Interview by Jimon

1-How would you describe Andrey Novikov?  I consider myself a strong-willed and purposeful person. I am very concerned about social injustice, discrimination and the lack of high culture in society. I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember. This is the main and only way of knowing the world for me.

2-Where do you call home currently?  I was born and grew up in the South of Russia, among the mountains. But my home is where people who understand me live.  Where I have the opportunity to work and realize myself in art. When I travel, I always draw in my sketchbook – this is my diary of observations. It gives me a great creative impulse.

3-Do you remember the first piece of art you created? How old where you?  My first works were done in five years, I think it was something in the spirit of abstract expressionism.  I was born into a family of graphic designers. Since childhood I was surrounded by this environment. The smell of paint, large canvases, talks about art – this is the world of my childhood.

4-Do you have academic training or is it inherent?  Yes, I got a secondary-degree, and then higher education in the field of art. I had very good teachers-heirs of traditions of the Russian academic school. After graduation, I taught at the University for 10 years. Two years ago, together with my wife, we opened a private art school – where I teach.

5-Your work is extremely diverse, what is the inspiration behind such abstract diversity?  I always paint what I know, what I’m interested in. I try to travel, fill my visual baggage with new impressions and acquaintances, and then embody it on canvas.

6-How do you choose the colors in your pieces?  I use the classic triads and complementary colors. For me the construction of the picture is a very important composition, the relationship of light and shadow – their balance. Color is always associated with the tone and subordinated to it.

7-Is there any reality behind your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  My work is a mixture of reality and my experiences and feelings. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to formulate a composition and an idea for a new work. But I work quickly-when I clearly understand what I have to do. This is a continuous process.

8-What is success to Andrey Novikov as an artist?  An ability to be surprised in my work and a desire to improve at all times.

9-What advice would you give putative collectors?  Try to find an internal response in the picture. To see yourself or a situation that will be close to your feelings. Immerse yourself in my world.

10-Best advice you ever received in regards to your courier as an artist?  Relax and trust your feelings.

11-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  I am inspired by my Studio. When I go there, I find myself in my world.

12-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Rothko

13-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  My father’s old brush, my cactus and a blank canvas for painting, which is never enough.

14-How would someone find you on Social media?  Website – http://andreynovikov.net  Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/duselbah/