Last week I was aked to share on my blog a little more information about me as an illustrator/painter. I got 5 tricky questions (just kidding) from a fellow artist Patience Brewster . Hopefully the answers are informative and who knows, maybe even interesting :)
1. As a child, do you recall a significant moment when
you felt truly affected or inspired by any particular artwork or artist?
I don't think there was such a specific moment. Almost since I was born I've been constantly surrounded by
books about art and I really
loved to browse through them. My favorite ones were those about Old Masters:
Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. I have a mathematical brain, so complicated designs of Piranesi's
prisons and technical thoughts of da Vinci made an enormous impression on me.
2. As an artist, what do you hope to convey with your
work?
I'm fairly introverted, so my personal works are
results of an inner pressure to capture what's happening in my mind. Especially
in the past I loved to retreat into my inner world and imagine wandering
through unknown realms and fantastical buildings. Painting was helping me to
make them more "touchable" and real somehow. It may sound kind
of egoistically, but I wasn't thinking about potential viewers back then.
Nowadays personal projects are largely sidelined in favor of commissioned artworks and in these cases I'm just making the best illustrations I can.
3. What memorable responses have you had to your work?
Most of responses I get are really worth remembering so I
regret I don't have a better memory...
Probably the most (literally) memorable response is a
tattoo based on my "Butterflies Tree", which one brave girl have
on her back. She sent me a photo. Impressive!
In general it's really uplifting when my works are perceived
as useful somehow. For example when they take someone on a trip to imaginative
places and help to forget about real-life problems for a while.
Recently I was really
glad to receive this comment: "There's a stark, grim chill present
in your work that feels almost like Dr. Seuss, Edward Gorey and Edgar Allan Poe
had a baby."
4. What is your dream project?
One of them is related with my personal paintings and
it's kind of secret :)
The second one would be making environment and
architectural designs for some big projects: movies or complex video games. It
would be great to see how, in cooperation with other specialists, ideas
initially captured on two-dimensional sheets of paper are getting alive.
5. What artists, of any medium, do you admire? (Famous
or not!)
My favorite
painter was, is and always will be Zdzisław Beksiński. Actually his paintings
inspired me to study Architecture (just like he did). Moreover on my list there are previously mentioned Old Masters. Finally I must also name Caspar David Friedrich and Lars Lerin due to their technical skills and an unique atmosphere
in their works.
I'm always so impressed by your very accurate and careful detailing and lines, so that you have a mathematical brain makes a lot of sense!
ReplyDeleteBut I got so surprised to hear you mentioning one of my favorite artists; Lars Lerin, almost no one of my Swedish friends even know about him! I met him once and he's really kind too!:)
I tried to recall how I came across Lars Lerin's works, but I actually can't :) . Anyway I suppose that he is one of the most well known living swedish artists. I saw a few interviews with him and read his book "Naturlära" (amazing collection of works!). He seems to be a really nice person indeed. Lucky you!
DeleteI confirm you that this interview is very interesting. One of your sentence particularly reminds me my feeling about drawings. When you said "Painting was helping me to make them more "touchable" and real somehow", it's exactly what I feel when I make fashion drawings, it's like as if I can really have in my hands the clothes I want to have.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Lars Lerin and Beksinski but I'm going to have a look at their works.
So you're interested in designing clothes (I visited your blog so I noticed that :)). Have you ever tried to sew something yourself? It's an extincting ability.
DeleteWorks of both Lerin and Beksinski are very "serious", but I just love this atmospehere, even if my works have more in common with illustrations than fine art.
Yes, I love drawing clothes ! It's one of my passion. I've never tried to sew something, but I would like to be able to do that. I made some cuddly toys using crochet but that's all.
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