Alexey Shahov (Lyokha)
POP ART / BLACK HOLE
Most likely the beginning was from the moment when I was stuck with pop art for the same Andy Warhol. I don't mean it in a bad way but there are things like you'll see Salvador Dali for the first time and you think to yourself HoLY fUCk but then at some point, you outgrow him. As if at this moment you already have everything in principle, as it were, you understand that many are stuck at this moment as pop art and other styles. But you are no longer interested.
I don't want to do something obvious so that you are compared with a certain style, you want to do something of your own.
RESEARCH
I am amazed and attracted by artists who can read something like some type of theory, see, hear, feel compassionate to a political issue and make their own reaction out of it.
Right now I am very fascinated by 3D sculpting but lately, I experience that most of my influence comes from sculptures such as Constantin Brancusi, ancient, primitive culture, traditional African masks...
VENUS itself, for example, is a big influence of mine (We have a moment to agree that it is presented in the disproportions in his art)
You form your objectivity on the principle of some kind of research. Roughly speaking, I collect within myself. The problem is also that you collect and collect this material and then you find out that you do not have time for it.
It's cool to have it but at the same time, it starts to load you, pollute the brain.
''KATYa''
(In the books, that he shows me you rarely see a typical goat or a realistic bird or even a person they are all deformed)
Here someone takes and draws some person from his life or someone whom he noticed like ''Katya'' from the street. And he still can deform that person but it is still that ''persona'' they envisioned in the end. But for me, it is still sculptures.
My characters exist only in my head. They do not have a gender they are feminine with touches of masculine and way around works the same. It just naturally happens like that. I am trying to be neutral and combine them with different forms and shapes, but this is not enough for me. Eventually, I still want to make some type of figure, they are just based on all the images of hybrid creatures or gods of that time, May sculptures, antique sculptures it is rather a mythology.
PROCESS
My process starts from playing in Photoshop for an hour or so freehand sketching on the touchpad with my right hand - I am left-handed. Then projecting it on canvas or paper and lastly cutout temples. Through templates, I create layers and then spray gradient.
The only thing that makes a ''concept'' in my work is that their conceptual combines B2 paper and monochrome. Monochrome simply looks great. But maybe I don't have a feeling for the colour palette and colour grading. Finding that shade takes a lot of material and time. With monochrome, you do not need to come up with something else you have one spray and that's it.
Concepts or a pre-story as a whole does not exist in my paintings - Shapes exist
I don't treat my B2 paintings on a paper as posters.
WHERE IS THEIR PLACE
Of course, I would like to see my pieces more often in galleries, but primarily they should be in living spaces among people. It creates a more personal relationship between me and the audience.
Often artists right now showcase their work in different cafes and this type of ''decorative spaces'' But it somehow scares me.
when the price is included somehow doesn't look right.
It reminded me that the only drawing teacher I had advised me never to give ur paintings to showcase in restaurants or cafes if they are not purchased by them. I run by that rule.
MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH
(As a last question before a little blitz I asked Alexey, How does he think he helps artists around him think outside the box? )
Now David Cap comes to my mind. When we started collaborating with him he told me I motivated him to go back and create canvases as for a while he was focused on tattooing primarily. He doesn't waste time at all dude. Very hardworking person. And after our conversation and collaboration in a couple of months, he found himself a studio and began to paint creating new abstractive canvases so I suppose I motivated him.
If you could be asked any question. What question would you like to answer?
Nobody has asked such a question yet.
The soundtrack of life ?
Overall I think it would be Daft Punk
Bad habit
Still fighting with cigarettes
It seems to me that the most motivating thing is that someone does not stop working. And you can see that through tools such as social media. This is not a one-time impulse.
