Hello, Yulia! Thank you for making time for this interview. You write in your CV, you started taking private painting and drawing classes after graduating from high school. Was that the first time you got interested in arts? How did art become a part of your life in general?
When I was a child, my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would always reply that I wanted to be an artist. I've loved drawing since I was a kid. Having once seen a calendar with Aivazovsky reproductions and a book full of Chagall paintings, I just fell in love with those works. I was very inspired and wished I could create something equally beautiful. In high school, I was taking private lessons of painting and drawing for 2 years, later I went to art school. After school, I graduated from the University of Culture and Arts in Kemerovo with a degree in Graphic Design. There I learned to style, which greatly influenced my artistic perception, and hence my paintings.
Do you think that art education is crucial for emerging artists, or you rather believe it’s more about the inner talent and intuition of a person?
There is no one right answer here. Everyone has their own way, traditional art education might prevent some artists from expressing their vision, but it might fit other painters. As for me, I always wanted to know all the basics and nuances. I truly believe that gaining knowledge brings opportunities. Inner talent and intuition are also very important for an artist. Combined with knowledge, they do magic.
You lived in a small Siberian town and then moved to Moscow. How did that life change affect your mindset and, speaking about your artistic practice, the subject of your works?
In my hometown, I managed to master my technical skills as a painter, yet I doubted my artistic identity. Moscow in turn gave me a carte blanche for creative experiments. I love my native city, however, people there are more private, they are often stuck in their problems and don’t look around a lot. In Moscow, people are way open-minded, which inspires me. That life change has broadened my horizons of understanding art in general and gave me the opportunity to meet amazing soulmates.
You use oil, acrylics, and sometimes watercolors in your paintings. What is your favorite art technique and why?
I like all of them. Each medium is beautiful in it’s own way. Being partial to experiments, I enjoy mixing a few art techniques in one work. I also use gold leaf.
You say that some of your work came to you in a dream. Could you elaborate on that? Where do you get inspiration from?
I am inspired by human feelings. Emotions are the brightest color of the universe, a universal language that everyone understands. Feelings either connect or detach, but such a relationship is life itself. I've always been interested in the emotional connection between humans. My goal is to remind people about the importance feelings have, which has been overlooked in modern society. Thanks to my dreams, I can collect wonderful images from my daily experience and impressions that I will capture later in paintings.
How has the pandemic affected your creative process in terms of goal setting? Do you sometimes struggle with emotional burnout; if so, how do you deal with that?
The pandemic has affected me deeply. I began to focus on online exhibitions and virtual platforms where I can promote my artworks. Emotional burnouts do happen, but such periods won’t last long. In order to avoid burnouts or once that happens, quickly get over it, I meditate and do yoga. Being in nature, walking, and living some new experiences also help a lot.
Please tell us more about your project "Slavic Culture". What is your personal attitude to Russian culture and its traditions and how do you express it through your paintings?
My national identity is very important to me. I admire Russian beautiful holidays with their traditions and rituals. This topic occupies a significant part of my work. I believe it’s crucial to
know your culture and appreciate it. In my paintings, I seek to show the beauty of Russian history through visuals so that it could interest contemporaries from across the globe. The symbolic and two-dimensional characters in my works refer to the traditional images in Russian culture.
We are curious to hear about your future artistic plans and the ongoing projects, including but not limited to your upcoming collaboration with HAZE Gallery.
I continue working on the Slavic series, a series of paintings about love. I enjoy exploring the theme of happiness and love in my art. Another series I’m currently doing consists of portraits. Recently I’ve started working on a series of nudes, an unusual topic, which I have a big interest in. All in all, I plan to go international as an artist, so I really hope that my cooperation with HAZE Gallery will be fruitful and long-term.
Please name the artists who inspire you most.
Here are the artists who inspire me: Ivan Aivazovsky, Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Slava Fokk, Anna Berezovskaya, Andrey Remnev, and David Downton.
The best advice ever given to you that inspired you to be creative and believe in yourself.
— Feel the colors, let them pass through you. (It was my first drawing teacher who gave me that advice).
— Fall in love with every single picture you work on, so that viewers could feel it.
— Always believe in what you do.
Thank you so much for your time and good luck with everything you do.
Thank you for having me!
Instagram Yulia Belasla @belaslaart