Featured Artist: Sergey Nikolaev
Sergey Nikolaev is an artist and illustrator based in Moscow. As a young child, Sergey was an avid reader and found inspiration from the tales of adventures in his books. Gathering ideas from the stories, Sergey would draw pictures of pirates and Indians in the margins of his books. Recognizing his passion for art, Sergey’s mother enrolled him into art school to further cultivate his talents.
I was first drawn to Sergey’s work because of his interesting compositions and provocative subject matter. What looked like a simple, large drawing of a pair of glasses became almost abstract and three-dimensional when viewed up close. His multimedia collages seem to be screaming through the use of various typography, which become a competing series of patterns for someone like me, who doesn’t read the Cyrillic alphabet. According to Sergey, the use of these bits of type are a complex visual representation of noise in our modern culture.
What I also found unique was Sergey’s presentation. He finds drab but richly textured environments for his brightly-colored work. These almost monochromatic and desaturated backgrounds have the effect of making his collages and paintings look like they are jumping out of their surroundings.
In addition to his expressive illustration work, Sergey creates his own art during his free time. For many of his pieces, he uses cutouts of typography as visual representations of the noise in our modern culture.
Sergey answered some questions for CS:
So you live in Moscow right now. What is the art scene like there, and are there many opportunities for young artists such as yourself?
Yes, I live in Moscow, but there are not enough art scenes and they are not easily accessible. In general, our country doesn’t help young artists very much. Fortunately, we live in the time of the internet, so I can show my work to the online community.
What would you call your work?
My works are mixed media. Besides collages I always use paint or volumetric paste. But I call my works ‘collages’ often.
How and where do you find inspiration, and what are the steps you take in creating your artwork?
Difficult to say. I don’t have any specific formula that I stick to. The most important thing is that you have to like to do it. Sometimes it’s not that easy to take the first step, but everything will be easier once you start.
What inspired you to incorporate magazine cutouts into your work? To me, it feels like the magazine cutouts are visual and aural “noise”, and that you are expressing the “noise” we see and hear everywhere we go in our modern culture. On the other hand, work like “Apple” and “Startpoint” are calming and “soft” to look at. Was this your intention, and what is the message you are trying to convey through your art?
Yes, you’re right. I like to use “visual noise” in my work. I interpret it as a material, like paint or paste. Also I like to use these letters and photos because somebody used them as part of his work. My work represents different parts of history, which I find interesting.
If you can give one piece of advice to an artist who is just starting out, what would you say to them?
I would tell them to not listen to critics and paint purely for pleasure.
Thank you, Sergey, and keep up the fantastic work!
For more information on Sergey and his work, visit his website.
