Apple Tree Oil Artwork Painting

Anna Makarova (artist name Anna Livna). Life is an attempt to balance in flight, to find support and security. “Know yourself, and you will know the gods and the universe,” says the statement on the ancient Apollo temple wall in Delphi, Greece. Self-knowledge is the core of my art concept. I reinterpret my personal experience as a woman, as an artist, as a migrant in the context of Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey”, the Monomyth concept. These are the spirals of my path: I go to the frontier, to the unknown when I feel the need for change, go through challenges, and come out of them renewed. I explore the Hero’s Journey in the artworks of great creators such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Mikhail Vrubel, Andrei Tarkovsky, and others. Migration is one of the themes that I explore in my art, the symbolic death of the past, rebirth in a new quality, adaptation to a new environment, the search for identity. I am part of Russian history and I am part of the modern US history as a migrant. I leave behind the feeling of insecurity and take with me my cultural code, fortitude, courage and willingness to face challenges, the intention to live happily and fight for myself, and I also leave a place for faith in miracles. Color and contrast are the dominant elements in my art. That's why I like working with oil paints, this medium has a very rich color rendition. Color is a representation of certain states. Red symbolizes the inner fire, the desire to feel, the need to love, it is like the blood flowing inside the picture, like life itself. The blue color represents periods of rethinking, going to the frontier, a liminal state, and freezing. Through self-knowledge, I rethink human traumas and talk about my overcoming experience. I offer the viewer the opportunity to find their path, transform and enter a new stage of the “Hero’s Journey”.