Catalogs & booklets

The story of an inheritance:
how dad made me an artist

Two letters on every picture

My father was a man who could do everything. Graphic arts and painting, woodcarving and sculpture, industrial design, and even... children's attractions. He designed entire park zones. At the very beginning of Perestroika, he submitted a project for Gorky Central Park in Moscow. I still remember that scale model: a little donkey pulling a cart filled with children, and a fairytale city for birds on the pond. Back then, it felt like a miracle. A miracle that, alas, remained only on paper.

I grew up inside this miracle. Dad used to carve real wooden brigantines for me. I remember spring: all the boys in the yard were launching matchboxes in the streams, while I had a real, fairytale sailboat. My first art school was our joint plein-air sessions. At the zoo, he would draw a giraffe from life, and I, sitting on a tiny stool, would diligently sketch a turtle.

At home, we worked side by side: I would sculpt or draw, and he would come over, watch, and offer advice. But the best times were the evenings when Dad would take albums of Levitan or Vrubel from the shelf. He didn’t just show the paintings—he told their stories, explaining how the artist built the composition and searched for light. Perhaps that’s why, even as a child, I could talk solemnly about "color palette" in a museum, drawing a crowd of smiling visitors.

Dad believed in me. When I was ten, he organized my first exhibition. The guestbook still holds the comments of artists who came to see my work back then. I remember his lessons: "The line must sing," he would say, "now becoming strong, now almost vanishing." And the symbolism that later appeared in my own paintings—that is also his school.

My father, Vitaly Evstigneev, was an artist. It was he, who taught me the basics of composition and perspective. Dad believed in me. I remember his lessons: "The line must sing," he would say, "now becoming strong, now almost vanishing." And the symbolism that later appeared in my own paintings—that is also his school. He also created my logo – two letters, E and D (Evstigneeva Daria), inspired by his own monogram of E and V. This logo, like a talisman, is present on all my works.

I wasn’t even ten years old when my father caught me focused on an important task: I was drawing a story. I only remember that it was a leaf from a squared notebook and a simple pencil, but the plot was taken from life and truly deserved attention! It was a multi-figure composition with deep meaning.

It was then that I first learned the true meaning of graphics and composition. And yes, I was solemnly presented with high-quality paper and a professional pen.

All my "early" creations were pulled out from drawers and other secret hiding places to be carefully examined by the head of the family. Then, a family council was held, where I was surprised to learn that I possessed a genuine talent. From that moment on, I was tasked with "reworking" all my sketches into a proper format to be presented to the public.

I worked honestly for several months. Finally, all my works were framed, and a special notebook was prepared — for reviews.

The exhibition was held in one of the halls of the Union of Artists, so the visitors were "well-prepared" professionals. I still keep that very notebook, where respected artists left incredibly inspiring feedback about my work.

My father has been gone for many years now. But he is always with me—in every line, every color, and every story. I am infinitely grateful to him for everything he taught me and for the love of creativity that he passed down to me. Such an inheritance is more precious than money. Thank you, Dad.

In honor of my father, I took the creative pseudonym “Daria de Vital”, where Vital refers to the name Vitaly. And to the question of why I live in Italy, I answer with a joke: my full name is Daria Vitalievna (V Itali evna). Where else I should live?

It’s a pity that only this notebook has survived. But then again, isn't that quite a lot?

Reviews from the Past

Speaking Art

Daria de Vital is the artistic pseudonym of Daria Ozerova

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