Victoria V — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 2

May 2 Victoria V

Biography

Born in Ukraine and based in Vienna, Austria, Victoria V has incorporated in her art practice influences of Eastern European aesthetics as well as Western approach. Interested in ancient symbols, mythology and psychology, she combines intuitive yet expressive manner with contemporary influences, planting Kandinsky’s and Itten’s theories on form and color impact. Victoria’s figurative as well as abstract artworks explore the humans’ social boundaries along with personal ones, engaging concepts of trance, subconsciousness, sexuality, mystics and symbolism; while different media (acrylics, markers, collage, papier-mâché, ink etc.) used in her practice allow Victoria to create multidimensional textured original artworks with strong emotional vibes and vibrant colors.

Artist Statement

I always liked to draw and to paint. As a child, when I was spending my time in the naughty corner, I sneaked pencils and drew on the wall and on my grandma’s ironing board; when my friends wouldn’t play with me, because I was “weird” as of their opinion, I took my pencils and paints and created my own worlds and stories. I’ve been collecting my techniques and my teachers as a puzzle, which was resonating with me on different stages of my artistic development; I adore the unpredictability of watercolors; I love experimenting with acrylics, inks and digital as well as with other materials like wires, threads and paper-mâché; I adore the process of creation - just because #Ilovetocreate
Creating means breathing. This is a ritual of diving into my own worlds and parallel realities. Creating means freedom. This is a ritual of traveling through the Universe and feeling the gods watching us. Creating means interaction of energies and subtle matters, meanings, symbols, colors, lines. It means fusion of the present and of the future, a combination of higher material and inner demons. Creating means my way of touching mystery and magic, which we often overlook in our daily lives.

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

I always liked to draw and it wasn’t for me just about drawing, it was always for me about more - about creating my own worlds, about putting to the paper my dreams and some images, which I see when I’m falling asleep, about what I see, when I speak with other people (I see words and phrases in forms and colors, and I think, this ability helped me to learn a two-years school program in German within 3 months, when I was a 7 y.o. school girl). Drawing and painting were always indispensable parts of my life, which supported and supports me a lot, wherever I am and whatever I do. I have dozens of sketchbooks, and more of them are somewhere lost during my relocations.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

I would say, I am an artist, whose artworks are much connected with subconsciousness, with a meditative state of mind, with some subtle energies, which I feel and I see during my whole life. I’m more on the intuitive side of creating process, and I’m already not torturing myself, that my initial sketches of artwork always differ from the finished version; that I’m not a full-time abstractionist artist, in my art practice I’m exploring both - figurative and abstract levels of creating, spiritual side of our lives as well as a physical one.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

When I’m creating an artwork, I usually want to ask questions to the audience, as a coach, asking through visual codes, encrypted in symbols, forms and colors, and I want the audience to find the right answers - the right ones for each person, for each period of life. Even if creating some dark art, I always strive to do it in a most harmonious way, transmitting the balance and the rhythm as a base of harmony.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

Usually, I sketch some ideas, color combinations, and images, which are coming to me in my dreams, or which I see every evening, when I’m falling asleep, or when I meditate, or just when I’m thinking about some personal experiences as well as experiences of other people. Therefore, I always have a sketchbook on my bedside table, as well as my notes on the phone work well to write down any ideas or thoughts, which I translate after to the visual language. When I do further sketches (sometimes digitally, sometimes by hand), I usually do several ones before I start to paint. The process of transferring sketches to a canvas / a board is not a mechanical one for me, I’m changing composition, details, sometimes add colors, shapes, symbols. The process of transferring sketches is for me the most demanding and challenging one, since I’m doing that being in an absolute flow, and previous sketches/ noted thoughts are for me more like a sea bottom, from which I push back to get the whole finished painting - and the journey to the light might be quiet unpredictable and long-lasting.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My favorite part of the creative process is being in the flow: catching the moments of my dreams and of day-to-day life nobody might noticed and just passed by, as well as being in the flow tete-a-tete with the canvas and painting materials while being a translator to visual language of energies, thoughts, atmosphere I want to bring to the audience, when I feel that I am not just that brown-haired tall woman in her early forties, but something more and transcendental creating messages for other people to change their perception and to evolve their personalities.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

I have several projects now, one is conceived as my solo exhibition and I’m waiting until the whole entertainment sector would revive again: this project I’m keeping in mind since I’ve moved to Vienna, its connected with BDSM practices and my aim is to depict and to show the aesthetics of the process to the wider audience through different media. The second project includes collages and use of fabrics/threads, this is my latest inspiration and I’m preparing a series of the mixed media canvases using those materials and connected to sexuality exploration - how we do it, what we do subconsciously and might not pay attention to, but it still influences our life. Besides that, I’m taking part in several Art Fairs this year, like Venice Art Fair, Swiss ArtExpo as well as in the US.

Website www.victoriav.art

Instagram www.instagram.com/victoria_flowart