Glasgow-Russia

I was admiring this painting in a Glasgow gallery , (MacGregor Fine Art) this afternoon and I remarked to the owner that it reminded me of a Beryl Cook.

"Far better," he said.
Clearly he did not want his gallery to be associated with this populist English painter.

"Who is she?"

"Elena Kourenkova - a Russian artist living in Glasgow."

In fact, I discovered she has been in Glasgow for a number of years having trained as an architect in Moscow and worked as an interior designer before relocating to Glasgow.

Scotland does have long historical links with Russia and

Glasgow is twinned with Rostov-on-Don.


But I have no idea how big a Russian community there is in the city, though it does have the first and only Russian Restaurant in Scotland.

The Cossachok, opened in 1998, is one of the cultural focal points in the city with is gallery and regular musical events.

And the Sharmanka Kinetic theatre , a collective founded in St Petersburg in 1989, moved to Glasgow in 1996 .

Their animated sculptures complete with sound are amazing and are very popular with the public.

All this passed through my mind when the gallery owner said the artist whom I admired was a Russian living in the city.