Portrait of art critic Maria Kravtsova

I have no attachments at all, no expensive personal possessions,

cornerstone books, sentimental feelings connected with any souvenirs, etc. I value only the necessities and, in principle, I can be satisfied with little:

Computer - alone with it I spend most of my time. It is important to me that it is reliable and light. It's not like inspiration will strike in the open field - I can't just write on a piece of paper.

A phone is as much a tool of production as a computer. In five years of mobile ownership, I forgot my phone at home only once, and I was very worried about it. I believe that every missed call is probably some missed opportunities. However, my mobilophilia often turns into mobilophobia.

Shoes. I buy shoes to relieve stress.

Portrait of the artist Elena Berg

Wolf fur I could even call my fetish – I used wolf skin in two of my videos: the Taiga (2005) and the Wolf (2007). The first video shows a hand stroking a wolf against his hair; in the second one we see a hand cutting a bold patch on a wolf skin. In both videos a dead animal skin refers to the main instincts characteristic of the animal and of the man – fear and freedom - and their final stage – death.

The portrait features the same idea. One can see the portrait as an introduction to my next video where the same sings are used: wolf skin, a knife and human presenc

e.

Knife. There are lots of connotations to the knife and three... four personal memories. Here the knife is a weapon and at the same time an initiation tool. I wanted my portrait to be as minimalist as possible. The pouring rain and the bitter cold on the shooting day; no tea and concrete floor I had to lie on – all this added to the scene. On the third take I nearly fell, as you can see in the video. I love the “felt catacombs” by Beuys (I can’t remember the exact name of this work). It is exhibited in Centre Pompidou. The conceptual value of concrete and felt is very similar. Nothing happens by accident.

My tense pose was unnatural and I wanted to counterbalance it with the open flesh – shoulders, arms, and feet – “attributes” of the humanity and compensation of the beastly, the brutal. I don’t know if you can read the fine make-up that I spent a lot of time applying. I thought that the portrait should be black and white, reminiscent of German cinema, like Fassbinder or Frtiz Lang. Slightly posh and strikingly simple. The colour video, though, captures the combination of colours of my hair and the wolf skin, the lively.