https://shoutoutatlanta.com/meet-alex-berdysheff-visual-artist/
Meet Alex Berdysheff | Visual Artist
September 15, 2021
We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Berdysheff and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Alex, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
3. Taking no risk at all is a risk too, isn’t it? For an artist, each new piece is a great challenge and risk, no guarantee how good the final result can be, no idea how much time it will take to finish it, and there’s always a great uncertainty with the sales. Don’t forget to add a possible damage or loss of a shipped work. There’s a great adventure behind each piece of art, and what’s Art if not a Terra Incognita? Risk and success always come together. Success is mostly a result of all the desperate attempts to change the given reality and just partly of a fortune.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The most important thing for me is the creative process itself. It’s a game, a ritual, a lifestyle, it encompasses everything. All I did by now is the result of the decades of creative search, getting experience and developing my intuition. It became clear to me one day, that was the only way I could get a maximum possible freedom as a person. There’s always something, that can impress and inspire me. This planet is still big enough to explore, the museums are still full of treasures of art, culture and inventions. I get inspiration from everyday life, dreams, music, travels, books, etc. It can be any image, object or word. My imagination adds ‘missing’ details and creates a new environment for all the forms I place in my paintings. When the emerging composition / construction develops and grows on the canvas, it directs my thoughts as to where to go next. It demands inspired corrections and subtle changes. Mistakes during this creative process are an essential part of those ‘interactions’ on the canvas. The plan if ever such a plan really existed can be completely revised as the painting progresses, so it becomes an entity in itself. This is the greatest joy in the expression of my art. There were several things I loved to do from the very early age: examine texture and color of different found objects, like stones or leaves, make a variety of crafts from paper, metal or plastic. I could stay alone for hours doing that, making mistakes, learning, changing, trying to create something that seemed to be perfect. Certain skills need to be obtained to do any job and doing art requires a wide range of skills and knowledge.
The main thought was always how to be busy with things I wanted, not what others wanted me to be. Even though the very first sales of my artwork took place soon after my graduation from the art college and it was very motivating, it took long years to become a professional artist and achieve complete independence. The sales were too occasional, so doing graphic design for offices and clients looked like finding the middle ground. The income I had from those design jobs allowed me to go my own way in art, not sacrificing my individuality to an art gallery, clients or collectors demands. I don’t understand some folks’ advice to find out what’s most trendy before starting an art project. First of all, it makes your work pretty faceless, besides things around are changing faster then your paint dries. The real goal is to make your own art trendy, I think.
I’ve learned many lessons, one was very simple and very common: when one door closes, another opens. Yes, it’s an absolute truth, believe me, I’ve seen enough closed doors! And there was something that helped open them, human factor, first of all. The people I met and spent time with. Right people and wrong people, both these categories played decisive role in my life and career (yes, wrong people too, who else would gave me the best survival lessons?). I didn’t realize that immediately, but later it became absolutely clear. I must mention such important factor as my family support, nothing would happen without it, most likely. And again, about the risks and challenges, this time taken by those individuals, who are now my good friends, all around the globe. Not all of them are alive today, unfortunately.
After experimenting with collage, printmaking, and even digital art, I’ve deliberately chosen certain methods and directions for my work. It’s oil painting, mainly. It allows me to find the most appropriate forms of enhanced expression. I guess it made my life more interesting too. I continue to innovate and push the barriers towards further knowledge and these experiments may take me to any existing ‘ism’. I have distinct preferences however. Most of my work can be identified as Surreal. After years of ‘doing art’, Surrealism became, in a way, the main navigation system with which to express my artistic ideals.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d take my friend to Greece. I’ve been several times there and miss its beautiful islands its sea and its people.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My wife, Nina Keshelava
