KSENIA by Lon Levin KOPALOVA

KSENIA by Lon Levin KOPALOVA

When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

Even though I have been drawing a lot ever since I remember, it wasn't until the last years of my first university that I have started thinking about it as professional practice.

Back then I was studying sociology, but was still drawing quite a lot. I started taking commissions to earn some money and gain experience in freelancing as an illustrator. Doing this, I soon realized it's not sociology that I want to do for a living.

At the same time, I really lacked a lot of skills and that's why decided to continue my education and enroll in an illustration program at British Higher School of Art and Design. Even though at that time the profession of an illustrator wasn't considered a way to gain stable income, my family was really supportive of my decision, which I am really grateful for.

What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?

There's a common stereotype about artists in childhood and kids in general, that all of them are so naturally creative and ingenious that the only task of an art teacher and parents is not to stifle this creativity. I was a complete opposite to this.

Looking at my childhood drawings I can't help but think: How could I be so boring?.. I loved copying images from encyclopedias, meticulously - as much as a 5 year old child possibly can - redrawing birds and trees from biology books. My notepad scribbles were very typical princesses and flowers. Looking at them today I would never think the person who drew that would become an artist. This boring and meticulous diligence, though, might have become the reason why I was pretty successful in studies - including the studies in an art school for kids, which was one of the few places to get prepared for the art university in a small town where I grew up. That school was very conservative in its approach, giving classes where 10 year olds had to draw Aristotle plaster heads and home ware still life. Nowadays it seems ridiculous to me to teach art to kids like this.

(cont.) I am still very grateful to my teachers at that school, as they were the people who gave me the drawing basics which I still use and they managed to create a really warm and heartfelt atmosphere within that strict and conservative framework of the school's program. I believe this was one of the reasons I truly loved attending that school and drawing in general.

Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you?

I believe style is something that comes naturally, as a sum of individual life and professional experience. Attempts to force it seem a bit far-fetched and shallow. This is not to say that one should just sit and wait for it to emerge though. I'm convinced style is a result of constant self-questioning.

"Cartooning was an arduous climb up the ladder. Several rungs were missing."

You do a lot of whimsical art work, wooden dolls and ceramics. How did that happen?

Traditional techniques, craft and creating work with my own hands in general is something that resonates deeply in me. When I see people who really love gardening, or building something - be it a birdhouse or their own house - I always feel I'm essentially doing the same thing but in a different way. Most of the time I just draw to fulfill this need to use my hands to create something out of nothing. Sometimes it is not enough and I need to go even further with materials; to create objects - like dolls or ceramic tiles. Basically, they are just an extension of my drawing, but for me it's an important way to explore and harness the world around me.

Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally?

My work is a mix of both analog and digital drawing. Even though the traditional hand drawing and crafty look is important for me, the majority of my projects do not exist in real life exactly the way they are presented on the web.

With bigger projects, it all starts from great enthusiasm and energetic inspiration. Yes! This is the project of my life! But even if I'm sure I can do it and despite all of my experience I inevitably hit the wall of frustration once all the agreements are settled and I actually start: So how am I gonna deal with it? God, I have no idea. That is when venting frustration helps me a lot! At that point I would usually complain to my friends, and even if they say nothing, just verbalizing my own vague ideas helps me clarify my own stream of thoughts, which usually leads to some initial solution. In case of a site-specific work it really helps to explore the actual spot, draw it a lot, write about it, make photos - for me it's a way to get some first results.

Even if they eventually become irrelevant to the final piece, doing this really builds up confidence and helps to move forward.

Of course. To name a few, I'm a big fan of David Jien, Matt Leines, Chris Sasaki, JooHee Yoon, Ping Zhu, Dadu Shin, Laura Carlin, Lizzy Stewart, Rachel Gannon, Stephen Vuillemin (even though he was born in France) and many, many others.

I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step?

When it comes to commissions, I choose projects that allow me to draw manually and decide myself on the concept behind the image. As for personal work, it's whatever is now most intriguing to me. For instance, for now it's the notion of place. I'm interested in what it is like to be somewhere, what a place is like without a spectator, what's it like to belong to some place, how places change in time. With these projects, I usually start from concentrating on the actual space and figuring out what I want to say about it. It's usually half of the deal. After that I figure out the format - will it be a set of images or 3d objects? Where is it going to be displayed? On the web, in the street, in a gallery? After that it's all pretty straight-forward: sketches, more sketches, mockups and the final work.

What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in Western counties like America, England and France? If not would you want to?

In most cases clients find me themselves, but sometimes I find people from companies which I feel my work suits well and contact them directly either on SNS or by email. The majority of my clients are from Russia, but I have some experience working for French, Swedish, American companies. They weren't publishers though - they were an illustration agency, a stationery production company, and even a veterinary hospital.

If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why?

There are a lot of artists I adore but at the same time it feels like we exist in different coordinate systems: Alexis Beauclair, Geran Knol, Keiko Narahashi, Stephan Dybus are just a few of them. Meeting them in person would definitely be a valuable experience.

Sure, I would love to do more for clients from abroad. It would especially be interesting to do more editorial illustration. Once I’m disenchanted with that one, I switch back. It helps keep things fresh.

What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal?

It's connected to your previous question: my current goal is to be an artist who works internationally.