites and unloved ones, as I love them all. I never make ties with my dolls; I just let them go to the world. Each my doll has a story, and I created a whole world for them, and now I work as a guide to their invented world and our reality.
The doll maker work is extremely important and necessary. Humanity has grown up with a doll in hands, not with a textbook on nuclear physics, not with music papers or a brush, but with a toy. The history of the doll and human history are tied together for many centuries. As long as there would be people there also would be dolls. At all times the doll was mystified, often endowed with the soul and even believed sometimes that life or death could depend on the doll.
Now, of course, life is simpler, doll magic is not the same as at the dawn of humanity. However, it is still possible to hear: "Brrr ... Such terrible creatures? Adopt such a bogeyman? Yes, no way!" By the way, artists are very pleased sometimes to feel themselves a Drosselmeier. In that context spectator’s "Brrr" reaction could show us real feelings and emotions. We appreciate live emotions, of course.
The mass fascination with the author doll is a feature of the time. Like any fashion trend, it will pass through. I think that this is a bad tendency as it harms both artists and collectors since there would be a huge number of unprofessional people that could make only fakes. At the same time, very talented artists come to the niche and do just fantastic things. Of course, this is a positive trend.
A doll can send spectators any message; it is a work of art as a picture or something of the sort. Perhaps, the artist should remember that he should be responsible for this message and act accordingly. Dolls for different age categories are not the same; there are no common criteria that may help you to evaluate them. For example, a doll for children should have a very specific set of qualities: it must be made of sustainable materials; it should be simplified for perception and look nice. But these rules are completely inappropriate for the collection doll.
I do not like to describe the idea of my doll. Usually, the viewer understands the idea of the work without additional explanations. I think if the artist has to explain the meaning of his artwork to the viewer in words, he is done a bad job.
I like exhibitions very much. They give you a unique opportunity to communicate face to face with colleagues, spectators and collectors; to see something that takes your breath away; to understand that a doll phenomenon is interesting to a huge number of people, and it inspires me.
The receptive artist nature from my point of view is just a popular myth and nothing more. I am sure that the artist should be a very down to earth person and be able to divorce himself from everything (criticism, praise and flattery, discontent or frank attacks) to look at the familiar things from a different angle and show the viewer these things in a different light.
There are a lot of visitors at doll shows, who simply came to admire the dolls or they just happened to be on the show. They do not know the specifics of our toy world, but they simply enjoy what they see, they ask a lot of questions. It’s wonderful to see their natural interest.
Exhibitions organised by Svetlana Pchelnikova are the best start for the artist, a guarantee that the work will be presented to a huge number of people. For many newcomers, Svetlana became the very fairy godmother who can create a miracle. At her exhibitions, despite the impressive scale and scope, and even due to them, there is an amazingly domestic atmosphere, where everyone, artist or spectator, feels care, attention and love.
My future plans, of course, are related to dolls. I wish to create many dolls, good and different. I want to try my hand at working with new materials that are unusual for me. I am often asked whether I organise master classes or courses. No, I do not, I do not have enough time for such events. Although, I think it would be a very interesting experience.
[1] Backstage is an analysis of art object, what techniques and materials were used, how the composition is designed and so on.