by John Rippo at ESPRESSO
KATYA MEZHOVA
realized she was an artist by the age of 12, when her drawings made a splash
among her family and her school instructors. Born in Moscow on September 29,
1970 to a mixed Russian and Jewish family of notable and intrepid heritage; her
father, Sergei Mezhov, was the Russian national champion of Go, an ancient
board game. Her mother was an esteemed lecturer in Physics to Moscow's up and
coming brightest students. Her revered grandfather was the basis of a character
in Isak Babel's Red Cavalry and her grandmother, with whom Katya immigrated to
the US in 1995, ran the railroad network organization in Southern Russia during
World War II. Her classmates nicknamed her "Schwabra" (Broom) for the
way Katya dealt with adversity--organizational or bi-pedal.
Adversity is the
constant companion of Jewish heritage in Russia, and Katya learned about it
early; this seeded her mind with a desire to thrive elsewhere. Once, she was
caught on the Moscow subway with a cargo of matzoh--from the one bakery in Moscow
permitted to bake it--by a prof at her university department. The discovery of
her partial Jewish heritage pushed her back in her Art studies, and among
classmates. She eventually graduated from university with a degree in textile
design and fabrication. She is the only woman around for miles who comes with
her own loom.
A brighter spot
in Katya's life was music---Russian folk and the jazz dissident musicians
played that circulated clandestinely among friends who bonded over the risks.
Some of her American friends still recall examples of sly tunes that could have
landed youth in jail for possession then; one called Ya Yu Blu' Boogie Woogie,
(I Love Boogie Woogie) was especially frowned on by authority. Among her
Moscow circle, rare music and art was a badge of honor that separated
Intel'yigent from everybody else. This was reinforced in California, where
Katya became a regular at Russian pop-up music gatherings in parks, hosted by
fellow emigres who brought over famous Soviet-era musicians to perform live, in
open air, at campgrounds over weekends. Campers brought families, food, vodka
and discussion, and melody filled the nights. Music bonded the audience, then.
Katya later brought the same outlook to San Diego' s music scene.
When the Soviet
Union ended and Katya's hopes for a brighter future beckoned, Katya took the
opportunity to emigrate to the US in company with her grandmother, arriving in
Atlanta in 1995. Romance took her to San Diego where she's been ever since.
Throughout the years, Katya has worked as a graphic artist and muralist and
creator of large-scale works that adorn walls, mansion interiors and buildings
in San Diego and Los Angeles.
In the past
decade, Katya discovered San Diego's jazz scene and rapidly gained a following
as a respected artist that caught the essence of San Diego's music greats on
their home turf; the stage. Producing perhaps hundreds of drawings of the likes
of Gilbert Castellanos, Milan Zlatkovich, Rob Thorsen, Bob Boss, Jamie
Shadowlight and many others in real
time, she created not only dynamic and livid art, but a unique historical
record of San Diego's contemporary jazz performers that has no known similar
artifact. She caught the tempo of the times as well as the subjects; froze the
essence of the performers' power in the colorful moments of their creation. Her
drawings are as important to the historical record of San Diego as they are to
its cultural record. Beyond that, Katya translates music into color; Bob Boss
remarked on her colorful take of his performance once, only for Katya to tell
him "those are the colors you played".
Like her earlier
years in Russia, Katya used her talents to add beauty to the world around her,
and create a network of those who cultivate aesthetics as self and mutual respect.
The result is a kind of homage to the human spirit, adding some vital
brilliance to what otherwise may be a world reeking of drab conformity.
Happy in her
work, Katya never hesitated to take a front row seat of her own. As Rob Thorsen
put it, "We first met at Panama 66 at the Wednesday night jam sessions.
She was fairly regular there and then branched out to attending venues and
performances all over San Diego with her paint brush in hand. I saw her often
also painting at the Westgate Hotel, Jack and Giulio's Italian Restaurant and
others. She always likes to be able to sit right in front, and having an
obstructed clear view of the musicians--often she would call and asked me to
save a table for her; a true artist!"
And now, Katya's
works are going up for sale.
Katya Mezhova is
fighting a battle against aggressive cancer. Cancer is an expensive disease;
Katya is parting with the work of a decade to buy time for a future. As this is
written, she's framing various works while lying in her hospital bed and
getting them ready for an appreciative public. That public will have a chance
to own the bits of a unique historical record of San Diego's jazz greats at a
fundraiser on May 30, at il Sogno Italiano.
MAY 30, Jazz Jam for Katya: Music, Art, Community;Support Local Artist Battling Cancer
Facebook Go Fund Me effort
