Kate, artist

Client: Ekaterina, artist

Task: To describe her artistic approach for an international contest Luxembourg Art Prize 2020.

Process: Ekaterina provided a draft in Russian and we had an interview call together afterwards.

With my art, I want people to feel, to get inspired, to discover different sides of themselves they never knew existed. I want them to break out of the endless stride for success, endless days and nights of work and to-dos. I want them to just be. I want to appeal to their souls, help them dig deeper and change their perception of reality through art.

For me, art is a natural process. I close my eyes and see pieces of my memories intertwined with experiences, emotions, and imagination. I don't cling onto reality, I escape it through my art. I love improvising and creating extraterrestrial pieces. When I paint, it's not just one sense or idea that I want to convey; stories and experiences mix together into something unimaginable, something that each person can interpret in their own way. Stroke by stroke I add more meaning to the painting, I want it to be not just a single thing, but a myriad of things.

I want to add as many details as possible so that the person looking at the painting feels the magic for longer, experiences and notices each and every aspect of it. I want the viewer to search, to lean in, dive in, and simply disappear in my art.

As an Innovation Management major, I want to help people transform their consciousness, bring out unexpected qualities and emotions. I want to help them think broader and come up with innovative ideas themselves. The ideas that might seem crazy or unrealistic at first, but could lead to great discoveries later.

Client: Ekaterina, artist

Task: To describe her painting "Synthesis" for an international contest Luxembourg Art Prize 2020.

This character is a reflection of my artistic approach. I don't want to impose any ideas or direction of thought on my audience. My goal is to evoke the viewer's emotions, awaken their senses, and take them into this maze of guesswork.

People's eyes have always drawn my attention. I would like to give these windows of the human soul a new role as a key to something far greater than ever. They're the liveliest part of the human body, and they keep endless mysteries and secrets. That's why I've depicted the rest of the body in 2D, making it as simple as possible. The viewer's passing attention should be on the eyes.

I was deeply impressed by the movie called: "I Origins." I thought: "What if there's a finite number of souls in the universe and they're reflected in our eyes? What if souls are reborn?"

This painting is a synergy of eyes and souls on one canvas and one plane. They are a lively system. However, they feel trapped; they want to break out and evolve further.

To paint these 39 eyes, I've looked through thousands of pictured eyes and chose the ones that called out the most to me. I wanted to capture a myriad of feelings: from surprise and joy to fear and anger. They are all unique as each of us.

Through these eyes, I've depicted all stages of human life: young and bright, tired, and hopeless. The two peonies are there for the same reason. One is starting to wither, which represents the end of the life cycle, while the other is just starting to blossom, signifying birth.

This painting is the eternal cycle of life in its complicated variety.

Client: Ekaterina, artist

Task: To describe her painting "Disconnected" for an international contest Luxembourg Art Prize 2020.

I've been fascinated by space since my childhood. My parents have been telling me stories about it, I've read scientific literature, attended lectures, watched movies, and painted it, of course. That's why with this piece, I wanted to share my love for space with the audience.

This painting started with planets. They're all beautiful and unique in their own way. Some mesmerising and some even frightening. For example, here you can see Jupiter's Great Red Spot - a gigantic storm about twice as wide as Earth or closed-basin ice lakes on Mars. They hide great secrets, and I wanted to draw the viewer's attention to them by working out every tiny detail.

In this piece of art, the solar system is in unity, it's one living creature. The character is meditating, maintaining a connection and balance among the planets. With the whole universe weighing down on her, meditation saves her, gives her strength. Her gaze is hypnotising, magnetising, and it's hard to look away.

The jellyfish is a symbol of zero gravity, ease of movement. It's a magical creature, which belongs to another world. It's more of a space than an underwater creature for me.

There's no single interpretation to this painting. I wanted to create duplicity, making the viewer discover the details and interpret the art in the way they want. I maximised the number of secrets and puzzles that stimulate fantasy and imagination. I encourage the audience to activate their observance, release all control, and yield place to perceptivity.