Igor Bitman: Elaborate Figures – Jackson’s Artwork Weblog

Igor Bitman gained a Choose’s Alternative Award chosen by Charlotte Sorapure in Jackson’s Artwork Prize this 12 months along with his work Europeans. On this interview, Igor discusses how he developed his course of utilizing the traditional strategy of encaustic portray layered with oil pastels, and the way the artists he admires have influenced his classical type.

Above picture: Igor’s studio in Paris

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Josephine: May you inform us about your creative background?

Igor: Based on my mother and father, I began drawing at an early age, however I hardly keep in mind that interval. My father, whose want to be an artist was interrupted by World Battle II, inspired my ardour for drawing. I drew my toys in addition to the scenes from the Greek mythology that I adored. On the age of 11, I started severe research on the Positive Artwork College in Moscow. Upon ending faculty I didn’t wish to be a member of the official Artist Union, subsequently any exhibition in Moscow couldn’t be possible.

On the finish of the Nineteen Seventies, I participated within the opposition to the federal government artists motion. Portray portraits and dealing on the theatre as a scenographer enabled me to earn a dwelling. In 1981, I used to be disadvantaged of Soviet citizenship and left behind my homeland eternally. After having lived in Italy and Canada, in 1987, I lastly settled in France. Since that point I’ve been working with tremendous artwork galleries in France, Italy, and the Netherlands, having had greater than 22 solo exhibitions in these nations in addition to in Germany and Switzerland. I’ve additionally taken half in lots of worldwide gala’s and contests. For the final ten years, other than portray, I’ve been additionally working within the area of images. My work has been acknowledged and recognised with many awards in France, amongst which there are three of essentially the most prestigious ones of the French Artwork Academy.

 

 

Josephine: What does a typical working day within the studio appear to be for you? Do you’ve any necessary routines or rituals?

Igor: My working days are by no means the identical – some days I work lots, some only a bit. Typically I work within the morning, typically within the afternoon. After I was youthful, I beloved to work at night time however right this moment I don’t imagine in my nocturnal inspiration. Typically, music accompanies the method of creation, although typically I desire silence. So, I don’t have any routine or rituals.

 

 

Josephine: Which supplies or instruments may you not dwell with out?

Igor: For a very long time, I labored completely with oil colors. Regularly, in the hunt for a matt texture, I turned to utilizing oil pastels. I now work completely with oil pastels made by Sennelier and Caran d’Ache. Then, about twenty years in the past, nearly by probability, I found encaustic and needed to reinvent this 2,000-year-old method to search out my very own means of utilizing these bricks of color. Recently, I’ve been utilizing oil pastels as a ultimate layer.

 

 

Josephine: What are the phases of your work on a portray? Do you make drafts?

Igor: Sure, I make drafts however I keep away from doing the exact sketching. Following the great drafts which might be just for me, I elaborate with both figures or objects with the assistance of photo-collage. After that, I begin working instantly on the canvas. In the middle of portray, I typically change an unique composition and improvise lots so the ultimate work has somewhat drifted away from the unique concept.

 

 

Josephine: Do you recurrently draw or hold a sketchbook? If that’s the case, how does this inform your work?

Igor: No, I don’t recurrently draw, nevertheless, I hold my sketchbook and once in a while examine it, which helps me to deliver to mild the forgotten concepts that may very well be taken again “on board”.

 

 

Josephine: Have you ever ever had a interval of stagnation in creativity? If that’s the case, what helped you overcome it?

Igor: Sure, it occurred to me just a few instances. We are saying in French “L’appétit vient en mangeant” which implies the urge for food comes with consuming. In different phrases, I should be compelled to do one thing. It’s somewhat painful. However since I began practising images these intervals of stagnation have gone away. I may change from portray to images.

 

 

Josephine: Are there any particular artists or mentors who’ve impressed you?

Igor: No, I don’t have any mentors and I’ve by no means had one. However in several intervals of my life, there have been and nonetheless are a substantial amount of artists of various epochs who impressed me and proceed to take action. Normally, my portray may be very referential, my footage have some form of dialogue with some painters I really like. Let’s say, for the final 20–25 years, the primary interval of Italian Renaissance artists turned a supply of my inspiration in addition to the work of Poussin, Zurbarán, Puvis de Chavannes, Baltus, Petrov-Vodkin, and a few others. Additionally, I’ve been fascinated with the sweetness and colors of historical Chinese language portray since my first voyage to China in 2019.

 

 

Josephine: How did it really feel to grasp you had gained a Choose’s Alternative award?

Igor: I’m actually thrilled as a result of it’s the primary time my work has been acknowledged in the UK.

 

 

Josephine: This piece is exceptional by way of technical capability. What first drew you to portray on this classical type, each by way of the type of your subject material, and the supplies you employ?

Igor: The thought for this portray goes again a great distance. The topic of ‘The Abduction of Europa’ will not be new to me; I’ve many work on this topic. What makes this work completely different and on the similar time tougher is the complexity of composition that includes so many alternative figures. As for the method, there may be nothing uncommon, it’s my means of working.

 

 

Josephine: There may be an ‘abraded’ high quality to this portray. How have you ever achieved that?

Igor: For a very long time and very often, I’ve been utilizing this type of “ageing technique”. It’s as if the portray I work on is only a reminiscence of one thing which may have existed. Technically talking, it relies on the medium I’m utilizing: for instance, encaustic permits me to do an actual scratching, however this image is painted with oil colors, so it’s an imitation of ageing accomplished with a portray knife.

 

 

Josephine: What supplies are you wanting ahead to buying together with your prize voucher?

Igor: I can’t wait to buy encaustic colors by R&F.

 

 

Josephine: What’s developing subsequent for you?

Igor: I’m presently making ready to publish an artwork e book containing over 200 of my photos, work and pictures. I’m personally designing the lay-out for this album. It’s an enormous job that’s protecting me fully busy in the intervening time. It’s the primary e book of this scale dedicated to my work, and it’s actually necessary for me. I’m wanting ahead to the publication of this album.

Comply with Igor on Instagram

Go to Igor’s web site

 

 

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