Beginnings

Ariadna was born in the Soviet Union, in the city of Krasnodar, in the family of well-known monumental artists, Narkis and Antonina Shmandurov. Her childhood was spent in an artistic environment, surrounded by still lifes, paintings, books, and art albums. In the studio, there was a huge loom for tapestries, and the atmosphere was anything but Soviet—the interiors were reminiscent of the art of the Old Masters, of 17th-century Dutch painting, and French Impressionism. This immersion in the culture of past eras became a characteristic form of escapism from Soviet reality.

As a little girl, Ariadna observed her parents at work, spending most of her time in their studio, where numerous friends gathered for long discussions about art. Neither she nor her brother Igor ever questioned that they, too, would follow in their parents’ footsteps and become artists.

In 1986, the family moved to Moscow, where Ariadna continued her education at one of the city’s most rigorous and prestigious institutions—Academic Art School in Memory of 1905. It provided a rigorous classical education, where students were trained in academic techniques, including drawing plaster casts of heads and mastering various artistic methods. During this time, the school fostered an unusual and highly creative environment, as Ariadna studied alongside young artists, many of whom would later become prominent figures in Moscow’s art scene.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, new artistic movements were emerging in Soviet reality, introducing contemporary art into the cultural landscape. Ariadna found herself at the heart of the underground and alternative art scene. In 1993, the art group Phenomenon of Consciousness (FenSo) was founded, with her classmate Anton Smirnsky as one of its founders. Influenced by the group Inspection “Medical Hermeneutics”, FenSo was described by one critic as “the final emanation of Moscow Conceptualism” and became one of the defining artistic movements of the time. Ariadna also studied alongside Alexander Mareev (Lim), one of the most remarkable graphic artists of the 1990s.

In 1989, Ariadna enrolled in the Interior Design Department of the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry. The world around her was changing rapidly borders were opening, contemporary design was emerging, and she was eager to learn how to work with space. This interest was undoubtedly influenced by her parents and her early exposure to monumental art. Her choice of this field for higher education was also shaped by the fact that, in the Soviet Union, the elite artistic circles were predominantly male. Ariadna recalls:

“You had to have a strong character, persistence, and even a bit of boldness to be part of that world. Even if a woman was more talented than a man, she would still struggle to make it. For example, my mother would never have been able to break through on her own. My father was always the provider, the one who made things happen, because monumental commissions—murals, tapestries, and so on—were practically impossible for a woman to obtain.”

At the time, the country was undergoing for transformations—Perestroika had begun in stem lution 1985 under Mikhail Gorbachev, the old was collapsing, and ahead lay the di of the Soviet Union, the turbulent the rise of contemporary art.

At the time, the country was undergoing major transformations-Perestroika had begun in 1985 under Mikhail Gorbachev, the old system was collapsing, and ahead lay the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the turbulent 1990s, and the rise of contemporary art. Students at the Stroganov Academy, including Ariadna and her classmate Andrei Molodkin (now a renowned artist based in France), lived a double life -on one side, they face the rigid, outdated requirements of the Soviet academic system, while the other, they were immersed in Moscow’s thriving underground art scene. This was a time when the first galleries and contemporary art centers opening offering entirely new opportunities and perspectives.

In 1992, Ariadna married and moved to the Netherlands. Seeking to fill the gaps in Soviet education—which at the time was focused exclusively on craftsmanship—she continued her studies at the prestigious Minerva Art Academy in Groningen, graduating in 1995. Her debut works included insect inspired chairs, a card board armchair, and a competition-winning art object that was exhibited at the newly opened Groninger Museum that same year. This experience became a crucial stage in her artistic journey—unlike in Russia, where the emphasis had been on technical mastery, Dutch education prioritized conceptual thinking, project-based approaches, and multimedia experimentation. She began working as a designer but always at the intersection of design and art, transforming functional objects into installations.

In 1997, a joyful event occurred in her family— Ariadna gave birth to her daughter, Marusya.

By the early 2000s, Russia was experiencing a construction boom, and Ariadna became one of the most sought after designers in the country’s new capitalist reality. With the support of her colleague Olga Soldatova, she was invited to work on the design of a new nightclub inside the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow. Unfortunately, the hotel was demolished in 2006, but by then, nightclubs and high fashion boutiques had become the artist’s specialization. Ariadna’s brother, Igor, also worked in the fashion industry and as a DJ in some of Moscow’s most famous nightclubs.

During this period, old connections were rekindled, and Ariadna became acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and figures from Moscow’s bohemian scene, including Pavel Pepperstein, Oleg Kulik—whose image and radical performances later inspired the acclaimed film The Square—and Vladislav Mamyshev- Monroe, in whose projects Ariadna frequently participated.

Back in 1989, in St. Petersburg, the artist Ti-mur Novikov had founded The New Academy of Fine Arts, and one of its most talented members was Vladik Monroe—a performance artist, a one-man orchestra, and a master of ironic transformations in the vein of Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura.

Through these experiences, Ariadna learned to successfully balance her dual careers as an interior designer and an artist. However, she considers fine art to be her true calling.

Style

By the time Ariadna developed her distinctive artistic style—one that can be classified within the broad movement of Neo-Expressionism— she had already undergone eleven years of intensive training. Her background included traditional academic schooling in painting and drawing, a European design education, and extensive experience working across various artistic genres, forms, and techniques, from drawing to installation.

Despite this rich and varied foundation, the artist made an unexpected choice—she turned to an intimate, graphic technique, using staged sessions with a model as her source of inspiration. However, in her interpretation, this method underwent significant transformation. She adopted a highly minimalist yet deeply emotional visual language. Ariadna deliberately abandoned the principle of mimesis—her goal is not to create an accurate depiction of the model but rather to capture an unconscious stream of emotion, a state of being that emerges in dialogue with the model during a posing session. These emotions manifest in abstract anthropomorphic forms.

Her first graphic series, Identity, was created in 2000 and became the starting point of her paired figures. But one constant remains: her expressive, unmistakable line—fluid, alive, pulsating with energy. At times, her lines twist into tangled clusters; at others, they are deli-cate and fragile, barely sketching out an ephemeral, almost vanishing image.

The defining elements of Ariadna’s signature style are her use of line and her stark, minimalist color choices. She frequently employs the contrast of a white sheet of paper with either red (Red series, 2016) or black paint (Black series, 2016–2017). In her more recent works, she has introduced more complex color combinations.

In 2013, Ariadna acquired her now-famous White Studio on Marnixstraat—her place of power—which allowed her to fully immerse herself in her artistic practice.

By 2018, Ariadna’s work had moved further away from its original figurative elements. She exaggerated lines and forms, reducing them to abstract compositions. Her new series, created on larger sheets, feature delicate pen lines interwoven with powerful brushstrokes—reminiscent of Pierre Soulages’ graphic work, the Japanese art of the 1950s–60s, and the pain-tings of Fabienne Verdier.

One of the central themes running like a red thread through Ariadna’s work during this period is the modern human condition—its inner trauma and the unresolved dualism of Eros and Thanatos—the simultaneous pursuit of ecstatic joy and absolute suffering, sexual energy and death, the longing for unity and the inescapable solitude, beauty and grotesqueness.

In her works from 2019, this drama and expression reached their peak. From today’s perspective, they now appear eerily prophetic.

New Perspective

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began, altering life worldwide for two years. During this time, Ariadna moved to the countryside, to a house near Hilversum, surrounded by what was almost a nature reserve. This relocation marked the starting point of a new phase in her artistic practice.

To escape the overwhelming flow of distressing news and anxiety, and to ground herself, Ariadna created a small vegetable garden and began growing her own fruits and vegetables. Spending time in nature, observing plant life, and experiencing the stark contrast between the beauty and harmony of the natural world and the inherently destructive nature of human existence became a new subject of contemplation. This contrast laid the foundation for a new project, where she once again merges painting, photography, and other media.

Her latest painting series, consists of abstract canvases that resemble schematic landscapes. They feature a horizon line and layered planes created with broad, horizontal brushstrokes in black and gray tones.