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

Selfishness — you devote all your free time to your art to the detriment of the people closest to you; vanity — otherwise you work «off the books»; independence from others' opinions — or you will lose yourself in your desire to please someone — definitely help.

Judgment is a hindrance (my brain is telling me that there are more important things to do now, and it's better to spend time on them, not on creativity).


2. What is your favorite activity besides art?

Cooking. And bodybuilding, oddly enough. I'm a professional chef. Cooking for me is a symbiosis of aesthetics and gastronomic bliss. And I love it when it's delicious and beautiful. Food is about art.

The gym helps reset my brain on a physiological level — I don't know how else to live this life. Instead of drugs. It also gives me the opportunity to get better every day and develop not only personally, but bodily as well. It's always cool to be that «mom's friend's son» who is cooler.

"In general my personal motto in life is weak-mindedness and courage."

3. Have you ever had a situation in your life that influenced your art positively/negatively? Or greatly changed the way you look at what you do?

Yes, but it's hard to call it a situation. It's a marriage, and specifically my wife Olya. She paints beautiful canvases. We've been through various difficult twists and turns in life, but she has always continued to paint no matter what. She was the one who motivated me to share my creative ideas, to materialize them and show them to the world, for which I thank her very much.


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

I would like to talk to Van Gogh. I would recommend reading «Letters to Brother Theo» if you like his art. Vincent was an amazing man who felt about the world on a very different level. Maybe even on a painful level, but it's individuals like that who make art history. I would just like to hug him and say thank you. By the way, I even have a tattoo — his signature from one of his paintings.

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

All artifacts of art, in my opinion, are primarily meant to change their creator. They are the product of reflection, of experience, of processing incoming information from the outside world. It's great if they can influence changes in the world. But this is secondary.


6. What do you think the future of contemporary art is?

Art was, is, and will be. And it will always transform, find new spaces to explore, which in turn will make it possible to find new tools and techniques. That's cool.

"It's cool to know that you're doing something that started at the dawn of humanity and will never end."

7. What do you think about the rapidly gaining momentum of NFT? Do you plan to enter this niche?

Some people think NFT is a bubble that's bound to burst soon. But I think NFT is the new space for art. It's just that sometimes it's worth separating the exchanges, the dough and the art. Exchanges will occasionally crash — that's fine. But art from NFT is not going anywhere and will only evolve with the digitalization of society.

In co-authorship with the talented composer Xarvok, I started my NFT-project (we had audiovisual objects), but after February, I gave up. Little by little they are starting to rise back up. I wish I could finish it and drop it already.


8. What is the most valuable thing for you (in the world, in life, in creativity)?

Being able to say with your art: «I see the world like this».