AT: Where are you from and how/why did you start engaging with art?

VM: I was born and raised in the city of Magadan, on the shores of Northern Sea in the extreme North-East of Siberia. It is a land of extreme weather and extreme human history – the biggest Soviet concentration camps were built there.

AT: When did it become serious?

VM: Probably around the time I started my BFA at Parsons in New York. I was interested in photography and after my first year of school I slowly realized that i was making things to photograph, which made me focus on the object making process.

AT: Are there any people who have been significant in your breakthrough as an artist?

VM: Of course. I as a teenager I spent a lot of time with Julia Smeliansky who at that time was a Lecturer on Theater and Dance at Harvard University. She exposed me to the practice of Samuel Beckett, Philip Glass, and Yvonne Rainer.

AT: What is your first approach to the work? How would you describe your practice?

VM: I think the first approach is understanding the space in which the work will determine its presents to the onlooker. I am grateful I had a chance to have multiple solo exhibitions in the recent year. Both Spazio ORR (Brescia) and M 2 3 (New York) have fantastic spaces to work with, which I think challenged my understanding of how the work can be viewed. I would describe my practice as heavy installation sculptures.

AT: What do you aim to reach with your work?

VM: A so called “ad-lib”, a terms used in theater to describe words that an actor says during a performance that are not found in the text. I want the work and the experience of seeing the shows to be the “ad-lib”, the filler, the necessity, the tool, the aid, the consequence.

AT: What are your favorite tools and materials for working?

VM: DeWalt is pretty good.

AT: What do you feel while you work? Do you usually think about the final outcome beforehand?

VM: I think of the feeling the final result of looking at the finished work. I also recently noticed that my best work was made in the moment of some form of anger.

AT: How do you understand that a work is finished? Where does the inspiration for the work come from?

VM: Its a feeling and with practice you get to catch it quicker. Most importantly is to keep producing and keep thinking about it. I don’t think in the terms of what can or cannot inspire me. My day to day experiences of life and my choices influence the kind of work I make. An inspiration is not something that can be forced upon.

AT: Are there any artists who influenced your works? Why?

VM: Walter De Maria and Michael Heizer are at the top of the list because of their attitude as artists and the attitude that the work is projecting on the the viewer.

AT: How important is the role of social media for you?

VM: As a human being I don’t really care about it, but I think it’s important for the work that I make. I know that I see more shows on my phone through social media than in real life.

AT: As an artist, what is your point of view about the contemporary art system?What do you find to be the most challenging or daunting thing about pursuing art? What is the most rewarding part of working as an artist?

VM: It might sound naive, but I think the most challenging thing about pursuing art is to find your audience, which is true about anything that is being made in this world. Being in a room alone and seeing your solo show is rewarding.

AT: What do you do besides art?

VM: I drive an old Mini and when I am not in my studio I spend my time going from one mechanic shop to another because it keeps breaking.

AT: What are your goals and expectations for the future?

VM: Well I would like to make more time to work on a film I started a year ago and truly I don’t have any expectations for the future.

Vladislav Markov (b. 1993) is a Russian visual artisti currently living and working in New York, NY.

The materials, their origin, and physical properties play a key role in Vladislav Markov’s sculptural works. Equally important is the social context in which these materials are functioning in everyday life; the nature of the relationships they establish between humans and their surroundings, environment, and terrain.

Markov often uses common industrial objects and waste, repurposed elements, and hardware store or flea market items to create works that illustrate his interest in manipulating and animating these found objects that speak to contemporary culture.

CV