A blank canvas: how an unlovely Macau house became a whimsical art cave

That can also be true in houses – there’s, literally, a seam that runs through the Bessmertny residence where they’ve added space (note: with government permission) to the original structure.

The builders wanted to smooth the surfaces so you couldn’t see the join. No, said the couple; and every now and then, Gala pats the two textures of wall to emphasise the contrast.

In the same way, the builders longed to remove some of the rock against which the now 3,230 sq ft (300 square metres), three-bedroom house was built. The couple halted that, too. As a result, a great knobble of granite, like the limb of a dinosaur, pokes into the garden room on the ground floor.

“Don’t you feel we are in a cave?” asks Gala, delighted.

Well, not exactly. As readers may be aware, Konstantin is a well-known artist and his distinctive work (also full of contrasts – funny, furious, religiously informed, profane, miniature, enormous) fills the house alongside artistic compilations of his mother’s icons.

Gala is a concert pianist, now music teacher, who gives master classes for advanced students. Their dinner parties are famous. These are highly cultured, extremely sociable, much-travelled troglodytes.

When they first saw the house at the end of 2004, it was empty, unlovely and the coastal road, sprinkled with graffiti and broken glass, felt isolated. Their Macau friends were appalled.

A Hong Kong home with New York vibes – stunning views and all

The family – they have two children, Max, who was then 16 and Sasha, then seven – were renting a pleasant, 4,000 sq ft (372 square metre) apartment on Taipa.

But Konstantin, who estimates he’s moved studio 14 times since he came to Macau in 1992, was looking for somewhere settled to work. Meanwhile, Gala wanted somewhere to entice, then entertain, the appalled friends. They had to marry those desires.

“Every house describes the conflict – no, not conflict,” begins Konstantin.

Discussion? He nods, with a grin.

“Between husband and wife. The wife wants to make it cosy with flowers. It’s a pendulum.” There were also, he says, many … discussions with Macau’s starchitect, Carlos Marreiros (carlosmarreiros.com), who handled the 18-month project. “He’s a creative, too, so in the end it’s two artists working together.”

It was Marreiros who suggested the fortress-like front entrance, which echoes the wall holding back the rocky slope opposite.

It gives the house a stern, no-nonsense appearance; a passer-by would never guess that behind the copper door (another Marreiros suggestion) there exists a whimsical land populated by riotous sinners and saints, knights and gamblers, Karl Marx and Napoleon.

The idea was to be minimalist. Each of the four floors – the garden room in the basement, the sitting/dining/kitchen area on the lower ground, the studio/bedroom at entrance level, the other bedrooms above that – was supposed to be one open space. Partitions have crept in but the basics have survived.

“Practicality comes first,” says Konstantin. “Everything decorated is out.” So the floor is polished concrete and the track lighting resembles a gallery.

“I advise everyone to do this,” he says. “You can focus on what you want and put in shadow things like cables and electrical equipment.”

Such simplicity had its initial appeal. “There was a smell of paint and we slept on mattresses and we were the happiest people in Southeast Asia,” recalls Gala. “And we tried to keep this but, of course … life is intensive.”

They’re speaking on the open-tread staircase, which zigzags up and down all four floors, under a French chandelier – a gift from Maria Rhomberg, whose husband, Christian, was the founder of Hong Kong’s Kee Club (which opened in 2001 and closed in 2017), where Konstantin’s work used to be on display.

He holds up one of its dangling orbs to demonstrate how it magically inverts a large 2003 canvas, Portrait of a man in knightwear, on the wall. “I’m not a big fan of that masculine painting,” remarks Gala.

She points to Konstantin’s Victoria and Albert’s Secret opposite, in which Her Majesty reigns over an unlikely assortment of figures, not all of whom are fully dressed. “To balance it, I put my choice and they face each other.”

From 4 bedrooms to 1, a Japanese-inspired apartment for couple and dog

This is how it works in the house. A harmonious blend is created (rather like the birds in their seaside garden that, she believes, start repeating the notes when she opens the windows and plays the piano).

There was no need for discussion about the kitchen. Both knew it would have a central island, a magnet to draw guests together. An Italian friend, Arnaldo Acconci, son of the sculptor and architect Oseo, whose works are dotted around Macau, gave them the Carrara marble.

It was so beautiful that Gala could hardly bear to touch it until she was told it must become spotted and speckled with oil and wine. Then it became her canvas.

No boring plates on boring mats, she insists; for Hong Kong design company Faux, Konstantin did a set of plates based on the seven deadly sins so that every gluttonous, delicious meal begins with laughter.

It turns out it hasn’t been Konstantin’s last studio; he bought one in Hong Kong’s Chai Wan in 2015 and he works there during the week. Macau is for weekends, a return to base where his artistry – the painted violins and suitcases and doll’s-house tiny vases and many paintings – fills the eye.

Just in case an onlooker might think he hasn’t been true to his design first principles, he insists, “It’s not decoration, it’s storage!” Gala murmurs, “Konstantin – no!”

Later, she says, “My home is here. My heart is here.” In a corner of the kitchen, near the teaware she loves to collect, she’s placed a spray of flowers.

He prefers minimalism; she likes colour and quirks. Designer manages both

Living area

In the sitting/dining/kitchen area – above the basement but one floor down from street level – the piano (“tropical version”) was from Tom Lee Music (tomleemusic.com.hk) in Hong Kong; the violins were sourced, and painted, separately over the years as part of Konstantin’s series “The Art of Self Defence”.

The sofa, round glass table and lamp next to the fireplace were all bought at a design furniture shop, now closed. The cushions come from Jim Thompson (jimthompson.com) in Bangkok, Thailand. The rugs are from a Beijing antiques shop.

The red plate is Portuguese; the bronze horse and the other ceramics were all created by Konstantin. The fireplace was made to order in a stone workshop in Zhongshan.

Studio

Gala Bessmertnaia and Konstantin Bessmertny contemplate his Journey to the East (2021) in the studio, on the entrance level of the house. Although he now mostly works in his Hong Kong studio, he reverted to painting in Macau during Covid-19.

The wall behind includes some works from his 2022 “Napoleon in Exile on Koh Samui” series.

Kitchen

The chairs and wall cabinets came from now-closed shops. The balcony chairs were from Ikea (ikea.com.hk). The vase is an antique; the Lefard tea set was bought in London.

Dining area

Before Venus in front of the mirror (2021) is a table custom made in Zhongshan. The chairs were bought many years ago in one of Macau’s antiques shops. The bowl was made by Japanese artist Kenji Omori and bought at Sin Sin Fine Art in Hong Kong (sinsinfineart.com).

Sitting room detail

In a corner of the sitting room, on the lower ground floor, is a smaller replica of a fireplace at the Villa Medici in Rome. Konstantin sketched it and had it made in Zhongshan. On its ledge is a cluster of vases from his doll’s-house series. The 2022 painting is English Breakfast. The painting above the armchair (from a closed furniture shop) is In Vino Veritas (2011).

Garden

The garden table and benches were designed by Konstantin and Gala and made in Zhongshan years ago. The sofas came from Taobao (taobao.com). The plates and orchid pots were bought at the Red Market in Macau’s Santo António district.

Staircase

The chandelier, thought to be about a century old, was bought in a European market by the late Maria Rhomberg, who gifted it to the couple. The painting on the left is Chinese Opera (2004); on the right is Portrait of a man in knightwear (2003); below is Bathers, landscape and little people (circa 1993), all by Konstantin.

Guest bedroom

The guest bedroom, behind the studio at the entrance level of the house, has a Tibetan rug, bought in Beijing, a chair from Ikea and an antique typewriter bought at a Macau flea market.

All the works, including vase, violin and luggage, are by Konstantin and include the wall paintings (from top to bottom on the left): Secret Society of the Bald (2020), Mosquito (2020) and View of Macau, which he painted in 1993, and is one of his first works there. The boy in the 1995 portrait is Max, painted by his father.

Bathroom

The bathroom on the top floor, off the main bedroom, was designed by Gala and Konstantin. The fittings came from various Macau shops. It’s the only bare-walled room in the house but eventually, as Gala says, “We’re going to put some waterproof art in there.”

Tried + tested

Konstantin Bessmertny sculpted a sandstone dragon’s head to disguise a copper pipe splashing water into an outdoor basin bought in Zhongshan. As Gala says, it looks as if it’s smoking a cigar. “We don’t want anything normal!”