1. Which qualities of personality help an artist to make art and which hinder?

I think it is very important for an artist to be able to move intuitively and trust his or her inner feelings. You have to be flexible and, if you get into a dead end, be able to recognize it and readjust. Business skills — the ability to plan and organize your time — are very useful. And, of course, experience.

Sedentariness and self-centeredness are the most impeding. It is very important to constantly strive to develop, to find shortcomings in one's work and look for opportunities to improve it; to study and delve into what others are doing.



2. What is your favorite activity besides art?

I like to skate aggressively. In skateparks, on railings, on parapets. It really unloads me, helps me to clear my head and recharge.

3. Have you ever had a situation in your life that influenced your art positively/negatively? Or greatly changed your views on what you do?

There was a case. That situation led me to what I'm doing now.

I had been painting graffiti for a long time and over time I began to turn it all into abstraction. There was a lack of foresight and a lot of conceit in me at the time. For some reason I thought it was something special and very interesting. So, I accumulated a couple of years' worth of works and decided to exhibit them. The reactions of the audience were pretty bland: these works didn't affect anyone, people didn't see the relevance in them. During the same period, in parallel with the creative line, I actively painted etudes from life. They provoked a far greater response from people than creative works.

After that exhibition I got upset. Somehow I realized the dead-end of this direction. I put graffiti aside and focused my creativity on landscapes. Those images that are understandable not only to me, but also to the viewer. To make the works more interesting, I began to supplement them, to introduce different characters. I continue to move in the vector I caught back then, and I am very glad it has happened this way.

4. Who would you like to talk to about any person who has ever lived or is living now? Why this particular person?

I had never thought about it before. The first name that came to mind is Vasily Kandinsky. I reread his books «On Spiritual Art», «The Point and the Line on the Plane» and «The Steps» twice each. Both times I was very impressed by the books and had a lot of fresh thoughts in my head. He was a cool guy, it would have been interesting to talk to him and show him my works.

5. How does your art change the world, the culture, and yourself?

I think my art allows the viewer to look at familiar things from an unfamiliar angle. At least that's what I'm striving for. I won't say anything about the cultural component, I don't think it's for me to judge.

Art educates me: it shapes my taste, my viewpoint and my way of thinking. My creative work has a huge influence on decision-making, the organization of time and leisure.

6. What do you think the future holds for contemporary art?  

There's a lot of talk right now about everything going digital, that artists will be displaced by neural networks, etc. All this stuff is positioned as the future. I don't believe that. I believe that contemporary art has changing themes, fashion, new media and techniques, but the essence and principles will always remain the same.

'Tangible things, and art in particular, give people great pleasure. No matter how technology develops, traditional techniques will remain relevant as long as there is customer demand for them. People are in no hurry to part with material objects.'

7. What do you think about NFT, given recent developments?

I haven't had any success with NFT, but I know some really cool guys who stopped being commercial illustrators and became freelance artists thanks to NFT. They have their niches firmly planted, and they won’t go anywhere. What I really want is for the speculators and the many easy money seekers to «go somewhere». This market is severely overloaded with such people. I'm sure NFT isn't going anywhere, despite crypto's such a big drop in price. I support the view that this decline is temporary.

'I really wish all these sellers of generative «Twitter» avatars would scatter and artists would start running the industry.'

8. What is most valuable to you (in the world, in life, in people)?

I think the greatest value is the product of human activity. It is great to do something good. Something that makes your life and the lives of others more interesting, happier, helps and fills the days with meaning. After all, everything that happens around is a collection of meanings and ideas that are broadcast by different people. It's cool to feel part of this flow, to feel your influence on it.

I appreciate it in people. It's great when a person brings something to the world.