Interview with Vadim Vasilev

Vadim Vasilev aka Vadicore is an artist born in 1989 in the beautiful city of Ventspils, currently based in Velikiy Novgorod. He grew up surrounded by industrial landscape and white sands bordering with cold and endless waters of the Baltic Sea. Post-soviet era was a strange place to be in, with its dark aesthetic and a soundtrack mixed with metal, trip-hop and electronic music. Vadicore first started drawing out of boredom but later created his own visual language inspired mostly by women.

What does a typical day look like for you?

 A typical day for me is to sleep well, eat some pizza, work at my job which is now involved with screening arthouse and festival films at an abandoned cinema, draw something, listen to good music, watch a series or maybe a movie, read a book and have a walkabout. It is nothing special or extraordinary but I try to do all those different activities to have my mind sharp. Once in a while I do absolutely nothing, my laziness is a tool

Was creativity a part of your childhood?

I started skateboarding when I was a kid, really loved music and learned how to play the drums. Later, in highschool I was pretty bored in classes, so I started to draw instead of listening to the teacher

What is the most exciting part in the process of your work? 

There are moments when I feel that I have made something. Something special and significant, something that people call art. For me it is a loud word and it is very hard for me to use it in terms of my works, but in those moments you don’t need no words, no approval from others you are just absolutely sure that it is large. It may sound stupid, but it’s like as if you touched something unreachable or non-existent.

We found out that you collect vinyls. Does music serves as inspiration for your works?

Music made a big impact on who I am. It helped me a lot and still is one of my favorite things. However it is not that I get direct ideas from music, rather it sets the right mood and sparks to create, there are times when you are stuck in the middle of a new piece and a simple switch of genre can trigger a solution.

Which are mistakes you are doing over and over again?

I am not sure whether it’s a mistake or not, but I never learned the basics, I have no art education and I have decided not to have one so my creation is totally instinctive and intuitive.

Are you satisfied creatively?

No. And i am not sure if it is possible to be satisfied. As i see it when you are satisfied you have no urge and need to continue.

One of Joseph Beuys’ fundamental messages was “Everyone is an artist”. Right or wrong?

I would say it is controversial. Everyone definitely has a disposition to be creative, not necessarily to be a painter, sculptor, filmmaker, etc. but to be artistic in any form of action and existence. But it is too idealistic isn’t it? Reality is more harsh and mediocre. So everyone is just potentially an artist.

Photos: Sergei Fominov

Interview with Potto

Roberto Pérez Curbelo (aka Potto) studied visual communication design at the Superior Institute of Design of the University of Havana, ISDi. He has developed works that address the graphics of plastic arts exhibitions, book covers, design of serial publications, spots and movie and theater posters.

100FOR10 Special Edition Art Prints

For the First time ever, 100FOR10 goes colorful: This 100FOR10 special edition contains six exclusive risoprints from 100FOR10 Artists Peter Judson, Anna Beil, Genevieve Gauckler, Katharina Gschwendtner, Max Löffler and Stephanie Wunderlich.