Residency Unlimited Artist Interview Series: Mikhailo Deyak
May 29, 2019 351 van brunt,351 Van Brunt Street,art event,art exhibit,art exhibition,art show,brooklyn,brooklyn art,brooklyn artists,Brooklyn event,Compère Collective,contingencies,curated,exhibition,galleries,gallery,Mikhailo Deyak,new york art,paula dunlop,pop-up,Realty Collective Gallery,red hook,red hook art,red hook brooklyn,residency unlimited,RU
The third artist interviewed for our series closups on the artists from the recent group art show in our gallery space at 351 Van Brunt, Compére Collective, which was called CONTINGENCIES is Mikhailo Deyak. According to his RU bio “Mikhailo Deyak is a young Ukrainian artist who works at the intersection of neo-expressionism and minimalism, who experiments with painting and materials (glass and metal), and masterfully applies all of these techniques together”. Read an interview with Mikhailo below and view more of his work here.
What has it been like to interact with the RU and local artist community?
Staying at the residence is very interesting, the experience that I get in communicating with curators and other residents from around the world. These discussions help me look differently, but my work and the work of other artists. I think that all this is reflected in my thinking and approach in creating a work.
What is your favorite experience or exhibits that you encountered during your residency?
RU holds interesting meetings and events where artists get to know each other and interesting people. All these discussions, exchange of information and experience allow you to take a different look but your creativity, this is a very important process for creativity.
Is your work or ideas an independent endeavor or is it rooted in community?
The work that I present at the exhibition is called “Hudson’s voices”, this is a deconstructive metal composition which consists of 3 parts painted in different colors. This work symbolizes how different New York is. Its peculiarity and what it is for the inhabitants, how it affects them and how they influence it. How do they complement each other. And in parallel with this music, very close to the Hudson who fills it all with life.
What brings you joy as an artist?
I was very inspired by the city, which seemed to me very easy despite its scale and a lot of art, which is very well integrated into the life of the city. I was very impressed by the sculptures that are integrated into the city and street art, this is a very impressive dialogue of art with society.
My project is connected with the space and independent thinking of the viewer. I explore how my objects interact with space and connect space and man. How do they complement each other and what is the result of their interaction. This topic has been present in my work for the last few years and in the residence I continued to work on it and being in the residence helped me to look at it from the other side, more extensively and deeply.
An artist is the most interesting profession because an artist is both a scientist and a researcher, an engineer and a philosopher. All this makes me happy, I have the opportunity to be all at once and notice those things that many do not see. It makes me richer and happier.
