Let's start with the really important questions. Your art, or rather the technique of creating art, was conceived as a protest. Tell us what prompted you to do this?
In my practice, the very gesture of washing is important. A gesture of protest showed something that was not visible before. Reproduction, labor, care. Then she became visible. I want to show this care, washing.
Have you faced the problems that you talk about as a woman artist?
Yes, I have come across a stereotype of how an artist should look in our time.
Unfortunately, there are many stereotypes in contemporary art.
In your opinion, is it important for an artist to talk about the social agenda? And, accordingly, should an artist, through his work, take an active part in shaping the viewer's perception of what is happening, including the problems of society?
I work with the infrastructure of reproduction and labor, and care. I try to get attention to this problem. There is such a problem in Russia of the invisibility of female labor, which is materially associated with repetition and routine.
If you had to choose, hypothetically. What would you choose: to be a very commercially successful artist or to continue talking about what you think is important?
I see nothing bad in commercial success. It may not suit everyone, but I think I can combine both things at the same time.
What is more important: process or result?
In my practice, this process is the most important, the washing process, so I sometimes still document it as a video.
The art market is now divided into two positions: some believe that regardless of the direction of art, an artist must have a classical education. Some, on the contrary, consider it as an atavism. What is art education for you?
Education, of course, is important. I also have classical art education. From 10 years old, I went to art school to study drawing, paintings, composition for 6 Years, and now I am happy to study at HFBK. I am a lucky student and thankful to my best professors Anselm Reyle and Udo Engel.
The question is always difficult for a creative person: are you always one hundred percent satisfied with the result of your work? Or does it feel like the best work is yet to come?
No, of course not. Best work will come in the future. I hope I am working on it by studying art. But last a washed paintings I like the most for now—my Washed Raketen. Actually, I am in transformation. I am looking for new positions in art. I evaluate myself. I was also working with text to criticizing the gesture of washing.
Instagram Elena Bulycheva @new_washed_art