q)Walk
us through an intimate day in your life.
a)It
was quite a long time ago. My friend and
teacher, famous photographer Boris Mikhailov (winner of Hasselblad prize) used
to constantly criticize my works, even tear them down. Once I made a very
intimate project “Adultery”. It was dedicated to the theme of evolution of the
psychology of a man living two lives – one with his wife and another with his
mistress. Boris looked at it very precisely, then he hugged me and
congratulated with a great job.
q)Where
did you grow up/where do you live now and how does that contribute to your art?
a)I
was born and still live in Kharkiv. I identify with the Kharkiv School
q)What
is your earliest memory that propelled you to create?
a)I
was nurtured in a very intelligent family. Since childhood I was deeply
interested in music, dances, I was spending a lot of my time on reading, movies
and theatre. While I was in my adolescent ages film directing and acting
classes were absorbing all my time. Thus I can say that since my childhood I
was into the creativity.
q)Tell
us a little bit about your creative process.
a)My
art is a three-way junction of ideologized Sots Art, deeply private
conceptualism, and frighteningly simple realism.
As
an artist, I study personal relationships in various social environments. Sometimes
a snapshot is just raw material, and I come up with a complex system of image
processing to turn a realistic photograph into an epic installation. I use
individual shots like puzzle pieces to create a single picture, a single
exhibit-worthy organism.
q)How
do you wish for your art to be perceived?
a)I
would like my works to be interpreted by recipients. With new project I create
my own secret language. The code to it lies in sensitivity. It is crucial for
the recipient to feel firstly, and through that feeling to comprehend my art.
q)What
do your internal dialogues sound like?
a)I
am in the constant search for the striking and actual ideas that will touch
everybody. I suggest letting go of the purported credibility of a captured fact
and rewriting, reimagining events through the prism of personal experiences,
which are always true, being given us here and now. Contemporary photography is
a reflection of social relations and a study of life’s various facets. A
contemporary artist is a blend of the social and the personal in exact
proportions.
q)Do
you feel that there are limitations to what you want to create?
a)I
understand that I irritate a lot of people because of the provocative character
of my pictures. They are brutal, scandalous and erotic. And people tend to so
called mental inertia, thus are used to clichés in art.
If
a person spends all his life on fashion magazines, Hollywood
movies and visits of the photo amateurs forums it is normal that one’s taste is
in a very poor level. As result – people do not understand contemporary art. It
is common today that people, without any qualification and education, let
themselves judge contemporary art.
My
art is not a pop-culture, it is not for big auditory. I understand that there
won’t be big lines for my exhibitions.
Do
I have any taboo? Yes. In 1988 I made one of the biggest mistakes in my
professional life. I created erotic pictures with using religious symbols. It
was not made on purpose, I just thought that it will work. It affected my
personal life in a very negative way. So I have promised myself not to sin in
art.
q)Do
you feel art is vital to survival and if so, why?
a)I
believe that contemporary art, as it is today, has to be in high demand. It
gives visual picture of all the contradictions between political and social
institutes. Today an artist is the one who has to ring the bells of liberty and
democracy.
q)Describe
a world without art.
a)As
a famous French novelist Honore de Balzac once said, “All humanity is passion;
without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual”. I
couldn’t describe it better.
q)Tell
us a secret, and obsession.
a)Look
at my pictures and I'm sure you will find the answer.
q)Where
can people see more of your work on the internet?
