Interview with Igor Kovalov — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Igor Kovalov is a New York City based artist, designer and art-director. He studied painting in the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kiev and Grand Central Atelier in New York. After his graduation he’s had a successful carrier in the Entertainment Industry working on numerous Commercials, Movies and Video Games. Currently he’s been collaborating with Devoted Studios as a lead concept artist and as a concept artist with New World Interractive as well as pursuing his career in contemporary art creating deeply personal artworks. In his statement as an artist, he separates his professional work in the Entertainment industry and personal work as a fine artist and painter.

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us how you started in the arts? and your first experience in art-making?

My name is Igor Kovalov. I’m a New York City based artist, designer and art director. I studied painting and composition at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv, Ukraine. After the graduation I started working in Commercials and Movie Production industry and Animation. For the past few years I’ve been working as a Concept Artist and Art Director in Video Games industry (currently collaborating with companies Devoted Studios and New World Interractive) and create personal artworks which I prefer not to mix with my professional work in the Entertainment Industry.

I’ve started in the arts at a fairly young age, about 10 or 12. I got into an Art College first and then to the Fine Arts Academy. The education was mostly based on the legacy of Soviet academic painting and at the beginning I was a bit disappointed, because I wanted to do more contemporary things. But after I got to know the Ukrainian school closer I realized how much I can learn from it (and it wasn’t all that Soviet by the way) I was lucky to study from the renown professors (sadly most of them have passed away) They thought me to appreciate how well the painting is done, not only what it is trying to convey. It was important thing for me to understand and I believe that it was a turning point for me as an artist back then.

Igor Kovalov - Nude_01_25x15 inches_digital painting.jpg

How would you describe yourself and your artwork?

I remember I witnessed David Lynch giving his talk at a Film School. It was very exiting to see such a big artist in person and listen to him in live. Lynch gave an inspiring speech about meditation, inner peace, how important for an artist to be calm, relaxed and concentrated. It was a bit unexpected to hear it from him and someone from the audience asked Lynch why he talks so much about inner peace when there is a lot of suffering in his movies. David Lynch answered that an artist doesn’t have to suffer to show suffering. I think it’s a very good point that artist and his or her artworks don’t have to be related or described in any special way. Artist is a person creating art, art is a result (or a process) created by an artist.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Inspiration to me often times can be just one word or one simple object. Usually it’s a good starting point for me to start developing an idea. For some reason it never works when I try to come up with this starting point by myself. I start overthinking it and get tired very quickly. I need to have a restriction, this is how it works for me.

What emotions do you hope the viewers experience when looking at your art?

In my personal work I don’t really want my viewers to feel something particular. At least I don’t want my artworks to tell them what to feel. The most important thing that I’ve always appreciated in art/movies/design is probably ambiguity. I love movies of Krzysztof Kieślowski, Antonioni and Kim Ki-Duk. They are very different artists obviously, but to me the beauty of their work is in because it’s so subtle and layered and the accents often times are so shifted that you don’t really remember what the initial conflict was. Because in their art it’s not that important. They taught me that It doesn’t always have to be a message and art doesn’t have to teach you anything or make you understand something important. I remember I had an argument with my professor back in my days at Fine Arts academy. He told me that he doesn’t appreciate contemporary art because sometimes it shows blood and he doesn’t want to show it to his children. I told him that I agree, but who says that art is for children? Children already have their own art: there are plenty of children books and cartoons, but when they grow up they are free to go to MoMa, I don’t see any conflict here.

When do you know that an artwork is finished?

Since I do a lot of figurative painting and rely on visuals, my work has to meet certain criteria in my head. Usually it’s a very trivial checklist: the form has to read well, the anatomy and drawing should be good, the pose and the painting itself has to be interesting to look at. It has nothing to do with the actual idea or what I’m trying to convey though, but to me personally it’s easier to buy an idea if it’s crafted well no matter what the style is.

What has been the most exciting moment in your art career so far?

I was selected as a finalist for International Art Show in New York organized by re:artiste International Art Organization. It was very exciting to be exhibited in New York City, it was a pretty big show with a lot of people. Many of artists exhibited there became my good friends and I have worked on many re:artiste projects since then. They are amazing people and their shows always stand out. I also participated in Superfine Art Fair in New York. It was a great event with so many talented artists. I wish I had time to participate more, but because of my very tight schedule I have to focus on my professional work. I believe that the most existing events are in the future.

How long does it take to produce one work?

It depends. Sometimes it can be a few hours. Sometimes I work for a few hours and then come back with a fresh eye after a few days and rework everything. The important thing for me personally is to keep the work fresh, not to overdo it.

What exciting projects are you working on right now? Can you share some of the future plans for your artwork?

Currently I’ve been very focused on my professional work in the Video Games industry as a concept artist and art director. It’s a very competitive and saturated field and it requires from an artist to work on his or her skills every single day for many-many hours. In this industry deadlines, speed and work quality is very important. Throughout my career in the Entertainment industry I’ve been lucky to work with such big clients like Sony, Intel, Marvel, Opel, Oculus and AAA game titles like Guild Wars 2, Echo VR, Warface and others. But I’ve always considered myself as an artist first and will always enjoy creating art personally and professionaly. There are a few very exiting game projects I’m currently working on, I can’t really share them unfortunately because they are still in development.

Do you have any upcoming events or exhibitions we should know about?

I have an idea to create a completely new series of works, it has been emerging gradually in my head. I don’t want to share it beforehand, but after it materializes on my canvas, I will obviously be very eager to showcase it.