Hi guys! I’m a Russian artist (there aren't too many here as I can see) and my name is Lia. My friends just call me Shell (my surname). I was born in peninsula Kamchatka – the shaman land of geysers. For as long as I can remember-- probably since I was 3 years old-– I’ve been drawing. First I drew incredible creatures that lived inside the walls of my house that frightened my mum (once she even took my pictures to a psychiatrist, who said that they were okay, and a way of artistic self-expression)!

As I grew older I took up graffiti bombing walls in the town in central Russia where my family moved to. My own room was soon decorated with deliriously colored pictograms right over the floral wallpaper and the ceiling and my mum started to pray. As a teenager I got interested in body art and tattoo. At the age of 16 I ran away from home to Moscow in search of my own way. There, I got acquainted with airbrushing media on cars, walls, and expensive motorbikes that I got crazy with. Contemporary art in the city became the point of my attention: I made art objects and painted on canvas from time to time. I met my friend Anton K. who is my Guru of flash art and soon got involved in making tattoo flashes seriously. We pull together in producing sets (we’re both good at complementary things) as well as what I produce on my own. It’s awesomely breathtaking to realize that my designs are applied on people’s skin worldwide and my art lives on them!

Take care!
Lia