What is the story behind your most recent piece of artwork, and how did you approach its creation?

King Kong is a story about the giant beast and men behaving like monsters. It was told and retold multiple times elevating it to the mythological status. My latest series of paintings (currently exhibited at Curious Kudu Gallery) is called “Beauties & the Beast”; it is an exploration of evolving role of women in mythological world of King Kong, his life and death. Women, that initially were objectified and mistreated, managed to humanise the beast and soften the hearts of men — finally moving beyond the original 'script'.

I am fascinated by the cinematic remakes as they prove that themes raised in the original live on and remain relevant, while each new instalment brings new flavour and reflection of its time. “Beauties & the Beast” series depicts one iconic moment from three films separated by decades 1933/1976/2005. Artworks might appear similar at first glance; the viewer must look closely to see the distinction between the characters played by Fay Wray, Jessica Lange and Naomi Watts.

I really enjoyed working on this series, focusing on similarities and subtle differences of the three scenes. Abstract dynamic shapes of the background elevate the moment from here and now, moving it to the ‘iconic’ dimension.

How do you use your art to explore emotions or experiences that are difficult to put into words, and how do you communicate these ideas to your audience?

It is a lot easier for me to express myself in images rather than words, even my diary is mainly an illustration. My art is an exploration of a collective subconscious that I define as ‘modern mythology’. All images I create have an existing cultural reference; they are recognisable but stripped back focusing viewer’s attention on their core. I am interested in layers of meaning that come out of repetitive images, sequences, sequels, and archetypes.

How do you balance your personal life with your artistic pursuits, and what role does self-care and mental health play in your creative process?

For me art is self-care. Making art doesn’t necessarily bring me immediate happiness but not making it certainly makes me restless and unfulfilled. I don’t believe it is possible to be creative when you are burned out. It is essential to keep recharging your batteries so you can create, explore, and stay curious. Periods of idleness are important, sometimes not doing anything is exactly what is needed. I allow myself to have ‘unproductive’ days, when I can simply be present, observe, think, just be.

In what ways does your art challenge traditional notions of beauty or aesthetics?

Focus of my art to a large extent is an exploration of what currently is considered beautiful and aesthetically acceptable. For example, my project “Kills & Kisses: Six decades of Bond Girls” looks at the evolution of the image of the most desirable woman – the Bond girl — from 1962 to now. The project depicts 36 Bond Girls, the figures are missing faces but remain recognisable.

Defacing also serves to transfer the focus from the individual on to the qualities that capture the zeitgeist of their time such as changes in fashion and physique.I encourage the viewer to stop seeing beauty as an absolute or fixed category but instead think of it as dynamic and most importantly fleeting.

Have you ever experienced a creative block or periods of self-doubt? If so, how did you overcome them?

I believe that self-doubt is a natural part of every creative process, nobody is confident all the time (even if they appear to be). If something doesn’t feel right, I allow myself to take a break, search for inspiration, change scenery, start working on something new, go back to basics, abandon the piece but not the practice.

Every artist must become their own most important critic and create art that they themselves genuinely like and enjoy. There are always going to be people who like and dislike what we do. Trying to fulfil other people’s expectations is a direct way to get lost and confused. Instead, we need to learn to follow our own instinct and curiosity. Art schools, with best intentions, often condition us to follow direction that gets positive reaction from our tutors. This happened to me too, it took years to undo and learn to trust myself first and foremost.