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CREATIVE SOULS
FEATURED ARTIST INTERVIEW
CREATIVE SOULS FEATURED ARTISTS:
~JENNIFER GORDON and ROMAN SIROTIN~
Name: Roman and Jennifer
City/State:Columbus , Ohio
City/State:
Roman is originally from Saint Petersburg Russia
Jennifer is from Manchester New Hampshire
Email: romanandjennifer@hotmail.com
Etsy: http://www.romanandjennifer.etsy.com
Email: romanandjennifer@hotmail.com
Etsy: http://www.romanandjennifer.etsy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/romanandjennifer
Roman's website - http://www.romansirotin.com
PART ONE ~ THE DANCE
JENNIFER TO ROMAN
How did you meet? I’m sure roman’s
answer will be less sentimental, but here goes….I was given a gift certificate
for ballroom dance lessons, it was something I wanted to do more than anything,
the only problem being is that I was a the height of a pretty severe bout of
depression and agoraphobia. I was working as an artist from home, I had no real
friends at the time, days went by without leaving the house even to go to the
mail box. So though I wanted to dance more than anything I was scared to death
to even try. It took 8 months for me to build up the courage to go in for a
lesson. I think I lost 5 lbs that week, I was so scared.
Finally on the day of
the lesson I walked in the door of the studio feeling like I would get sick on
the floor….when a blond Russian looked at me from across the room, ran, jumped
over a table and hugged me and said “you must be Jennifer, I’m Roman I’ll be
dancing with you”.
I was a little creeped
out…..and the rest is history
How did the dance
partnership blossom into the artistic partnership? Well we had a
student/teacher/friend relationship the first 7 months of knowing each
other, it was not until Roman left the dance studio that we started really
collaborating. We met at a Panera the next day and decided to start writing a
fictional non fiction story.
We wrote together for
a while, then sort of drifted apart for a bit, by then I was a ballroom dance
instructor. I decided to leave the art scene, I was so burned out, the art had
lost all creativity and feeling, though I was incredibly successful at the
time….I stopped being happy .So I left that world and started dancing….I had a
couple dance partners but they were not the right fit, the connection was not
there. Roman came back to the studio and we started dancing together again,
started experimenting with movement and darker themed music. We slowly started
to leave the ideas of traditional “ballroom” dance behind us. We started
improvising all of our dances and movement. I think that was the start of the
real artistic partnership. That and the mutual love for Chinese food and
finding abandoned places we can sneak into to take photos. I think we became
each other’s muses….photography led to painting and music and more writing. I
found myself inspired again by art, Roman did this, he the working together, he
sees when I need to take things less seriously and pulls me out of extreme
neurosis.
We left the ballroom
world in March, we still dance but the the overall creation of something
beautiful has become the main goal.
What about the other
person inspires you? the color of his eyes are the color of insanity….it’s a
song lyric but it applies.
Why do you work
together? He
makes me a better artist, he challenges me on a daily basis…..he is my muse and
it's an honor to be let into his mind, which is brilliant and the most genius I
have ever known.
What
personally motivated you to begin creating? It’s this or interact with the
outside world.
What’s your most
embarrassing moment? Everything up until right now.
What jobs have you
done other than being an artist? Coffee barista, retail slave, magician’s
assistant, actress, dancer, model, gallery girl, and I sold porn magazines at a
slightly shady store.
Describe a real-life
situation that inspired you? I find inspiration in the moments of
each day, beautiful ones I find myself nostalgic for before they even end….the
terrible moments…they are all inspirational. I guess the few times in my life
my heart was shattered are the most inspirational
How did your style
develop? I know the kinds of things I like to look at, listen to and be surrounded
by.....I guess I just started to make things I wanted to be around. I love
forgotten things, lost letters old walls, old photos so I collected things like
that, the work was born out of that.
Is the artistic life
lonely? It can be isolating and terrifying under the wrong
circumstances….but under the right ones I prefer my own company to anyone
else’s.
What do you dislike
about the art world? The business of it, the pretense, the stuffy art openings
when everyone is trying to impress each other and no one is looking at what’s
on the walls
What makes you angry? Emotional
withholding, in myself and in others, also tardiness
Name something you
love, and why. Rain, The smell, it smells like what happiness should be.
Name something you
don’t love, and why. Lack of curiosity, it reeks of ignorance and laziness.
What is your dream
project? Going
to Chernobyl
What’s the best piece
of advice you’ve been given? “don’t go to Chernobyl
Professionally, what’s
your goal? Make something beautiful. Don’t starve to death.
What wouldn’t you do
without? i think I could make do without almost anything, i guess if Iost
myself that would be fate worse than death. As long as I have my imagination
and the ability to daydream everything else in the world can fade into nothing.
Why do you do what you
do?
there is no other way
Explain what you do in
100 words-
i'm a magician I make sad and beautiful things i write poems about ghosts and
scars dance to music that allows me to pretend I am no longer human and take
photos of places no one sees, and people the way no one sees them.
What art do you most
identify with? Mixed media anything with a lot of layers, hidden
secrets….also Roman’s photography
What work do you most
enjoying doing? do what you love and it's not work.....
What’s your strongest
memory of your childhood? large abandoned hotel on Star Island New Hampshire
What themes do you
pursue? Victorian
malaise, decay, faded beauty, a slow demise into mental illness.
How many pieces of
work do you produce in a year? Countless. Every moment is a piece of
work.
Has anyone in your life
influenced your work? everyone influences me either good inspiration or bad
What would you
consider your largest success to date in your art career? having work shown this
july in a gallery in ny, Also the recent paintings I have done with roman are
personal successes.
What are your goals
for 2013-
don't starve to death
Which past &
present artists do admire? Waterhouse Klimpt, Mucha, Nan Golden, Lillian Bassman, Wes Anderson, Sebastian Horsely, Chuck Palahniuk, Brett Easton Ellis, Anne Sexton, Donald Hall, Damien Rice.
Do you remember the
first piece you created? (if so, do you have a picture of your first
art piece?) don't remember, probably something terrible but very earnest
What is your favorite
piece that you have created so far? (if so, do you have a photo?)
Divine comedy paintings done with Roman, they are our monster, a portrait of
our demons, and a masterpiece
Do you listen to music
while creating? / Is music an influence on your work? if so what is your
favorite? There is usually music playing anything from classical to ambient
electronic to black metal, depends on the day.
What are your favorite
materials? paper ,time, imagination, loss, love
For you personally, do
you feel the internet has had a postive or negative influence on your work? well for many
years it allowed me to live comfortably and sell art for a living....when I
sold under the name "stilettoheights" on etsy I did very well on the
internet, after my 2 year sabbatical things seem different online,....bigger, colder.
I think it still is a great influence on the work though because the ease in
which to find new artists is incredible
What good advice can
you pass along, to emerging artists? make something you love, don't listen to
anyone else.
What is your first memory
of your craft? Are you self taught or did someone teach & encourage you? I taught myself,
as for encouragement, it started happening when I started selling my work. Now
I learn and am encouraged on a daily basis....it's the beauty of having a
collaborator.
How would you describe
the style of your work? layered with metaphor, visual time travel
victorian melancholy.
What type of materials
do you most love to create with? old paper, dead flowers, found objects
When you shop for
materials, what makes you shake in your boots & screams to you "BUY
ME"! Anything with a story to tell, I will always be a sucker for old
letters, and photos that someone has thrown away/
What are your
inspirations? my dreams, ghosts, past lives, love, loss
Why do you think
people should buy handmade? there is no reason to not.
ROMAN TO JENNIFER
How
did you meet?
We met at a dance studio. I am pretty sure i jumped over a table and a
chair to greet her and then hugged her like a maniac (they want you to
be excited for your costumers at Fred Astaire). She was my student for
about seven months and then I quit because she was the only
entertaining thing there and I wasn't motivated to make money but art.
How did the dance partnership blossom into the artistic partnership?
It was first an artistic partnership. The first time I quit dance
business, we were already writing together. It was partly for my
collage writing class. After multiple partners who had the
intelligence and emotional depth of a squirrel, I decided i would
rather make something beautiful then waste my time on an empty but a
"successful" moment.
What about the other person inspires you?
The female hysteria and general malaise.
We met at a dance studio. I am pretty sure i jumped over a table and a
chair to greet her and then hugged her like a maniac (they want you to
be excited for your costumers at Fred Astaire). She was my student for
about seven months and then I quit because she was the only
entertaining thing there and I wasn't motivated to make money but art.
How did the dance partnership blossom into the artistic partnership?
It was first an artistic partnership. The first time I quit dance
business, we were already writing together. It was partly for my
collage writing class. After multiple partners who had the
intelligence and emotional depth of a squirrel, I decided i would
rather make something beautiful then waste my time on an empty but a
"successful" moment.
What about the other person inspires you?
The female hysteria and general malaise.
Why do you work together?
It does me honor to just be in company with a creative genius like
Jennifer. It's the aura and the energy of an artist that people feed
off of. Most people are like vermin when it comes to that, but to
really communicate you need to get to a higher level. Communication
with ordinary human beings is unbearable.
What personally motivated you to begin creating?
With the impossibility to destroy the world or kill myself, I decided
to make the best of what there is.
What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Can't remember, probably blocked it out.
What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
I was a waiter at a Turkish restaurant for a year and I've taught
Ballroom dance at Fred Astaire for about four years. They should make
a sitcom about it. A misanthrope in the service industry.
Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?
The time where you lay in bed right about to fall asleep is always eye-opening.
It does me honor to just be in company with a creative genius like
Jennifer. It's the aura and the energy of an artist that people feed
off of. Most people are like vermin when it comes to that, but to
really communicate you need to get to a higher level. Communication
with ordinary human beings is unbearable.
What personally motivated you to begin creating?
With the impossibility to destroy the world or kill myself, I decided
to make the best of what there is.
What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Can't remember, probably blocked it out.
What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
I was a waiter at a Turkish restaurant for a year and I've taught
Ballroom dance at Fred Astaire for about four years. They should make
a sitcom about it. A misanthrope in the service industry.
Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?
The time where you lay in bed right about to fall asleep is always eye-opening.
Is the artistic life lonely?
Yes, but only when it's stops being an artistic life. If you're lonely
by yourself then you're in a bad company.
What do you dislike about the art world?
The artists, the galleries, the people who see the art and the people
who buy and sell it.
Name something you love, and why.
The ability to change. Morphing into something new is an ability we
all have but are too sane to do it. Boredom is the only evil.
The artists, the galleries, the people who see the art and the people
who buy and sell it.
Name something you love, and why.
The ability to change. Morphing into something new is an ability we
all have but are too sane to do it. Boredom is the only evil.
Name something you don’t love, and why.
The holidays. They remind us that nothing is special.
What is your dream project?
To go on a tour where I perform the the most outrageous fits of becoming.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Buy our artwork, give us attention, and lots of money.
The holidays. They remind us that nothing is special.
What is your dream project?
To go on a tour where I perform the the most outrageous fits of becoming.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Buy our artwork, give us attention, and lots of money.
Professionally, what’s your goal?
Try not to starve to death, but I will try anything once.
What wouldn’t you do without?
I could probably do without anything at all. Anything at all...
Why do you do what you do?
The clock is ticking and death is the deadline, yet there is
absolutely nothing worth doing.
Try not to starve to death, but I will try anything once.
What wouldn’t you do without?
I could probably do without anything at all. Anything at all...
Why do you do what you do?
The clock is ticking and death is the deadline, yet there is
absolutely nothing worth doing.
What art do you most identify with?
Music. It's been with me since the beginning and it will be with me at my end.
What work do you most enjoying doing?
Nobody enjoys doing work but everybody loves to play but nobody
remembers how to play.
What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
Watching the rain hit the puddles.
Music. It's been with me since the beginning and it will be with me at my end.
What work do you most enjoying doing?
Nobody enjoys doing work but everybody loves to play but nobody
remembers how to play.
What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
Watching the rain hit the puddles.
What themes do you pursue?
The extremes of human emotion
How many pieces of work do you produce in a year?
It really depends what medium we focus on and how much focus we give
it. I started working on producing electronic music since i quit my
job and we also started taking hundreds more pictures then before.
Right now we are working on a dance piece to submit or perform
somewhere. We also started working on still-art this week.
What would you consider your largest success to date in your art career?
Our works are being exhibited inNew
York
What are your goals for 2013
Learn how to sing and play guitar.
The extremes of human emotion
How many pieces of work do you produce in a year?
It really depends what medium we focus on and how much focus we give
it. I started working on producing electronic music since i quit my
job and we also started taking hundreds more pictures then before.
Right now we are working on a dance piece to submit or perform
somewhere. We also started working on still-art this week.
What would you consider your largest success to date in your art career?
Our works are being exhibited in
What are your goals for 2013
Learn how to sing and play guitar.
Which past & present artists do admire?
Emil Cioran, Yoshiki Hayashi, Kim Carlsson from Hypothermia, Andrei
Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa, Takeshi Kitano, Luis Bunuel, Sebastian
Horsley, Klaus Kinski, Chuck Palahniuk. Not in any order and too many
to list.
Do you remember the first piece you created? (if so, do you have a
picture of your first art piece?)
Yes.
What is your favorite piece that you have created so far? (if so, do
you have a photo?)
The Divine Comedy. Its a disgusting looking triptych painting that is
the definition of a masterpiece. Its sad that we can't share it
because a photo doesn't do it justice. There is so little galleries
here and half of them don't even reply.
Do you listen to music while creating? Is music an influence on your
work? if so what is your favorite
More often then not. Sometimes we listen to classical music, sometimes
to deep dungeon dubstep. You never know.
For you personally, do you feel the internet has
had a positive or
negative influence on your work?
The internet has always been my main source of finding new art.
Especially music, since most local artists are totally worthless. A
good balance is the key I guess, but somehow pornography always finds
a way into my work. Not just in a sexual sense but in a sense that it
kills innocence and the magic of real life experience.
What good advice can you pass along, to emerging artists?
I like egg sandwiches, cheesecakes and fruit if you ever meet me.
What is your first memory of your craft? Are you self taught or did
someone teach & encourage you?
Acting was my first craft which my mother had me and my brother do.
For the holidays, we did small performances for our family when we
were little. My mother is a painter, designer and a writer although
she doesn't think so.
How would you describe the style of your work?
It's like standing on top of a snow covered mountain, walking through
the dense fog without knowing where the edge is.
What type of materials do you most love to create with?
Organic ones. Instruments over digital, hands over brushes, living
over writing, laughter over art.
When you shop for materials, what makes you shake in your boots &
screams to you "BUY ME"!
This country is so diseased by advertisements that everything already
screams that at me. I hardly shop for materials and last week i found
a mirror in the dumpster to paint on.
What are your inspirations?
Imagination. Existence is communicating with itself all the time.
Imagination is the undefined nonsense that makes this life possible.
So you could say I am in love with death and it's fearful mysterious
content.
Why do you think people should buy handmade?
I don't think they should buy anything except our work, regardless
whether it's handmade or not cause you know it will be beautiful.
negative influence on your work?
The internet has always been my main source of finding new art.
Especially music, since most local artists are totally worthless. A
good balance is the key I guess, but somehow pornography always finds
a way into my work. Not just in a sexual sense but in a sense that it
kills innocence and the magic of real life experience.
What good advice can you pass along, to emerging artists?
I like egg sandwiches, cheesecakes and fruit if you ever meet me.
What is your first memory of your craft? Are you self taught or did
someone teach & encourage you?
Acting was my first craft which my mother had me and my brother do.
For the holidays, we did small performances for our family when we
were little. My mother is a painter, designer and a writer although
she doesn't think so.
How would you describe the style of your work?
It's like standing on top of a snow covered mountain, walking through
the dense fog without knowing where the edge is.
What type of materials do you most love to create with?
Organic ones. Instruments over digital, hands over brushes, living
over writing, laughter over art.
When you shop for materials, what makes you shake in your boots &
screams to you "BUY ME"!
This country is so diseased by advertisements that everything already
screams that at me. I hardly shop for materials and last week i found
a mirror in the dumpster to paint on.
What are your inspirations?
Imagination. Existence is communicating with itself all the time.
Imagination is the undefined nonsense that makes this life possible.
So you could say I am in love with death and it's fearful mysterious
content.
Why do you think people should buy handmade?
I don't think they should buy anything except our work, regardless
whether it's handmade or not cause you know it will be beautiful.
PART DUEX ~ THE ART
(Jennifer to Roman)
1- what inspires you?
why?
Repression. You never
see anyone scream in public, nor do you ever see anything unusual. Bringing a
bit of individual essence to the world that's incredibly dull is my aim.
3- describe your perfect
day?
Walking around ordinary
environment in complete ecstasy and bliss.
4- do you believe in
ghosts?
Yes, i happen to know
one. Luckily she is a friendly ghost and we make art together. Sometimes if
you're lucky you will get a chance to see us haunt different places.
5- can 2 people share the
same dream?
I believe so. I've had
occasions in my childhood where me and my brother were in the same dream. I
think it can be done again with enough training.
6- what is the strongest
of your senses?
My ears. But it's
unfortunate that God gave us eyelids to shut out what is ugly but he didn't
give us earflaps to shut out what is boring.
7- you have an in
incredible ability to remember all music you have ever heard, how does this
affect your memories?
Not true. Only the music
that i ever enjoyed. It effects my memory in quite a bad way actually, because
i don't bother remembering a lot of things.
8- what is the first
music you remember hearing?
My mother's lullaby.
9- what makes you the
most nervous?
Lack of energy.
10- what is your favorite
book?
Probably Sebastian
Horsley's memoir "Dandy in the Underworld"
11- what is your favorite
quality in a person?
The funny.
12- what do you hate most
(at this very moment)
The sleepiness
13- planes trains or
automobiles? how do you prefer to travel
Trains of course. It has
been many years since I've been on one.
14- dream
"vacation"?
If it has to be this
planet then i would say Chernobyl
15- do you sing in the shower
No, usually just in
public.
16- if you could time
travel, what time would you go to?
Sometime before or after
human existence.
17- favorite art form?
Cinema since it
incorporates all the mediums.
18- favorite artist?
Jennifer Gordon at the
moment.
19- do you prefer being
happy, sad, angry, bittersweet?
Bittersweet and a little
sour.
20- do you believe in
regrets?
I don't, but that's
maybe it's because i don't have any. At least not yet.
21- if you could be a
criminal of some kind and get away with it, what kind would you be?
A tyrant. It even has a
nice ring to it.
Roman to Jennifer
1. In what kind of
place did you grow up and what kind of influence had it had on your life?
I grew up in New
Hampshire, which is a stereotypical part of New England....it's beautiful,
historic, brutally cold in winter, and deep thick air during summer, the
autumns are perfect. The east coast has abandoned factories and mills the way
the midwest has farms, and the west has the desert. It is the landscape just as
much as the rocky coast line and the granite filled mountains.
My family was very 'east
coast' they were not overly warm or affectionate, they were closed off
emotionally to "outsiders" or to the public, and were fiercely
private. That's not to say they were unemotional, they were just at odds I
believe on how one should express emotions perhaps. This has shaped me, I
realize more now than I used to how much an influence my upbringing and the
locale has had on me, and in turn, being away from that 'home' has also had a
profound effect. A intense feeling of displacement. It is almost tangible.
2. What is your biggest
life accomplishment? - just the every day survival of
life....not killing myself, or becoming a shut in.....pretty big
accomplishments to be honest.
3. What are you working
on at the moment? - trifecta of paintings with my artistic collaborator.
Photos, a series of short stories, and thousand different moments merged into
dance.
4. What individuals had the most influence in
your life, be it bad or good? everyone leaves a finger print on your
life, even strangers on the street, and good and bad is all how you look at it.
If I had to narrow it down I would have to say my mother has had the biggest
influence on my life.....both good and bad.
5. What's the biggest
hardship you went through? my father being ill, watching a person
deteriorate in front of your eyes, become literally and figuratively a shell.
It was horrifying. Also living in ohio
6. Have you ever had a
supernatural experience? Yes, my father was sick for a long time, and
while living in the house he had a bell that he would ring to get my mom's
attention, because he was too weak to talk. After he passed away my mother
moved to miami and I moved back into the house, every night for about a month I
would wake up to the sound of a bell, very clearly coming from his downstairs
bedroom. I feel like he was confused, my mother was no longer there and he was
trying to find her. one night I went downstairs and just talked to the air,
explained where my mom went, and that the bell was scaring me, though I knew he
did not mean to. It stopped after that.....I only heard it on a few occasions
after that, usually when I was under a lot of emotional stress, or if I
was very sad. As if he was reassuring me. I have other ghost stories too....but
this one is the least frightening to me to tell.
7. What artist are
inspiring you at the moment? Roman Sirotin.....someday he will be
studied in books, and statues will be carved of him. He .is a beautiful, mad,
genius
8. If you could replace
any season and weather, what would you replace it with? I would probably get rid
of summer, specifically oppressive heat, though I would keep summer rain
storms, on the ocean. I would replace everything with autumn, or sire and
flood....but fire and flood are not really a "weather"
9. What do you like about
yourself the most? that I can be funny.....also I think I'm capable of
deeply profound
heart hurting love (this
is something I sometimes can hate too).
10. Do you
think there is art or
questions that are just too personal? no such thing as too
personal art, and questions only seem too personal when the wrong person is
asking. You can ask me anything ;)
11. What kind of
significance do you think your art has on you and other people? art is a diary, i can
speak without talking, which I love. most time talking gets in the way. silence
is best. I hope other people feel the same way
12. What kind of
environment is the most inspiring and uninspiring to you? I love faded
beauty, people and places that were once stunning, and have somehow fallen into
disrepair, where the only thing left of who or what they once were is the
memory, or the ghost. it's why i love abandoned places, and why I love a
beautiful face with sad or haunted eyes.
13. In the grand scheme of
things, what do you think the meaning and purpose behind all this? To feel
14. What kind of future do
you predict for yourself and mankind in general? Myself.......i will
probably make some people evry happy, and some very sad, I will exist the only
way I know how, I will try to survive every day, I will sob, dance, and laugh
more than most people on the planet ever will, and then one day....I won't. The
end. The rest of mankind.....i don't really know. probably die out in a
plague of type 2 diabetes.
15. What are your favorite
words? archipelago....it's my current favorite
16. What inspired you to
be an artist? i know no other way to live.
17. Describe your as an
individual and an artist? ghost girl, teller of stories, muse,
dancer, poet.....i guess this works for myself as a person and an artist. it's
all the same
18. What's your favorite
story and why? it's not finished being written yet. ;) until that time,
it's the haunting of hill house, by shirley jackson
19. What are you doing
when you're not creating? making funny faces and funny noises. teaching my
dog sign language, haunting abandoned buildings, work out.....and on occasion
have incredible dreams.....but that also requires me to sleep.
20. What would people be
surprised to learn about you? i played "hookers" and lesbian
call girl barbie when I was little. I have no idea how I even knew what those
things were
21. Favorite animal? Why? any kind of
fox......Because they are perfect, I feel like if I look into their eyes, they
recognize me as one of their kind.
22. Your worst habit and obsession? worrying is my worst habit, and being paralyzed with fear, doubting myself, feeling broken inside, those are sadly my worst obsession.....also i guess chinese food.....its the reason I am poor.
Jennifer and Roman are offering 10% off in their Etsy Shoppe!! OH MY!!!! This is only for Creative Souls members. Please use the code creativesouls if you order something from their Etsy shoppe.
Etsy shop : http://www.romanandjennifer.etsy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/romanandjennifer
Roman's website
- http://www.romansirotin.com
Jennifer's website
- http://www.jennifergordonart.com
