The biography of an authentic artist should be spared of any time date. The time of the art, as Vassily Vassilyevich Kandinsky said, has very little in common with conventional time. The artist seems to be old born, but on the other side remains a child forever, this because he is able to see (in detail and in whole) things that others can’t. The biography of the artist should be full of places, because – mentioning Kandinsky once more – the artist’s main goal should be to make the viewer feel as he was there, like in an eternal present which is also infinite places. These could be places in within the soul: mountain tops, highlands, valleys, depths. If these latter are geographical locations where you can be with your body, it could probably be better since using your senses it’s possible to convey to the soul what the soul itself is eager to learn. This is undoubtedly true for Irina Ganiceva, being she born and raised just below the arctic polar circle. The first thing I asked, when I interviewed her, was if the shamanism cult was still present where she lived. She told me about the nomadic people who practice reindeer breeding and fishing into rivers and the Barents sea for living, when the season allows it, since in winter the sea is completely frozen and in summer the water temperature never reaches more than 15° C. Once this situations has been agreed to, it is quite understandable that Irina, talking about the place where she was born, describes it as a land of shamans, full of wildlife, oil, gas, coal, gold, bears, wolves and eagles. From her house on a clear day you could see the Urals. Knowing this things about her past, is it a wonder if it took for her several years to settle down when she moved in a small town in Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is even less surprising when we assume that she studied in Arkhangelsk and in St. Petersburg, worked in Manchuria, in Vladivostok, and in the Sahalin Island on the Japanese Sea: in those places she came to know earthquakes, typhoons and every kind of people. One day, walking in the woods, she even had the chance to meet… a tiger! Then began the approach to the west, passing through Ukraine, and Italy, at last, in 1990. Maybe it was the fate, but from this moment on, the path of Irina Ganiceva began to be more and more intimate, definitely taking the direction of art (dance, music, drawing). At the same time a desperate need to read, which probably was related to the need for spirituality that led her to investigate, among other things, Buddhism and rediscover the Orthodox Christianity. Finally comes the “overpowering desire” – as she calls it – to paint. The first years Irina followed various paths, always looking for something of her own, something that defines her identity. Then, after a long pause (stopping is often necessary for anyone who wants to grow up quickly) she began a new style that is going to be, even in dense materiality, unbearably mild and vibrant. It is the style of an artist who listens and sees. When I asked Irina to satisfy my own curiosity, some information about different gender roles and relationships in Russia, she answered with a saying that struck me for its depth: “women love with their ears, men with their eyes”. Well, Irina paints (loves) from a woman’s point of view, she knows how to listen to the shouts and silences of animals, people, things. But inside herself there is also the man who sees, watches, observes, records. In this way, the synthesis is performed, the highest goal of every true artist.
Chiara Santagada
Artistic curriculum
Main events:
• City Hall Art Gallery “Antiche Mura” – Monfalcone (Italy)– March 1999
• Exposition Hall of the Central Library of Sumy (Ukraine) – August 1999
• National Award of Visual Arts “Ruga Giuffa” – Venice (Italy)– October 2000
• Cultural Association Alpe Adria - Mollbruke (Austria) – April 2001
• Cultural Association Alpe Adria- Baldramsdorf (Austria) – June 2001
• Independence Day event - Laguna Beach (California, USA) – July 2001
• Ortenburg’s County Castle Gallery (Austria) - February, 2002
• Beach Resort Fort Lauderdale (Florida, USA) – June, 2002
• Rowing Club ADRIA 1877 -Trieste, (Italy) – November, 2002
• Cultural Space “Giuseppe della Torre” GaRiGo Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia – Gorizia (Italy) – December, 2002
• Art Gallery “Corte S.Francesco” - Cividale del Friuli (Italy) – April, 2003
• Exhibition Hall Hotel "Rossia" - Moscow (Russia) – June, 2003
• Cultural Association “ Non è la Blu”– Toulouse (France) – January, 2004
• Art Gallery “G.Bison” Palmanova’s Civic Museum – Palmanova (Italy)- February, 2004
• Mentioned in the Contemporary Artists’ Yearbook of Modern Art- Rome (Italy) – 2004
• Hotel Savoia Excelsior –Trieste (Italy) – August, 2004
• Lepanto’s Gallery –Monfalcone (Italy) – August, 2004
• Art Gallery “Santa Maria della Corte” - Cividale del Friuli (Italy) – April, 2005
• Former “Jubilee” hall of the Greek Community and Eastern Europe - Trieste (Italy) – October, 2005
• Alba Prize 2005 – Diploma of Merit of Moderns Art Gallery “Alba” - Ferrara (Italy) - January 2006
• Mentioned in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of International Modern and Contemporary Art 2006 - Ferrara (Italy)
• “Ausonia” Gallery - Trieste (Italy) – July 2006
• Academic appointment of the International Academy “Greci Marino” nomination -Novara (Italy) – August, 2006
• Publication on “ZENO” weekly journal, six times -Trieste (Italy) – year 2008
• Participation in television sales on SKY channel, Liberarte – 2009
• Personal research and studies of the History of Art 2010-2012
• Exibition in Mariano del Friuli’s Town Hall - Mariano del Friuli (Italy) – April, 2013
• International competition “La Spadarina”, Critics’ Award –Piacenza (Italy) - June, 2013
• “Santa Sara’s Academy” Award-winning with Distinction and the assignment of the 1st Critics’ Award – year 2014
• One of her paintings chosen for the cover of the “Book of Italian Art 2014 – Santa Sara’s Academy”- Alessandria (Italy) – January 2014
• House of culture (Kulturni Dom) – Gorizia (Italy)– March, 2014
• Ada Art Gallery - Barcelona (Spain) - Art Festival – March – April, 2014
• Inclusion in the portal "ARTISTS IN THE WORLD" year 2014-2016
• Royal Opera Arcade Gallery in London (UK) – June, 2014
• Cultural and science centre of the Russian Federation “Ruski Center” – Lubiana (Slovenia) – June, 2014
• International competition “La Spadarina” – Critics Award -Piacenza (Italy) – July, 2014
• 2nd International Biennial of Palermo – Palermo (Italy) – January 2015
• Works published into the 2nd International Biennial of Palermo’s catolgue – Palermo (Italy) – January 2015
• Partecipation into the “Art Effect” catalog directed by Paolo Levi with critics by Jose VanRoy Dali – No.1 January-February 2015
• Art Gallery “Le Porte” – Naples (Italy) – February 2015
• Inclusion in the text of art history “Comparing international art streams in the 21st Century” prof. Gabriele Pinto, 4 volumes archived in the Thomas J. Watson library of the Metropolitan Museum of New York (USA)– February 2015
• “Gallerie Orler – Venice (Italy)” TV SKY sales – from May 2015 to May 2016
• Participation in the Spoleto Arte Exhibition, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi - Palazzo Leti Sansi - Spoleto (Italy) - July 2016
• Hotel Abbazia – Grado (Italy) – from May 2016 – to october 2016
• BCM Art Gallery – Barcelona (Spain) – October 2018
• Triennale of Venice - Palazzo Albizzi – Capello – Venice (Italy) - October 2018
• Art 1 Classified in the painting competition "LA GIOIA"- GLAM ART
GALLERY – Trieste (Italy) – dicember 2018
• Exhibition at the GLAM ART Gallery - Trieste – (Italy) - January 2018
• XV Biennale Giuliana of Contemporary Art - Palazzo Costanzi - Trieste -
Italy - March 2020
• Virtual Exhibition of the Cultural Association Viareggio ART – Varazze
(SV) – Italy - September 2020
• Permanent exhibition in progress Gestalt Institute - Trieste – Italy - from 2018
