Polina Botticelli

Russian artist living in Montenegro. My father worked in tourism, and I spent most of my childhood in the taiga and on the shores of Lake Baikal, where shamanism and Buddhism thrive. This shaped my aesthetic and spiritual preferences. My mother teaches at an art school, and of course I spent many hours there, studying both within the curriculum and beyond it.
I graduated from art school and then from the Faculty of Art and Graphic Arts at Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPGU), majoring in decorative and applied arts.
A classical education that celebrates academic tradition did not change my decorative style, but it widened my range of techniques and methods. Because I came to Tibetan Buddhism early, I was drawn to the inner more than the outer from a young age, and this shaped my approach to creative work. Symbolism and meaning come first for me. I don't look to trends or fashion. I am guided by my inner instinct and by how well I have managed to give form to what came from within, from the depths of the collective unconscious.

In 2000 I graduated from the Irkutsk Regional School of Arts, in 2004 I entered the Irkutsk Pedagogical University at the Faculty of Art, continued studies at the St. Petersburg Pedagogical University, transferred to the Moscow Pedagogical University, and successfully graduated from it in 2010 with a diploma in the department of arts and crafts.

The diploma work "Decorative panel-triptych in the felting technique" was rated "Five with praise".

Exhibitions
- 2022 — When Did Fairytales Change? — Liebig12 Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Ceramic sculptures and one canvas painting.
- 2023 — Group Exhibition — Orange Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Four paintings and nine ceramic works.
Earlier exhibitions:
- Flying Fish — Three exhibitions by the creative duo Polina Botticelli and photographer Nadezhda Grineva, including two exhibitions at the V. Sukachev Museum-Estate, Irkutsk, Russia.