"Fighting the shadow, or playing with yourself" Print

Hello everybody! And welcome to the profile of the artist from the Ukrainian Ghetto on the banks of the Ingul River. The city of Kropyvnytskyi, where I come from, was famous for its Golden Age in the 1800s, but, unfortunately, now the realities are completely different. The groupings and coups of the 1990s strongly influenced the formation of the life of the townspeople. And I grew up listening to my father's stories about rakets, gangs and cash. My father was an entrepreneur for as long as I know him, and this laid in me a clear foundation for movement and growth in life. Ever since childhood, I have sold vegetables at the local market. Later, at the age of 15, I organized a group of the same young guys who were partly fans of the regional football team «Zirka», and at the head of this group I carried out raids on local second-hand shops. We dressed in the best clothes we could find, sold them, stole and exchanged them for weed from local dealers. I never needed to look for a buyer for my clothes, because everyone already knew that I always had them, in any form. I just lived and enjoyed life. Remembering those carefree times, I’m smiling quietly and even proud of myself somewhere deep in my soul, because in this business we have reached the peak in the Casual Ukraine style. My family has nothing to do with art: farmers and doctors. Only my uncle was a dancer. In elementary school, I was fond of drawing, but it stayed there until the moment when difficulties came in my life at the age of 19. I started having problems with the law, and the betrayal of my close friends from my hometown dealt a decisive blow to me. At that time, I had been living in Kiev for the second year. Due to these circumstances, I realized that I needed a reboot. I returned to the village to my father. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold back his anger at me and constantly poisoned my soul with negative statements about me, but I couldn’t confront him. I had to be silent for the most part and realize my guilt, hiding my eyes because of the shame. I was as depressed as possible. And then came that turning point: my nervous system broke down. I made a call to my mom and said: - Mom, if there was a high place in the village, I would jump from there. But there are none. Please, buy me some paints and canvas. Since then I have started my life right, with a clean state. A new chapter has begun in my life, where I’m already acting as an artist.