A little bit Nosey: Interviewing Jenya Stashkov.
Strange figures encompass tree like structures with protruding long noses and inquisitive eyes. They resemble some humanly qualities, but maintain an overwhelming sense of ‘otherness’. Injected with bold colours and intricate mark-making, Jenya’s illustrations push the boundaries of contemporary surrealism.
As well as being an artist, you are also a playwright, poet, and performer. Is there any art form you are drawn to most?
Thank you for this question! In fact, it's hard to figure it out. As a mystical artist, I’m generally interested in the process of embodying weightless invisible ideas. Ideas always lose their purity when they are embodied in our earthly world. Different types of art allow us to experience these losses in different ways - different mediums, different types of communication of the final result with the audience, different temporal processuality. Psychologically, it’s easiest for me to do illustration and graphic work.
You founded the Performance-troupe Vibrating body. Could you tell us a bit more about what you do?
This is an independent theater troupe with a non-permanent cast, which was founded by me and my wife Elena Stashkova (Ionova). The Vibrating body is engaged in performances in the urban environment, theatrical performances, video poetry and various cultural projects. Our performances are usually held only once. We like to compare them with the practice of drawing mandalas by Tibetan monks, who spread images of colored sand for a long time, and then immediately destroy them.
For example, our street performance "Pilgrimage of Water" (St. Petersburg, 2017) is a processional performance dedicated to the embodiment of architectural archetypes, filling the missing water in the Fontanka River and walking a golden humanoid lion in the company of two plaster maidens.
Our other favorite annual project is Independent International Award for Improper Dramaturgy «Neem». We search for and present the weirdest and most impossible plays from all over the world. Every year we award a prize (about 20 pounds) in the nomination "A play that no one will ever agree to stage". In different years, the winners were playwrights from Russia, Malaysia and the USA. Last year, our shortlist included a very funny untitled short play from the British playwright Rob Burbidge:
““A man dressed in an overcoat of herrings appears on stage, lit by the backlights of ten million first generation iPhones. He sees two thousand Russian Roubles on the floor. «Oh, he cries», using an Old English accent of Wessex dialect, «that’s equivalent to over twenty British pounds». The paper money changes as we watch, from Roubles to Malay Ringatas. The herrings chant Handel’s Messiah in reverse, and then explode. The man is discovered to be a drunken Chihuahia. Curtain.””
Where does your inspiration come from?
I get a huge boost of inspiration from the realization that inspiration comes on a schedule that is beyond human logic. I like to imagine creative energy (inspiration) as a person with whom I need to build personal relationships, like with relatives, a wife, children, or bosses. We can’t spend 24/7 with someone, not even with the person who we’d consider as closest to us. Therefore, I train myself to give inspiration a rest from me. This is my way of getting inspiration.
Your illustrations, like the one you showed in our exhibition ‘Bees Don’t Make Lemonade’, are quite surreal. Would you call yourself a surrealist?
Thanks! Surrealism is a good word. It seems to me that it works as a good marker. Oh, look at this artist - he's weird and unpredictable. On more serious terms, this style found me by itself and it is a little proportional to the mess that is going on in my head. I love flowing shapes, ornaments, noses, references to Sumerian culture and acid colours in particular.
Do you have a favourite piece of artwork you have made?
Oh, I don't even know. I like my art works with noses.
What advice would you give to emerging creatives?
Relax. Everything will be fine. Only create what brings you joy. Imagine purple fish. How many fish did you imagine? How many umbrellas do they have? What are their names? Come up with creative methods for yourself, invent what has already been invented. Good luck will accompany you! Everyone who makes any steps in art is blessed. Spirits and gods support them (in non-obvious ways).
Stashkov’s work from Round Lemon’s Kitchen Gallery Exhibition can be found amongst other artists here.
