Sergei Sviatchenko was born/1952 /in Ukraine and lives and works in Denmark since 1990. He graduated from the Kharkov Academy of Art and Architecture in 1975 and studied PhD at the Kiev School of Architecture.
From his early work as a conceptual artist and collage maker, he moved on to abstract painting and has done commissions and large-scale murals for international brands and institutions. In 2002, he founded Senko Studio, a non-profit international exhibition space in Viborg, Denmark, where for seven years he curated shows by emerging artists and photographers. In April 2009 he founded Close Up And Private, the fashion-forward photography project, which looks to capture the spirit of modern style, as seen through the subtle shades of the individual.
Sviatchenko´s work and vision is documented in Gestalten’s release Everything Goes Right & Left If You Want It (2012), the first comprehensive collection of Sviatchenko’s collage and painting, followed by Sergei Sviatchenko: Collages published In October 2014 by SCHLEBRÜGGE.EDITOR and edited by Rick Poynor.
“My works explore everyday objects with the use of photography and collage elements, which are turned into scarp contoured, sculptural expressions. The precise and clean cut composition of colour and shape suggests, in a poetic, consistent language, that the fragmentation of contemporary, nomadic, globalized life does not drain it of meaning. The works show the process of navigating through the rapid flow of visual impressions that the contemporary consumer is constantly confronted with.”
– Architect, Painter, Editor, Artist, Photographer, Fashion designer,… In which of these roles do you feel more comfortable? And, what would you like to do more?
You don’t even begin to count… I feel like I do the same: an idea – a realization…
I would like to hear my poems as songs.
– How do painting and collage interrelate between each other in your work? Is there a dialogue between them? What draws you to make one or another?
There are two different approaches: one as a pleasure and one as a struggle. The story which comes out of the collage has been happened and I tell it differently, but the story on each painting I create myself.
– How would you describe your approach to making a collage?
As the “cut outs” need to be “puzzled” into a new reality (story).
– In the digital era of information, is collage in your work a political statement?
It can be read differently, but it is not my intentions in a first place.
– How do you perceive the role collage in contemporary art?
“Collage seems to be a default method of approaching many artistic forms”. – Someone said.
I see it as a democratic access into creating process for anyone.
Collage has an erroneous lightness. If erroneous is a right word.
– Your career is always about evolution and moving forward; what´s next?
I wouldn’t say it about my career. It’s more zigzagging.
This year I will do something interesting – collage visualization of 1000 years history of the small Danish town I live together with historians, citizens, even technicians. It is going to be interactive.
Source: http://theweirdshow.info/2018/01/22/sergei-sviatchenko-pleasure-struggle-art/
