Artist Roman Minin: "Of the many topics of silence here, I choose one topic of conversation there"

October 2014

Young Ukrainian artist Roman Minin, 33, has vividly and actively made himself known in Kyiv, Moscow and Europe. His style is immediately recognizable and has been appreciated by many experts. "The Plan of Escape from the Donetsk Region" project, built on the memories of his hometown and filled with mining symbolism, was nominated for the PinchukArtCentre Prize, and the work "Award for Silence," as well as his other creations on this topic, are successfully sold at Phillips auction.

I would like to ask about the artist technique in which you create. How did it appear?

In a state of creative flow it is fun to play with any materials. In this state we experience fullness of life, and we think that the outcome of the game will certainly be in demand as well as the process itself. But, alas, in reality, this is seldom true.

This applies to all genres of art. It is important to be in the flow, to search for the harmony of form and content, it is always there. Once I accidentally broke pictures printed on a foam board, so I have glued three broken pictures into one. The result was a layered graphics. A simple technique, but apparently I lacked it before. Thus, in the working process, I have found the right sound for new works. Now I continue to experiment with more expensive modern materials, with stained glass, it has its own specifics and nuances and discoveries.

Miners, helmets, hammers, lights... How long do you plan to create images of the "miners folklore" series ?

As one respected artist Oleg Tistol told me: "The world is huge, no matter how many miners you would have drawn, there still won't be enough, so go on while you can". And I go on. How long will it last — I don't know. I have long been living for the day. I'm interested in improving my genre.

Your social project dedicated to the Donetsk children, what is it?

It's simple. I want to paint walls with them, motivate them to be creative, open the world to them, not just the immediate world around them, but also to tell how big and interesting it is. To motivate children from an early age to expand not only the imagination, but also their geography. To help them to "catch a wave" in a state of flow, and to see their place in the universal ocean of information.

It matters just to talk about this, not necessarily to do. We must pay more attention to the children, to have someone to restore Donbass.

With success abroad, what creative ideas do you want to realize in Ukraine and in the world?

I'm ready to make large objects, stained glass, murals. I'm only interested in complex and large-scale projects, the more complex the task is, the more interesting it is to solve. I plan to work only abroad for the time being. Of the many topics of silence here, I choose one topic of conversation there, I will talk about transmonumentalism.

What is art for you?

Mathematics of patterns, hacking of cultural codes, followed by flashing, generator of random revelations. This is a game, which rules are conveyed only through a look... into the mirror, into the world.

You have interesting street art projects, tell us about them.

There was a successful experience in Perm, where I painted "Homer with Homer" on the wall of the school. Just funny and not stupid idea, simply and quickly graphically executed, became one of the symbols of the city. Three years later I have spent the winter in Kharkiv and had no money even for the subway, walking around the city on foot, and in the period of acute depression comes a letter from Banksy, which asks permission to sell the picture with Homer in their stores. He sent me an advance fee of £1000 so I spent the winter comfortably.

Another successful project was in Helsinki. In the complex negotiations with the local city officials, organizers of the street arts festival have bargained conditions: work only under the bridges, do not use paint and clean up after yourself. But it was funny and interesting. With Alexei Yorsh, an artist from Russia, we have found a solution to this problem. We bought flour at the store, cooked flour paste and used it to paste paper. Yorsh was pasting paper, while I made a drawing. I used A4 sheets found in the trash, and documents printed from WikiLeaks website (because I was making Snowdens portrait). The result was a beautiful street art: bear under the bridge licks cheek of the guy in ushanka. All this comes from a pun: Snowden translates from English as "snow den". Meanwhile, an old man passing by on a bicycle got talking with us, he really liked it, and it turned out that he was minister of culture. It's funny, but then we all got awards and we were promised that our works of art will be protected.

How it all started? When did you see yourself as an artist?

I don't have this moment in my memory, because I don't remember how I was born. But what do I feel when I cease to be an artist — that I know! They don't talk about it, as if this does not happen, but I will say: it happens! But it differs from person to person. Some live by imitating being in this "artist" state, while others simply have not noticed how they cooked and they are not even imitating, they are surprised that they have ceased to be of interest to society. Actuatlity comes and goes, but the drive is eternal. If there is a drive and passion, then there is a game, artist's game, painter's game. When it is fun to play for him, it is fun to watch for others. Artists are born. We are a phenomenon of nature.

Author: Dmytro Struk