Dmitry Artyukhin
Poland
Doctor of physics and mathematics with deep focus on studying of brain and neuron dynamic, electronic circuits and using different models to prototype the different physical processes of brain activity. Self-taught artist since 2013 learning the way how colors and textures help perceivers to trigger their own emotions, how to transform feeling and emotions into abstract representation and vice versa how colors, textures and images influence us as human being. Combining physical models with artistic nature, looking for synergy between analytical approach and emotional context of life.
I’m trying to find specific triggers, specific elements like textures, images, fractals, and colors that would help people to recall their memories and create their own emotions. Our brain operates like a complex machine that accumulates a lot of information and it requires some external triggers to recall important moments, memories, emotions. In my view it works like a generator that gets external impulse and amplifies our capability to think differently and bring more positive emotions in our life.
My goal is to encourage people to think and help them to get emotions in their life when they look at painting, and I strongly believe that once you get these positive vibes or pulses you will change your life for good and it will motivate to spread those emotions through good actions and help to other people.
Dope
1. What’s your background?
My background is Doctor of physics and mathematics with deep focus on studying of brain and neuron dynamic, electronic circuits and using different models to prototype the different physical processes of brain activity. I am very analytical person by education but at the same time I am very emotional by nature and this combination resulted that in 2013 I started as a self-taught artist.
My career as an artist started with a meeting and conversation with a professional painter in Parise who encouraged me to start creating painting. That was the first step to me to learn and understand art. Initially it was rather a hobby but the more paintings I created the more I dived into details then I also used my scientific background to develop my own approach and technique in creating artworks.
Over the past years I found more and more interest to my paintings from different people. I got opportunities to participate in such exhibitions like ArtRooms Fair in London (2019), London Art Biennale (2019), International Art Barcelona (2021) and many others. I’m glad that I get more people interested in my artworks and exploring my approach to art.
Once we speak about my life, I was born in Russia where I lived for quite a while but over 6 years ago, I moved to Poland where I live now and where I have created significant part of my paintings. Over the part of my art career I have done around 300 artworks, I’m mainly focusing on abstracts, but also use some techniques of figurative painting and drawing time to time combining different materials (for example combining acrylic with oil or adding paper, plastic, cords etc).
2. What does your work aim to say?
To answer this question, I need to explain a little bit my believe when it comes to art. I am looking at artworks as kind of triggers, like external signals that help our brain to recall important moments or memories of our life. Our brain is very complicated mechanism that stores a lot of information and sometimes everyday routine and daily tasks don’t allow us to open our hidden memory clusters. It looks like you use the same techniques every day and completely forgot something important that we did when we were kids or where we were not so much overloaded with such daily routines. I’m exploring how simple images, forms, colors can help us uncover such memories and emotions, I strongly believe that it will help people to get positive emotions that they used to have in the past but completely forgot about those over the course of life. It works like a generator that gets external impulse of a particular frequency and amplifies signal significantly. So, the specific image or colors combination start resonating with your memories or emotions and amplifies that significantly.
The art should encourage viewers to think about life, about what we they do, how they do. I’m trying to find such fundamental triggers that would clearly show people that there are fundamental things in our life that we should give more priority, like brining positive things to other people, helping each other etc. That’s the aim of my art!
3. How does your work comment on current social or political issues?
As I said I am very emotional by nature that means that many things happening in my life get interpretation in my painting. Whatever we feel or observe externally influence our emotional condition and no doubt that many things happening around us that sometimes we can’t change I try to influence though my artworks.
In general, my artworks stay the same in terms of messages – I’m still trying to give viewers some positive emotions or at least encourage them to think and reflect. At the same time, it’s always challenging to find such positive triggers when we have so many issues outside of us like COVID, environmental changes, sometimes less tolerance to people with different views. Unfortunately, that happens quite often and that’s why I believe the role of art and artis is to help people to avoid extremes and think before they take some actions, especially when it hurts other people or bring some negative circumstances.
Just to share an example, when we all faced COVID in 2020 I created the short series of art works ‘Men & Women of the day (Corona triptych)’ that included 3 artworks showing the people faces that incorporated all emotional difficulties of the time and environment. The purpose was to show abstract representation of each of us, trying to fight all together and resolve this new worldwide problem. That was my response to that situation trying to encourage people to remember that each of us is not alone, we all face the same problem, but we are still the part of one big community. Such type of artworks to address emotional problems (painting ‘Solitude’, 2016) or relationship between people (‘Silhouettes of life #1’, 2021) or situation with QR codes (‘Life in QR codes’, 2021) all these artworks are my manifest and response to some fundamental challenges that we all face. And the purpose of these artworks is to encourage people to think about such challenges and to support each other not fight or blame each other.
4. Who are your biggest influences?
This is a good question! When I just started my art career obviously my first mentor who kind of navigated me in the world of art was a professional painter in Paris. She really helped me by giving some advices to find my own path. Over the past years I really invested a lot of time in understanding many famous artists, art history and different theories of abstract art, figurative art, and expressionism. At the same time, I realize that can’t name any specific artist that would be my biggest influence. I find a lot of interesting ideas and concepts in art of Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yves Klein, Kazimir Malevich and many other artists. At the same time, I believe that my path is different and learning ideas of such famous people helps me to find my own tools, concepts, and techniques in creating art.
In terms of what my biggest influence when I create art nowadays, I find inspiration in very different things. Usually, I am carefully observing life around us and sometime my influence could be nature, or a story of someone, or even new ideas of fashion designers. I look at many things as an artist, or even better to say as an artist and physicist, some objects are being represented to me as a combination of shapes, fractals and colors and mathematical models. The first part (like shapes and colors) would represent emotional part of the object and mathematical model would be analytical part of that. Combination of these elements helps me to fins unusual interpretation of objects and it encourages me to try something new in art that would include combination of materials or focus points or lights. So, to answer your question what my biggest influence is I think the answer is people and life and world around me.
5. How has your art evolved over the years?
When I started my career as an artist my focus was mainly around: trying to represent my emotions on canvas. It was rather pure representation of emotions. So, when I started in 2013, I was really working on finding some basic techniques to translate my ideas through colors, shapes, and forms on canvas. I think that at that point of time my art was more chaotic in term of approach, i.e. I made artworks being influenced just emotions without probably clear understanding of what I was looking for in art. Also, I think at that point of time I tried to distance from external environment by trying to concentrate mainly on my internal emotional context. As a result, you will find some of my earlier paintings involving mixture of many colors, sometimes more direct interpretation of some objects and forms, more lines rather than forms, more simplified objects rather than complicated images. Again, as I said that was mainly an attempt of pure interpretation of my emotions through colors.
My next period was kind of focusing more on thinking why some of my emotions are being represented in such objects or colors. That was the phase when I also tried to analyze how my emotions were correlating with specific forms or colors on canvas and what drove me in creating a particular piece of art. And I think if you look at my artworks between 2015-2018/2019 you will find more mature thinking, more reflection rather than pure emotional representation of some ideas. That even resulted in articulating some of my ideas in the book ‘Emotional Painting: Amateur Reflection’, that was published in 2017.
Over the past of 2-3 years my own concept of creating artworks is being crystalized and currently I’m working on next book that would summarize some key findings and concepts that I’m currently applying in art. This period is more about working on my own concept, where I capture some key ideas and translate those in my paintings. If you look at my recent artworks it gets more and more conceptual, i.e. I capture an idea and translate that in a specific series. By the way, this is also fundamental change comparing to what I did in the past, I tend to create short series of artworks that represent some fundamental idea that I’m currently working on.
6. What does art mean to you?
The art is really my life nowadays. It really involves a lot of things because the art gives huge opportunity to change life for myself and help other people. I consider art as a very influential channel, that can help people to manage their emotions, open new capabilities and understand different things. To me personally it changed the whole life when 9 years ago I tried creating paintings and that helped me to find completely new path in my own life.
I have been always saying that art helped me to overcome my own challenge i.e., to combine two completely different approaches that I have: emotional and analytical. I think I’m not alone and many people are often trying to hide their emotions being busy with resolving everyday challenges. We follow our everyday routine and sometimes don’t have enough time to stop for a moment and think about things like love, support, help, tolerance, understanding other people etc. The art gives amazing tool to bring your emotions to canvas without any fear of being misunderstood or being misinterpreted. You make art for yourself first, you are free to make whatever you want and that bring fantastic freedom of being yourself and doing something new without finding compromise with yourself.
The art to me is also a channel to share my opinion to the public even if it’s arguable, I feel comfortable to show that through my art. This is really an amazing feeling that gives true freedom!
7. What’s the most valuable piece of art to you?
This is difficult question because each artwork that I’m working on involves a lot of efforts. I really incorporate my soul in each painting or artwork. Therefore, it’s hard to answer which particular piece of art is the most valuable to me. I would say I have some artworks that are kind of milestone of my career as an artist and I clear recognize those as a starting point of new chapter. These artworks are truly incorporating something new to me, these artworks are my art environment where I translate my new thoughts and ideas into colors and textures.
There are some other works that are well connected to some important events in my life meaning that while I was working on those pieces something very important happened around me. Such paintings are also very valuable to me as they remind about events that helped me to understand environment or brought some learnings and reflections into my life.
8. What’s next for you in the future?
I have great opportunities in front of me this year and that inspires to do even more than I initially planned. I am looking forward to Art Fair exhibition that will happen in Amsterdam in August this year where I’m going to present new series of works ‘Fragment of memories’. Later this year my artworks will be represented during International Art Fair in Shanghai which is planned for November 2022. I hope to get a chance to travel to this amazing place and bring several new artworks as well. On top of that I am discussing with some art agencies opportunities and events where my painting can be also an integral part of the events.
In terms of ideas and projects, I’m currently working on several concepts in parallel. That gives me great flexibility to express new ideas through different techniques and new approaches. For example, just recently I finished a small series of 5 artworks titled ‘Alphabet of Life’. This is a set of sketches combined under idea of explaining very fundamental things: Love, Freedom, Choice, Tolerance and Purpose through super simple images and forms. The idea of this series is to help people to find their own definition of these words by giving unusual or probably slightly different views.
I’m also working on new approaches in terms of approaching new people, new audience. For example, therefore I decided to open opportunity to access my paintings through NFT. I’m also trying to combine some of my artworks with short videos where I talk a little bit about ideas and concepts that I’m trying to incorporate into paintings.
All these initiatives give me unique channels for developing art and to me as an artist that means a lot. This is endless path, meaning that you grow and develop your art by contributing to the whole art community and at the same time you bring and incorporate something new every other day in your life.
Dream #7
