I was introduced to the lovely Kseniya last summer by the inestimable JES in this post. Not only is she stunningly pretty but also quite phenomenally talented. I hadn't previously encountered the art of "sand-painting", but having now reviewed many of the examples posted on YouTube from leading competitions and festivals around the world, I would have to say that this girl seems to have something that puts her way out ahead of the crowd (though many of these other artists are very impressive also) - and I don't think it's just her exotic good looks. 
Many of the "paintings", like the one above, are very striking when captured in still photographs, but the essence of this artform is that it is a real-time performance (created on an overhead projector so that it can be displayed on big screens), that the picture is constantly evolving before your eyes, sometimes completely transforming, sometimes becoming a succession of thematically linked tableaux that form a kind of animated narrative; and that the vigour and flair and passion of the creator is a key part of the overall impact. Kseniya Simonova is just mesmerising to watch at work.She stormed to victory in the Ukraine's Got Talent TV show last year with the stunning performance below (when she had allegedly been practicing this kind of art for barely a year!). There are a number of other examples of her work on YouTube, all well worth checking out. And she's got her own website now (although there's only this on it, at present).
Alas, she's only just about to turn 25 - much too young for me. I wonder if her mother is single...?
I note also that she is the second Ukrainian to be inducted into the 'Fantasy Girlfriends' hall of fame. I think that this is something more than a coincidence. They do cheekbones extremely well in the Ukraine.
2 comments:
Yes, it's been months -- and I haven't forgotten her, either. (Although the age difference in my case makes that admission flat-out creepy.)
Cheekbones: I have a theory about them, which is really no big deal, just an observation... It is that women with the prettiest cheekbones tend to be afflicted with TMJ. No idea if the research backs that up, and I don't really want to know if it does. I think it adds to the mystique: they're all harboring a secret affliction, you see, which results from the very thing which makes them beautiful (and which, incidentally, one has about zero chance of ever learning about from them, or even from the media; it's just so mundane, so... so... quotidian). And if they're Ukrainian, or Native American, etc., well, sure -- why not really ladle on the tragic?
You can see I dwell on this stuff far too much for my mental health.
TMJ?? Wow, that's pretty obscure - had to go and look that up. It could be so, it could be so - like pet dogs overbred for generations. You still have to wonder why this phenomenon is so concentrated in Eastern Europe, and in the Ukraine in particular.
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