with TD
TD is one of our first guests who started Respect collection.
— Hello Dyark, how is your day?
— In the morning I visited an exhibition with Lichtenstein's artworks. Quite a thing, it's interesting how nice ideas are just on the surface. I was wondering what would Roy of today do. And I just came from the post office getting some cosmetics before doing this. (smiling)
— When was the first time you went to a museum?
— I was 9 years old and very bossy (laughing) and made everyone go and see Leonardo da Vinci's «Mona Lisa» in Saint Petersburg. I was very interested in how he painted it, what was the technique and why he became famous. A bit later I saw «Mona Lisa» and thought he was like Putin - he sees you wherever you are (laughing).
— It is our second interview and it starts with politics as did the first one. You were born in Russia, but in Buddhist culture, how is it different?
— In many things, for instance, people are given names at birth by monks. Monks actually support many social interactions. Like if you are about to have a trip you would go to a monk and he will «open the road» for you, so you will have a safer trip with lesser obstacles.
Mantras are a big thing thing as well. There's a well-known female buddha Tara, which is also a deity people meditate on. So there are 21 mantras assigned to it, one for each problem you might have. That's the common interpretation, but there's a more correct interpretation for the mantras' sounds meaning. It's going to be a long lecture if I dive into it.
To give an example, one of the mantra's «Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha».
— How did it come to starting a collection with us?
— A friend of mine told me. Honestly the idea just came to my mind, while I was reading.
— What were you reading?
— I like Silver Age, so I read something from them from time to time. Also one of the latest books I read was «Secret views of mount Fuji» from Pelevin - a satire on current state of Russian society with start-ups from Skolkovo that monetise even buddhist practices. There are many jokes in the book with some common sense in between.
From the recent I also liked Gabriel García Márquez and «The Night in Lisbon» by Remarque. Also if people who will read this speak Russian they might try books by Lee. To give an idea of what he writes about, one of his books is called "Instruction to human body" where he explains how to use your mind and body properly, which sounds quite basic, but was something that nobody explained me earlier.
— Having noticed you received some new stuff before making the interview, would you mind sharing with our readers what cosmetics do you use?
— There are a few brands I found useful for my skin. One of them is Biologique Recherche, now I'm using their Masque Vivant, Serum and some cream. One of the difficulties with them is that it might be not easy finding them in your town, because the brand has decided to sell their products only directly through their own stores.
Some other guys are Mario Badescu, Sergey Naumov, Perricone MD and Davines.
— If anyone comes to Moscow, what places would you recommend them to visit?
— Oh there are plenty, talking about food I'd say «Cutfish bistro», «Bowlroom»,
«KM20food», «Remy Kitchen Bakery» and if you partied a lot go for Russian dumplings in «Cafe Pushkin».
And if you want some places that are not about food you can go to Garage - museum of contemporary art, right now there is a warning-exhibition about what our future might be like if do not start caring about nature.
Many might know, but I still will mention Tretyakov Gallery that was founded by a Russian entrepreneur Pavel Tretyakov in 19th century and Pushkin's museum.
There are Patriarch Ponds and Gorky Park where you can spend some time closer to nature and if you want to really dive into it go to Losiny Ostrov where you can observe Mooses!
— What would be a pocket-sized present that you would like to receive?
— A ticket to Australia!
— What music do you listen to these days?
— Marvin Gaye «Sexual healing» and Irina Allegrova «Ugonshitsa». Also Rozden «Poca» and 5'nizza «KY».
— Last question, would you share some pictures from your photo album?
— Here are some candies that monks from our buddhist temple give out to visitors:
And here is a wink from the Wonderland:
