born from the provinces in Russia
studied in Lithuania and Philadelphia
I am a slow learner......
I am also fairly slow when it comes to actual painting.
我畫的又慢又沒有耐性
Slow but impatient.
That can be a problem,
但慢慢的我把這種矛盾融入了我的作品。
but over time I figured out how to turn this contradiction into my own way of working.
I can’t do slow and methodical accumulation painting:
如果要我畫精心準備的一點點積累的東西，我會悶死的。
I get bored with careful, planned sort of activity.
我的創作依靠於對新鮮的東西的感知,
I also depend on freshness of perception,
也就是佛所说的“禅者的初心"。
what zen-buddists call “beginner’s mind”.
但是畫著畫著你就沒有那種新鮮感了,
That is difficult to sustain over a long period.
After a while you are just not a beginner.
於是我就一次又一次的重頭畫起,
So I work fast, trying to hit the right note every time.
That is nearly impossible, so I constantly fail.
But I keep coming back to a painting.
一層又一層,
It accumulates layers,
每一層都是完整的一副作品,
each one - more or lass a complete painting.
完整但是失败的作品,
Complete but failed.
The layers are sort of like Swiss cheese -
they have holes through which in right places you can see the previous layers.
Eventually there are enough of “good holes” and also,
because of all the repeated attempts, I manage to do a good top layer.
直到最終我得到一副強烈的在每個部分都讓我滿意的作品,
And then I have a painting that has enough intensity in every passage to satisfy me.
這樣就成了。
Then it is done.
