Interview With Narisofka

The characters you've created are bizarre. Do you have any prototypes?

-I don’t have any specific references, but I believe it’s a mix of things I’m consuming with my art vision. Have you ever played “The Neverhood” game (dated 1998 year)? I played it while I was waiting for my mom in her office when I was like 6 and the characters from that game definitely played a fundamental role in my art. Also, all the cartoons I’ve ever watched, but especially “Adventure Time,” have a huge impact on my art, not via the style, but the fact of differences between all the characters they have there, that’s what inspired me to become a professional artist and feel free to experiment with anatomy and styles. One-eyed character possibly being inspired by an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in Slavic mythology, a creature with one eye named “Likho”…simply because I was feeling so unlucky I’ve been inspired by that character when I was a kid, but instead of being a victim of it I decided to turn it into my power and these one-eyed or third eyed characters bringing me and my audience luck and joy.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

-I’m inspired by nature, first of all, human nature and human feelings, inspired by plants, weeds, trees, and flowers. Inspired by art I’m surrounding myself with. Creating and crafting are extremely inspirational for me, the beauty of experimenting is the main power of my art.

Zooming out from some specific characters and seeing a whole collection of my creatures, you’ll notice how different they are, but they are all part of one.

I’ve been struggling a lot in my life seeing people not accepting people if they are different (including me in my own family), so that’s the main idea behind my creations: “celebration of difference, acceptance, and love to each and other, freedom of experimenting, but still being a big beautiful union.”

Why have you started creating from physical paintings now?

-Art is a tool. Art is a language to communicate with the world outside or inside of the soul. I do learn different languages to communicate and explore (languages of art styles and techniques and speaking languages; I speak 5). So, physical art is a language I’m ready to learn and see where knowing it will lead me to.