Art guide with BURSA
Kolya is our first hero in Sharing is Caring column. His nice workshop named Cloaca and located in the basement of an old house on Spasskaya Street which is a 5-minute walk from BURSA. Outwardly Cloaca looks like the center of Pompidou, but with the grey pipes instead of colored. Kolya’s works are distinguished by an unusual technique that vaguely resembles Fauvism, Futurism, and Modernism at the same time. He often uses different unusual tools for his works, such as old pans, doorknobs, and useless scrap metal.
Why did you name your workshop Cloaca?
- Cloaca - because Victor Hugo said that cloaca - is the conscience of the city. The workshop is based in the basement, close to the sewer, and any sewer is a cloaca. Even the cleanest sewage system remains cloaca.
What is the name of the style in paintings?
-Frankly speaking, I don’t know. Art critics can define it, artists don’t define their styles. I would call it futurism, but in general, futurism is everything. So it says nothing about my style. Because futurism is about the future, on the other hand, all contemporary art is future-oriented, now it can be vague and incomprehensible but at some time it will be appropriate. Art critics classify art, find trends, main motives because artists don't name styles, they only create them.
Previously, my style was called Rearguard – that means something behind. The point is that this is an appeal to old traditions. To the traditions of medieval painting, fresco painting, but the fact is that then all artists work in the direction of the Rearguard, because everyone turns to the past, you can only stand on what already exists. That's all.
What do you think about conceptual art?
- I believe that fine art is a craft. Among the ancient Greeks, artists did not consider drawing an art; it was considered as a craft. You create something with your own hands and your object is tangible. Art in ancient Greek is 'techno', that means 'technique'.
Most conceptual art is installations, sometimes not even made by the artist. They do not create anything, they just invent something with their heads and calls it art. You can come up with a concept from everything. This erases the line of what can be called art. If you have created something with your own hands, this is art. You may like it or not, but the person did it himself.
Link on Kolya's Facebook page