In this revealing interview, Nina Fedotova shares her unique journey from bookkeeping to becoming a committed artist, underlining her deep-rooted passion for painting that ultimately propelled her towards her creative calling.

Fedotova discusses the influences and pivotal moments that helped shape her artistic vision and practice, providing a heartfelt look into the evolution of her work and the deeply personal motivations behind it.

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At what point in your life did you firmly decide to pursue art, and what were the pivotal factors in making that decision?

Love for paints has been living in my heart since childhood. All my school years I visited fine arts clubs. After finishing school I devoted myself to book-keeping but my passion for painting made itself felt. In 2012, I got close to my dream and I managed to start my own career as an artist in the private studio of my friend - the talented artist and teacher. 

 

The more paintings I created the more excitement I felt to continue to develop in this branch. Gradually, my monochrome artworks, which reflected my town in retro style, became popular. I started to get new knowledge, practice, new emotions, impressions and feelings. With time I realised that fine arts is my passion.

 

Actually, I’m only attracted to the technique of oil painting. That's why all my works are oil paintings.

Discuss the balance between innate creativity and the skills honed through education and practice.

Innate talent and love for art have great power. It gives inner potential to stand up to challenges in a thorny creative way. Education and practice are no less important than innate talents. I think that these terms are closely interconnected because without knowledge, practice, and improving skills it is difficult to satisfy the needs of fastidious surroundings and let the artists show and implement their creativity. It's difficult to implement creative ideas of art effectively without technical aspects of art such as using colour, working with materials, and so on.

Discuss your strategies for staying motivated and continually finding inspiration in your artistic practice.

Be in the process! I think that when you are doing something or thinking about your creativity, anyway the inspiration will be. If I don't paint, I do something else. I can learn the works and biographies of other famous artists, do my art career advancement, and look for the materials for my inspiration. Look for inspiration everywhere: outside, in the park, on the internet, in the biographies of famous artists, and even at home, looking at simple things from another view, and so on.

 

Another very important factor- is the audience, when your pictures reflect with their life, events, moods, views and emotions. The audience’s reverse connection and commentary is a powerful impetus for the development of the theme you are working on.

Discuss how your art comments on or reflects contemporary social, political, or environmental themes. In what ways does your artwork reflect or comment on current social, political, or environmental issues? Can you give specific examples from your works?

I think that art has the powerful force to reflect and comment on difficult aspects of the modern world. now I work with a series of works " Life from a Different Perspective". It’s a try to rethink the reality we live in, through the prism of surrealism, minimalism and pop art. Bright and rich colours in my works are the way of psychological war confrontation in Ukraine, stress, depression, pressure and difficulties we face with, light up and comment on different social, political and ecological questions. Before creating a new picture I have an idea, and message which I have to reflect on the canvas. Through minimalism in composition, I try to focus the attention of the audience on the main aspects of the problem, separating it from extra details and transferring the content through telling views. 

 

Surrealistic elements in my works help accentuate the nonlinearity and complexity of these problems and give the audience the opportunity to see their stories in these works. In my works, the viewers see the problem from a different angle, even deeper than the idea of creating a picture. And it inspires me to create new plots.

 

The picture " Only such are left" - is travelling to the world of dreams with pink clouds, where the river pours out the skylight and glamorous, yellow, rubber ducks are swimming in the water. This unusual scene reflects the interaction between nature and artificial light, alluding to the question of artificial beauty and mesh reality. It tells us that not everything that is bright is real. It concerns the question of female natural and artificial beauty and ecology and our modern life in general. The picture leaves a lot of questions and reflection.

Describe your artistic process from conception to completion. Could you walk us through the steps of your artistic process, starting from the initial idea to the finished piece? How do you develop your concepts, and what are the key stages in creating your final work?

I always have some ideas which I would like to reproduce. some of them lose their power with time and others are reinforced with details. Later I started to understand that it's the time to reflect on an idea visually. I started to find colours, which of them would be main and which of them would be secondary and emphasised the aesthetics. For me, colour plays the main role in the picture. Often I take blue colour as the main colour and its tones as the symbol of sky, calmness, deepness and harmony depending on the content. I like to use different geometric shapes and lines to create rhythm and visual aesthetics. In my works, there is no image of man. I prefer symbolic images of birds and different things that give me and the audience creative freedom.

 

Starting to create the work I don't know exactly what the finished result will be. In the process, I change my work to receive the result I need. The conception of any work is the theme which affects me somehow.

 

My latest work is " You are in the game", the canvas is 90* 70 cm. Blue background and white strips are depicted in it, which visually can be seen as a part of a tennis court or a symbol of the sky. Tennis balls are chaotically scattered on the canvas. It symbolizes the game of tennis. in the lower part of the canvas is the frying pan. Why is it such an idea? I play tennis, like this game and wish perfection in it. But I have some difficulties because of lack of time. My concern about this problem of failures on the tennis court, the lack of time, and being busy with other things leads me to create this picture.

 

One of my friends told me that she sees the big game of women in the kitchen in this picture.

Explain the evolution of your artistic style and your aspirations through this technique. How has your artistic style evolved over time? Can you describe the journey and changes in your technique? What are your aspirations for your style and technique moving forward?

At the beginning of my creative career, I was admired for my monochromic works. I painted a lot of plots of my old town and monochrome gave it a retro style. Then I was interested in colour plots, birds and so on. but from time to time I tried to create conceptual works. In usual landscapes, flowers I lacked of acute theme, etc. I had to find themes which would stimulate my creativity and let me express my ideas through the art more deeply. I always look for themes which I'm interested in and inspire me. It's very important for my creativity. They make me explore new ideas, bring originality to my art and inspire others. I focus on the themes which impressed me and try to express my feelings through my art.

List five key insights or lessons you wish you had known when you started your artistic journey.

The main thing is to understand what exactly disappoints you and bring dissonance to your creative way. To find this reason is 50% of success.

 

✧ If it's your surroundings, then change it, avoid people after communication with which you feel disappointment, and your self-esteem is falling.

 

✧ To change the picture- to go travelling. It helps to switch yourself.

 

✧ Read the biographies of famous artists. They also had problems with their creativity. Everybody can have blocks and disappointments. It's a zone of growth and possibility to make your creative way better.

 

✧ Compare yourself with you, but not with other artists, and analyse your progress.

 

✧ If it doesn't work for a long time to change the situation, then find the specialist who will help you to solve the problem, which you are worried about. It can be an art curator, teacher, other artist, psychologist etc.

What would be the theme song of your life and why?

Try to do everything with pleasure, do what I like to do, feel myself, my needs, desires, favourite work, profession, plots of the pictures, and social circle- it gives me the possibility not to lose, makes the stress less and gives me more motivation to invest my efforts in favourite thing.

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Nina Fedotova's artistic narrative is a compelling testament to the power of pursuing one’s passions against all odds. Through her exploration of oil painting, she not only captures the essence of her surroundings but also offers us a window into her soul. As she continues to evolve and embrace new challenges, Fedotova's journey remains an inspiring beacon for aspiring artists everywhere, reminding us that it's never too late to follow your dreams and transform your passion into your profession.