Züchtigung (punishment or chastisement) is the theme of Alina’s drawings, set in a wide variety of contexts from classroom to ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ scenarios.
In 2007 the Russian connoisseur of spanking art Зарегистрирован (‘Registered User’) wrote an insightful commentary on Alina’s art on the blog Преступление и наказание (Crime and Punishment), which you can visit here. He wrote:
There are quite a lot of amateur artists who draw spanking, but I singled out Alina right away. Despite her lack of technique, her mistakes in perspective and anatomy, her naïve manner of drawing faces, you can see such sincerity, emotion, and an ability to create a narrative.
Naïve, childish – yes. But powerful, clean, and artistic. Joyful, vibrant colours, sincerity of experience, a kind of childish happiness from the fact that we all exist in the world.
Some figures are clearly redrawn from photographs. I’m reminded of Henri Rousseau, who also never learned to draw, and copied the figures of people and animals on his canvases from children’s books using a pantograph. So what’s the difference? The true task of the artist is to create a new, emotionally compelling reality.
Perhaps Alina’s work is so attractive precisely because the children's pencil technique immediately takes us back to those times, where the roots of our innocent preoccupations are hidden.
So do not immediately reject these naïve drawings. Ignore how the faces are drawn and how long the arms and legs are. Try not just to look at these works, but also to feel them.