Rory: Actually, to be honest, No... Not now. I try to be cultured and sophisticated but these days it's all just lost on me... just seeing old things constantly.
Maria: Have you ever been to an art gallery, Rory?
Rory: Yes. As part of this effort to be cultured and sophisticated. I went to the Tretyakov gallery and I saw different portraits and landscapes which were quite nice. But like I say, it wouldn't have been my first choice of a place to go.
Maria: Did you take art classes when you were a child?
Rory: No I didn't take art classes but I was quite good at drawing when I was younger. I'm not so good at drawing now unfortunately. Although, I think this is quite a common thing that people were good at drawing and now they're not so good at drawing
Maria: Are there any paintings on the wall in your bedroom?
Rory: I suppose it depends which bedroom you're talking about. I have two. My bedroom at my apartment in Moscow doesn't have any artwork on it at all but it does have pictures of my friends and memories from my time in Moscow and before I came here.
Maria: I thought you have a portrait of me hanging on your wall.
Rory: I don't have any portraits of you. I'm sorry...
Maria: I'm devastated now. That's it. Rory has officially broken my heart.
Rory: I hope you'll recover soon... However back home I do have comic strips on the walls of my bedroom in Scotland. And there are some, sort of, abstract collages of different parts of my hometown as well. So I suppose what I don't have in Moscow I compensate for when in Scotland with where I live there.
Maria: This is so cute. Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions from speaking part three. OK? Rory, let's talk about arts and crafts. Why do people undervalue art?
Rory: Well, I think in my case I undervalue it because I don't really have the time to appreciate it. I suppose if I had more time then I would be able to appreciate it more, basically, and then value it more... But for other people, maybe they just have a different mindset. For example, they care more about their relationships with people than they care about looking at sort of abstract artwork for example.
Maria: Are artistic skills innate, do you think?
Rory: Initially yes. Because like I say, When I was younger I was quite good at drawing and then a lot of my friends were good at drawing as well. And I hear people saying this that they start off being good at drawing, but if they don't take classes to maintain it then they lose this ability over time. So yeah, I actually think so when you start out but then you lose them over time.
Maria: What's the difference between good and bad art?
Rory: For me I think good art is something that makes you think. This applies to all good art. And there are some pieces of good art which... I don't know how they should do this, but they should stop you in your tracks and make you just go wow! This is an amazing piece of artwork! This can be accomplished in different ways. For me it's admiring beautiful representations of people and some landscapes but for other people it could be something like watching battle scenes, for example. So it depends... But that's the effect it should aim to achieve if it's to be considered good art.
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