But as my mother and father were honest and hard working; they gained respect and recognition.

I grew up immersed in my grandmother's stories about the rule of the tsar and the events after the 1917 revolution that led to him and his family being executed.

My best memory from that time was when I was about 12 and going to a Black Sea international camp after winning a young artists' contest.

It was nearly impossible for a kid from a family like mine without connections to go to the camp; you also needed to be well off and invited.

It was the first time that I was able to mix with foreign kids and drink Pepsi Cola, which wasn't generally available in Russia then. We did sculpture and paintings, and I won three or four first prizes.

From the age of seven I'd had the nickname 'artist' and my first solo show was when I was 12, so I never had any doubt about what I would do professionally.

When I was 11 my mother enrolled me in art school, where I went several afternoons a week. It was there that I was taught all the disciplines related to art.

I loved sculpture but we were also taught the history of art, the technology of materials, and so on. I also learned to draw based on a traditional 17th-century system. I think you need that connection with the past in order to move into the future.

Overall, I was always lucky to have great teachers around during all my studies. The worst aspect - and I realised it even then - was political studies, because of the communist 'propaganda machine' and the feeling of being brainwashed.

There were fun times though. I have this amusing memory of my younger brother, who wrote an essay about who he wanted to be. He began by saying he wanted to be in charge of Russia, like the then-president Leonid Brezhnev.

My brother wrote: 'He doesn't have to work and lives an easy life travelling around in good cars.' My mother almost lost her teaching job as a result of it, but we had a good laugh over it behind closed doors at home.

I liked playing ice hockey and football, and later as a teenager tried my hand at Greek-style wrestling. Actually it helped a lot as you always had to deal with the bullies who lay in waiting for those of us on our way to art school.

I was 16 when I went on to study art, first at Khabarovsk, a town 1,000km away from home. It was shockingly different from all my previous school experiences.

I found it difficult to admit that everything I'd studied before was just 'children's art' and had nothing to do with professional art. I found I had to forget everything and go back to study the basics again.

Later I went on to Vladivostok Academy of Fine Art, where I'd originally wanted to go but had initially lacked the experience.

I think if I could repeat those times again, I'd love to have met my grandfather.

I always felt I was surrounded by lots of women growing up and having a grandfather would somehow have made it a perfect family.

I'd also like to be taught the real history of what happened in Russia. Having said that, brainwashing is a part of any political system, even a democratic one.

I have found that any aspiring artist needs to be able to think well if they decide to choose it as a subject.

As for me, I seriously believe that all the best the world has ever produced is art-related. I also love the creative process.

I came to Macau in 1992 with a Russian gallery to do a show on contemporary Russian art. It was followed by a one-year contract with the same gallery and bit by bit it has become extended year by year.

I've realised many outside people live like this in these parts and strangely, now, when we've been away, I find it feels like I'm coming home.