It is very important to do things sincerely, otherwise the space will just spit out your creation

Is it difficult to drag you out of Odessa?

Work is what usually drags me out. Today in Kyiv I will visit the factory to check a fountain that is being cast now for Odessa. I work in different fields, and even if there is no work I make it up for myself. When I have nothing to do I experience withdrawals and dizziness.

So how did it all start?

My wife doesn’t like this story at all. When I was about 8 months old, I was a restless child and always demanded something from people around me. And one time, according to my mother, I suddenly got quiet. They went to check and found me sitting in my crib and modelling something with my own poop. My parents called me a sculptor, only now I do it in a more conscious way.

In my youth I dreamed of going beyond the horizon, seeing different countries. My father was a shipmaster. I did it when I was eighteen. I saw different nations. I like travelling but love of art is stronger.

I always tell Masha (Masha Reva, Mikhail’s daughter – editor’s note) that on the one hand it is a very difficult occupation because it is rather hard to find balance with one’s self, and without it one should better not even start. But on the other hand, it is an unreal and fantastic world you make up and share with others.

Why sculpture?

It is a long and complex process. Every time I have a deep diving: first impulses must match the last ones and then everything works out. But one must walk this way. It takes a year and a half to two years. And in our modern pace of life it is not a luxury, it is impossible. But it is so. All these processes, preparations, physical efforts. Right now I am creating a fountain for the Greek Park, and during one month and a half I had 750 kilos of modelling clay going through my hands. And it is not about mixing it. You must model it!

Does it ever happen that the project has been launched and you suddenly change your mind?

Rules are rigid here. It is necessary to think everything through in terms of emotions and space and take into account all finer details. It is not even higher mathematics. It is creation of the formula of harmony – this is a complexity. I can take my time as a heavyweight stalling in front of a barbell, thinking, preparing to clear my height. For instance, I needed a year to get ready for the fountains. Once I have accumulated powerful potential I work 24 hours a day 7 days a week non-stop. You cannot take any breaks now, just proceed from one stage to another.

It might be outdated. Pace of life is quick now. But I think that that stuff from the Renaissance era or the ancient times must also be present in this life, because it helps to understand harmony between the man and the space. After all, it doesn’t occur to anyone to change the square in front of the Louvre or to replace the Eiffel Tower. When you work with public places it is very important to do things sincerely, otherwise the space will just spit out your creation. It won’t accept it.

In this sense, it is difficult to work in Odessa: if the city doesn’t like a sculpture, people will make up anecdotes and names for it. But the most important compliment is when the locals say, “Why, didn’t you know it has been there for ages?” For instance, tour guides tell about my fountain by the Vorontsov Palace and say that it was there that Pushkin wrote his famous lines: “A magic moment I remember”.

Do you have your favourite sculptural form?

I love plastic art. It is a 3-dimensional art. I like it when my sculpture becomes an integral part of the space. There is Yorkshire Park in England housing sculptures by Henry Moore. And his abstractions are in harmony with a flock of sheep, and everything is natural and sensual. Here a man can enjoy the privacy of their own mind and to talk to God, so to speak.

I believe a sculpture should have a life.

It is cool to work with a 3D space, because everything matters here – air, light, landscape. Only intuition working as a tuning fork can save you. It is not about meters, but about fractions of centimetres: you make a slight misstep and you fail. You are your own first audience, and this is a very big responsibility.

What is your favourite material?

I like everything, what matters is what you use it for. I love bronze, and not just because I know how to work with it. This is very personal, you leave your fingerprints, you can express the feeling of some sensual things, to reflect them in your plastic art, then it is cast in metal and covered with patina. My membrane is susceptible to it.

I am not a conventionalist, but I am not moved by art about nothing. Art created as a gesture or a provocation. Maybe it is necessary for the European crowd because of the comfort they live in. It is different here. So much aggression around, no centres of harmony, hence the artist’s task is to create something alternative to aggression. An artist is a researcher of not only line, shape and colour but a researcher of feelings in essence.

Did you take part in arranging yours and Masha’s exhibition The Work Process?

No, I gave them free rein, and they came up with stuff I would have never displayed. There are works there I did for myself, notes, drawings, but it has always been a part of a specific task. I had to keep a balance between survival and art. I think this world is a game of chance. Nothing is achieved without will and determination. There is no land of milk and honey. Soul comes first.

Is it difficult to set your mind on work in Odessa?

In my case, nice cuisine, fresh air, sea and everything else interfere. But I have found an antidote over the years. I get absorbed into something I need to make up and create, find labyrinths and bury myself in the studio. Each year I dream about working in the summer cottage. No use! There is a huge table there by the studio. Everyone has a hearty meal there and then a hearty sleep.

What does creativity start from?

I can’t work when I feel sick at heart. I just don’t work. Everything done effortlessly comes out great. And when you have an incredible idea and take a lot of efforts half-heartedly, everything comes out rough and boring. For me art is a mystery, subtle facets one will never fully reveal. One can live on art eternally.

Stylistics does not matter. One of my and Masha’s favourite artists is Picasso, because he found an unreal free and childlike style, and it is so sensual and simple that it is spellbinding. Our world is screwed up in its own faeces, so sincerity always leaves a trace.

There is a formula of happiness – when you enjoy going to work and enjoy returning back home. I am happy for the young generation because they have a chance to change themselves and everything around. We didn’t have a chance to change the surroundings but we were forced to change ourselves. Everyone must have their own way of analysis, perception and discovery. The way one feels like sharing. Then the world will change.