Following the success of her first sell-out show, artist Andjana (Andy) Pachkova’s new show, Fernweh: Into the Blue, will run at the Stanley Street Gallery in Darlinghurst from August 13 to 28.
The show is dedicated to the artist’s late mother, Anna Pachkova, “who loved the sea, above all else”.
Andy is also a mother, a wife, a lawyer, and a keen surfer, who lives a long way from her motherland. At the moment she, her husband and three boys share their time between Sydney and Byron Bay.
Born in Ukraine, Andy, her mother and stepfather moved to Moscow where they lived a wonderful life visiting the Bolshoi Theatre, the symphony and various museums all of which expanded her horizons and her taste for the arts.
However, her parents wanted to be sure their daughter had a means of fending for herself throughout her life so they encouraged Andy to study economics and law in Russia and later in the United States.
During that period she maintained the belief that “there was more in the cosmic plan for me than being a lawyer or a business person … I just had that inkling, that stirring in the soul that whispered ‘believe in your dreams and they will come true’”.
Andy trusted the cosmic plan and her dreams. Since the age of 13 she had attended private classes taught by talented artists who also held teaching positions. Understandably, she wanted to continue.
In 1997 she applied for and won a Davis Fellowship to study liberal arts. After overcoming a significant period of culture shock, she made an incredible connection with her teachers and professors and her work flourished.
In 2013 Andy, her husband and sons came to live in Australia. Learning to surf has helped her to understand and respect her mother’s love for the sea, and guided her toward a new and liberating approach to her art.
I hand the last word to Andjana (Andy) Pachkova: “It is obvious to me that my next step is to allow the paint to sing a new song – one that sings a new ode, both to my mother, and to the sea.”
