In Conversation With Mikola Borshchovetskyy
By Alex Nodopaka
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Sometimes it is a sheer coincidence to stumble upon a natural artist. Mr. Mikola Borshchovetskyy is such an artist. We had the pleasure and satisfaction for such a fortuitous meeting. After corresponding about personal and art matters for a few months artist Mikola Borshchovetskyy suddenly stunned me by showing me a few months later a series of new artwork yet unpublished nor shown anywhere that he produced in a very short time. It was of such professional nature that it would take under normal circumstance a lifetime to achieve but apparently not for the genius kind. So here's some background on our artist and correspondence after we began calling each other by our first names since we are originally of the same country, Ukraine, and city, Kiev.
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MB: My wife is very unhappy about that situation especially because of the smell of oil paints. So I ended not doing very much for a long period of time.
AN: And now? MB: By next summer I will change this situation and will create a lot of new artwork. AN: Where did you learn such good English? MB: I lived 9 years in America, in Maryland. Worked as a waiter. It was not in my professional experience and I was very unhappy not being able to get a teacher's job because of state requirements. So I returned to Ukraine. I love America, but sadly I had to return to my teaching job. 
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AN: I am impressed by your abstract artwork. Very distinguished indeed. The artwork bears definitely your artistic signature and contains a full understanding of non-objective art. Tell us about some of your art experiences.
MB: I have a few episodes from my childhood that signaled my interest in the arts. But my parents radically suppressed all my thoughts and attempts at it. It was only when I was 35 years old, that I really became interested again in painting. It was a time when the Soviet system collapsed. In the streets there were many artists who sold their paintings. I began to look closely and observe their craft. Then I tried to make copies by repeating my practices. In a store, I found an article about a painter. It was Mykola Trygub (1943-1984). There were illustrations of his paintings that I liked very much. And today, this artist has on me a sacred impact to the point that I made a copy of his paintings. I still have it to this day. Perhaps then I had the chance to become an active artist, but I married and the necessities of life and career work precluded me from pursuing an art profession. AN: Does seeing art on the Internet influences you? |
MB: The last 2 years with the help of the Internet I reviewed many artists. Ukrainian artists - Tiberius Silvashi Peter Lebedynets, Anatoly Krivolap and others. I was curious to know how they achieved recognition? What is in their Art? And then I began to understand, but it is too early to talk about my own philosophical conclusions.
AN: What foreign artists influenced you?
MB: As for foreign artists, I sometimes watch and try to understand their work, for instance Gerhard Richter. Recently I discovered Cy Twombly. His works have a strong impact on me.
In Kiev, there is a street where artists sell paintings. There are hundreds of pictures. I pass them quickly, but nothing of realism catches nor retains my eye but when I notice abstract work I stop immediately.
AN: So what is it about abstraction that attracts you?
MB: Abstraction awakes my brain. It strains it. I think that abstraction is a key to another reality. Or is its code that activates the brain. Most people are not able to feel all those vibrations.
Each abstraction has its own peculiar frequency. It's like writing in code with a certain vibrational waves. That's how I understand it at the moment.
AN: How did your taste for abstraction develop?
MB: And so reviewing many artists, I formed my taste. Sometimes some detail, a gesture, a word, emotion, left their mark on my mind. I cannot recall exactly which artist or artists, that I would call teachers. I tried something of all that I came across and learned bits and pieces from each.
AN: Any special reasons for your preference for black and white?
MB: For black and white, it was a recent decision. I decided that the code should be simple and straightforward. At the same time, it must emit a powerful vibration. It seemed to me that only on rare occasions there was the need for another colour. I remembered the colours of Andy Warhol. That's how it was. My first artwork was pure black and white.
AN: I am dumbfound by how quickly you finished and how perfect your last artworks are. Tell us more about how you did them.
MB: Actually I am shocked by your words as well. I do not know how to react to your words. This is like sending a message into space and getting an answer from a distant planet. It seems that those from a distant planet laugh or make fun of me. I cannot believe their words.
Then I look at my paintings again. Then again... And after a while I start feeling that these paintings are beginning to come alive. Then again, I remember your words and again look at what I painted. It is something like The Observer Effect in Quantum Mechanics. You look at the pictures and they begin moving in my eyes. But I can not believe that it is art. I think that we have every passerby on the street here do the same. Or they look at my pictures and say I am crazy. So I need to constantly say that I'm not crazy.
AN: I'd like to visualize the last few weeks of when you painted. Please describe them for us.
MB: OK, this is what I did. The last two months I remodeled the apartment of my daughter. That repair took my nerves and strength. But I found a few days for my art. There was a problem. I needed to be quiet and good state of mind. If I was nervous then I needed a few days to forget about it. Otherwise it will all show in my pictures. I did not want to leave in the paintings any negative energy. It is good to have good emotions before painting. So for all this time if I collect all the hours I painted it might be 2-3 days.
AN: I feel that you summed up 50 years of experience in those few weeks. Did you?
MB: "50 years of experience"! Last year I collected some interesting pictures on the Internet and saved them on the computer. I thought I'll make copies one day or do similar things. And now for the last few months, I caught myself thinking that I do not want to copy anything. I want to do my own ideas. Earlier I was afraid to draw my own lines.
AN: Well, I can understand stage fright. It's like sitting in front of a blank canvas or like a writer having a writer's block! Is it?
MB: My main problem --- Stop the fear! And start to believe in myself! Faith is the main thing. And be free! To be free! When I stand in front of the canvas, I have to be quiet, good internal condition. Sometimes I find good music and listen to many times. And in this state I paint. When I stand in front of the canvas, I do not know what will happen next. I do not know! I take color and --- 3-10 seconds... painting is ready. Very quickly, I do not think while painting. Simply spontaneously!
AN: Do you sometimes accidentally create a good picture?
MB: No! but sometimes things do not work out as planned and I see or feel something is wrong, then I keep looking and add something. Then I think maybe I spoiled the painting. It is now looking very bad. Then I think, well, it is spoiled, and I start to play more, and spoil the picture even more. It is now completely spoiled. I put it aside. And then look at it and see that there is something interesting. Some magic.
AN: Do you paint spontaneously or do you draw an outline first or do you pre-visualize?
MB: There are pictures that I invent. Of course, they take more time. My idea is to pull something out of semi consciousness. I feel that this could be a fantastic game. An image begins to appear on the canvas and I begin to fear it. Because I do not know why it appeared? What is its message? I need to change lifestyle then maybe messages from semi consciousness became happier.
AN: What are some reasons for your choice of colors, compositions, gestural expression, choice of square format and anything you would like to add?
MB: Colour? I like black and white, it's almost as contrasted to an extreme black and white photographs. Many colors create a lot of noise. The modern world is fast. Information should be easily accessible. I have no studio, I cannot experiment with colors. I am still in a search mode. I remember 30 years ago I read a book about composition. And that's all. I do not know composition and I do not think about it. I am trying to feel intuitively a balance. I should read something about the Golden Ratio.
About gestures. Sometimes one gesture, just 1 second and I already like it and I do not want to add anything . And then I think perhaps I am crazy. Is it art? Painting for 1 second. Who needs it? For me, this issue of 1 second is to be free for that second. All my life I fight inside to become free and to believe in myself. It's a long story going back to my childhood.
AN: How does mood influence your work?
MB: I cannot remember the particular moods of what I thought at the time I painted. I remember only when I was doing Untitled #132, that I had just watched a video about A Bridge Connecting Our Universes Through the Wormhole.
AN: What foreign artists influenced you?
MB: As for foreign artists, I sometimes watch and try to understand their work, for instance Gerhard Richter. Recently I discovered Cy Twombly. His works have a strong impact on me.
In Kiev, there is a street where artists sell paintings. There are hundreds of pictures. I pass them quickly, but nothing of realism catches nor retains my eye but when I notice abstract work I stop immediately.
AN: So what is it about abstraction that attracts you?
MB: Abstraction awakes my brain. It strains it. I think that abstraction is a key to another reality. Or is its code that activates the brain. Most people are not able to feel all those vibrations.
Each abstraction has its own peculiar frequency. It's like writing in code with a certain vibrational waves. That's how I understand it at the moment.
AN: How did your taste for abstraction develop?
MB: And so reviewing many artists, I formed my taste. Sometimes some detail, a gesture, a word, emotion, left their mark on my mind. I cannot recall exactly which artist or artists, that I would call teachers. I tried something of all that I came across and learned bits and pieces from each.
AN: Any special reasons for your preference for black and white?
MB: For black and white, it was a recent decision. I decided that the code should be simple and straightforward. At the same time, it must emit a powerful vibration. It seemed to me that only on rare occasions there was the need for another colour. I remembered the colours of Andy Warhol. That's how it was. My first artwork was pure black and white.
AN: I am dumbfound by how quickly you finished and how perfect your last artworks are. Tell us more about how you did them.
MB: Actually I am shocked by your words as well. I do not know how to react to your words. This is like sending a message into space and getting an answer from a distant planet. It seems that those from a distant planet laugh or make fun of me. I cannot believe their words.
Then I look at my paintings again. Then again... And after a while I start feeling that these paintings are beginning to come alive. Then again, I remember your words and again look at what I painted. It is something like The Observer Effect in Quantum Mechanics. You look at the pictures and they begin moving in my eyes. But I can not believe that it is art. I think that we have every passerby on the street here do the same. Or they look at my pictures and say I am crazy. So I need to constantly say that I'm not crazy.
AN: I'd like to visualize the last few weeks of when you painted. Please describe them for us.
MB: OK, this is what I did. The last two months I remodeled the apartment of my daughter. That repair took my nerves and strength. But I found a few days for my art. There was a problem. I needed to be quiet and good state of mind. If I was nervous then I needed a few days to forget about it. Otherwise it will all show in my pictures. I did not want to leave in the paintings any negative energy. It is good to have good emotions before painting. So for all this time if I collect all the hours I painted it might be 2-3 days.
AN: I feel that you summed up 50 years of experience in those few weeks. Did you?
MB: "50 years of experience"! Last year I collected some interesting pictures on the Internet and saved them on the computer. I thought I'll make copies one day or do similar things. And now for the last few months, I caught myself thinking that I do not want to copy anything. I want to do my own ideas. Earlier I was afraid to draw my own lines.
AN: Well, I can understand stage fright. It's like sitting in front of a blank canvas or like a writer having a writer's block! Is it?
MB: My main problem --- Stop the fear! And start to believe in myself! Faith is the main thing. And be free! To be free! When I stand in front of the canvas, I have to be quiet, good internal condition. Sometimes I find good music and listen to many times. And in this state I paint. When I stand in front of the canvas, I do not know what will happen next. I do not know! I take color and --- 3-10 seconds... painting is ready. Very quickly, I do not think while painting. Simply spontaneously!
AN: Do you sometimes accidentally create a good picture?
MB: No! but sometimes things do not work out as planned and I see or feel something is wrong, then I keep looking and add something. Then I think maybe I spoiled the painting. It is now looking very bad. Then I think, well, it is spoiled, and I start to play more, and spoil the picture even more. It is now completely spoiled. I put it aside. And then look at it and see that there is something interesting. Some magic.
AN: Do you paint spontaneously or do you draw an outline first or do you pre-visualize?
MB: There are pictures that I invent. Of course, they take more time. My idea is to pull something out of semi consciousness. I feel that this could be a fantastic game. An image begins to appear on the canvas and I begin to fear it. Because I do not know why it appeared? What is its message? I need to change lifestyle then maybe messages from semi consciousness became happier.
AN: What are some reasons for your choice of colors, compositions, gestural expression, choice of square format and anything you would like to add?
MB: Colour? I like black and white, it's almost as contrasted to an extreme black and white photographs. Many colors create a lot of noise. The modern world is fast. Information should be easily accessible. I have no studio, I cannot experiment with colors. I am still in a search mode. I remember 30 years ago I read a book about composition. And that's all. I do not know composition and I do not think about it. I am trying to feel intuitively a balance. I should read something about the Golden Ratio.
About gestures. Sometimes one gesture, just 1 second and I already like it and I do not want to add anything . And then I think perhaps I am crazy. Is it art? Painting for 1 second. Who needs it? For me, this issue of 1 second is to be free for that second. All my life I fight inside to become free and to believe in myself. It's a long story going back to my childhood.
AN: How does mood influence your work?
MB: I cannot remember the particular moods of what I thought at the time I painted. I remember only when I was doing Untitled #132, that I had just watched a video about A Bridge Connecting Our Universes Through the Wormhole.
The river looping around Borshchovetskyy's house.
AN: And so did you paint a wormhole?
MB: No! I ate it. But first I did much thinking about it. Yes, I also thought about the wormhole and the worm Hahaha! I had different thoughts. I wanted to make sense of it. The space where this hole is. What is it? What is its purpose? And if we pass through it may be very narrow. It might be scared to pass through it. Maybe it's narrow as the eye of a needle. A very tiny hole. But we have no other choice but go through it or we die. We have to change ourselves. Or maybe we should turn into something else to pass it.
AN: Do you mean it's like an anxiety phase?
MB: This phase transition is for us all, all humanity, we are on the threshold of a new transition. Soon many people will have such feelings of restlessness. There will be all sorts of transformation. For some it will be very interesting, and for others they will be anxious times. Not everyone understands what is happening. Some people will be very bad off.
The Middle East, Europe, Russia & Ukraine, Africa are particles of this process. If it hurts in Africa it does not mean that the cause of the pain is in Africa. The game of quantum transition has already begun. It will be extremely interesting.
The world changes are accelerating rapidly. The old model of the world must change. World War I, II were harbingers of the first phase transition but now begins the real beginning. World War III has already begun. It is not quite a classic war the way we are used to.
AN: And on this intellectually challenging note that I am sure will impact how you will create your future art, we shall go on our own ways. Thank you Mikola for an interesting conversation about your metaphoric artistic rise and metaphysical opinions.
MB: No! I ate it. But first I did much thinking about it. Yes, I also thought about the wormhole and the worm Hahaha! I had different thoughts. I wanted to make sense of it. The space where this hole is. What is it? What is its purpose? And if we pass through it may be very narrow. It might be scared to pass through it. Maybe it's narrow as the eye of a needle. A very tiny hole. But we have no other choice but go through it or we die. We have to change ourselves. Or maybe we should turn into something else to pass it.
AN: Do you mean it's like an anxiety phase?
MB: This phase transition is for us all, all humanity, we are on the threshold of a new transition. Soon many people will have such feelings of restlessness. There will be all sorts of transformation. For some it will be very interesting, and for others they will be anxious times. Not everyone understands what is happening. Some people will be very bad off.
The Middle East, Europe, Russia & Ukraine, Africa are particles of this process. If it hurts in Africa it does not mean that the cause of the pain is in Africa. The game of quantum transition has already begun. It will be extremely interesting.
The world changes are accelerating rapidly. The old model of the world must change. World War I, II were harbingers of the first phase transition but now begins the real beginning. World War III has already begun. It is not quite a classic war the way we are used to.
AN: And on this intellectually challenging note that I am sure will impact how you will create your future art, we shall go on our own ways. Thank you Mikola for an interesting conversation about your metaphoric artistic rise and metaphysical opinions.
