How to become a man with a capital letter in art?

As the saying goes, man is the crown of creation. You can take this phrase from two sides. The reverse side can be interpreted as a person creating something similar to the creation of nature, although he himself is part of it. One of these people is contemporary artist Alexei Zimin.

So what is a man with a capital letter in art and how to become one - let’s talk about this with the artist himself.

- Hello, Alexey! How do you understand who such a person with a capital letter in art?

- I understand this as a person who puts his soul into his works, painstakingly working on his idea. I want to note what it means to be a “capitalist”, this is the ability to express your thoughts and feelings through your works, to have a high level of skill, to amaze people with your work and to regularly hold exhibitions of your paintings. In addition, a man of art must discover something new: some new genre in painting, or he has some original differences between his paintings and others. If so, then his paintings will excite the hearts and have a price for true connoisseurs of art.

- Do you consider yourself a man with a capital letter having already passed quite a long way as an artist?

- All my works of art differ from others in their originality. Each of my paintings has a hidden meaning that makes me think not only of my viewers, but also of myself. I remember one incident, one of the artists who came to the exhibition came up to me and asked: “And you don’t tell me what the purpose of this picture of yours is?” At first I didn’t want to tell him, you know, the viewer himself should extract the meaning of the work, but I I decided to tell him my idea. He looked at me in surprise and pointedly moved on. In this he pleasantly surprised me. In addition, I participated in many national exhibitions at which I presented my works of art. They were attended by many specialists in art who highly appreciated my work, this made me happy as an artist.

- How do you think to become a man with a capital letter in art? What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

- In order to become one, you need to set yourself such a goal. For example, I have achieved success by working and improving every day. Perhaps there are other ways. It also takes time, patience and perseverance to achieve the result. I can also advise you to take some famous artist as your standard, not just as his imitation, but just for orientation.

I will give just a few tips for beginner painters. Firstly, as I said above, you need to set a goal. Secondly, focus and direct all your artistic potential in the right direction. Thirdly, stock up on patience, perseverance and time, of course. Fourth, if there is such an opportunity, communicate with a famous artist for motivation. And finally, the advice that everyone knows, but little adhere to it is a long and hard work. If you take these ingredients for granted and follow them every day, then soon you will surely succeed.

- More recently, it became known that you plan to organize an exhibition in your hometown of Ulyanovsk. It’s true? If so, what is the purpose of this exhibition? Why was this city chosen as the venue for the exhibition?

- Yes it’s true. In general, I try to regularly exhibit my work. The last one is “Russia on Canvas”, a contest which we successfully held. From all over Russia we received works in which the participants depicted their idea of the homeland. 43 works from different cities fought for the first place. How did you notice that this exhibition has a goal. The purpose of this exhibition was to show the artistic talents of our compatriots. The purpose of the organization of the exhibition, which will take place in Ulyanovsk, is that all the funds that will be received from its holding will be directed to the development and support of art education in the city of Ulyanovsk.

- So your exhibition is charity?

“Yes, absolutely.” My exhibition will be organized for charity. I think it will be held in one of the central museums of the city. Now I’m adding the last pictures, and it will be possible to start organizing the hall, advertising and preparing for the event itself.

- Thank you, Alexey, for taking the time to conduct the interview. It was very nice to talk with you. You are a great conversationalist! We hope that this is not the last interview with you.

Victoria Vitorgan