"Game" Painting

An artist and lecturer, tour guide and art historian, Anastasia Kachanova was born and lived in
Saint Petersburg. A connoisseur of the city’s museums and architecture, Anastasia worked for
many years on wooden boards. Drawing inspiration from the khokhloma technique, she radically
reworked traditional motifs. Anastasia says that transforming an everyday kitchen cutting board
into “non-pragmatic” art is her rebellion against the constraints society imposes on women.
Since Anastasia moved to Armenia some time ago, Armenian motifs have gradually begun to
permeate the fabric of her work. Examples include pieces inspired by the stone lacework of
Rafayel Israelyan and medieval Armenian miniature painting. In works from this period,
chromatic and compositional richness intertwines with conceptual depth: several narratives and
allusions seem to be woven together within a single image. Foreign audiences often perceive her
work as “Armenian,” while people in Armenia tend to see it as “foreign art about Armenia.” Anastasia also works on book design. She is the author of covers for two books of fiction by Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan – the collection ‘The problem of short poplars’ (2021) and the novel ‘Talint Pfest’ (2023), both in Armenian. Her work has been used also for the cover of a collection of analyses of Armenian prose, entitled ‘Women, Peace, and War: The Construct And Its De/construction in the Armenian Literature’ (in Arm., 2025).

In recent years, she has become deeply engaged in painting, moving to oil on canvas. The
abundance of color, joie de vivre, and élan vital seem to stand in defiance of the misfortunes that
have befallen the world. A dizzying interlacing of motifs and themes
remains a defining feature of her paintings, together with a mesmerizing palette and half-
concealed symbols. Anastasia favors textured painting and frequently incorporates collage
elements made from a variety of materials.
Alongside her visual work, she creates and delivers a lecture series entitled “Through the Eyes
of an Artist: Fragments of World Art.” She discusses different periods of the Renaissance,
Mannerism, Filonov—subjects that inspire her personally. Examining works by classical masters
and modernists within a broad context of world art, she draws unexpected parallels and uncovers
hidden connections. Anastasia notes that her lectures provide her with ideas that later materialize
in paintings, entering into dialogue with the art of previous eras.