DBH Featured Artist: pingdf
1) What is creativity to you?
Creativity is a double process as far as my own practice is concerned. On the one hand it's a permanent innovation and a new way of thinking that I'm trying to reach, on the other -- it's a kind of psychological therapy when I rely on the repetitive familiar movements and the drawing technique that I used to. Accordingly, I do a scope of things: objects and installations, art-books, textual works, video-art and performances and drawing is just a small part of my practice. I usually draw when I'm tired or upset or I need some time to be alone, my drawings (if they aren't a part of some more serious project) don't require too much efforts and leave me a lot of freedom. I have several favorite themes to draw: fish, insects, plants and flowers, fictional anatomy and sometimes I draw something more abstract or just some patterns.
2) Do you know what your finished art piece will be, before you begin?
Drawing for me is not a very spontaneous process but now I try to make it more unconscious and more abstract. In the beginning of my artistic practice I needed representative forms to incorporate particular features of drawing but now I feel more confident to get rid of any forms and create something more flexible, merging scraps of recognizable objects with expressions, qualities and movements. It's not an easy task for me because I always have a clear structure in my head as I draw and I'm not a very passionate person by temperament. As you can see in my works in the store I usually select some symmetrical frame in the limits of which I can experience the joy of detailed drawing of different textures. I also like adding some fictional symbolic meaning to my works as if they include some mystical signs or inscriptions made in unknown language. So while drawing I try to find a right balance between spontaneous and unconscious and well-planned and thought-out.
3) What creative people do you admire?
I admire artists who change our vision of art as well as our understanding of the world and ourselves. Usually it takes time to get delighted by art like this, and the first impression might be perplexity... the more time you need to reflect over some artwork, the more you like it. I was deeply impressed by american conceptual art of 60s and the work 'Inert Gas Series' by Robert Barry is still one of the most favorite works for me. Some more recent discoveries -- works of Scottish artists from Glasgow, namely Cathy Wilkes, Claire Barcley, Lucy Skaer etc. I love their delicate works with very special atmosphere and complicated sense game.
