Filmmaker and visual artist Kuzma Vostrikov’s work reflects diverse interests, including the role of technology in contemporary society, psychology and history. His work is found in international collections, including the CICA Museum and The Yokyung Art Museum in Korea, and The Museum of Russian Art in New Jersey, USA. He recently released a new book, Just To Land In Tokyo, with his collaborative partner, Ajuan Song .
Interview
When did you start out in your current photo genres?
It would be accurate to say that I’ve been handling everything that captures movies and photos since before school: that was my path to the genre. My eyes were preparing to become accomplices in interpreting visual reality.
In the 1970s, my parents formed an underground art group called Synthesis and I was involuntarily a participant in the artistic process, helping to shoot on 35mm film. I understood the aspects of camera work but the technical side is not the most important. You can shoot with a matchbox or an ironing board. The main thing is the thirst for exploration.
You describe yourself as a multidisciplinary artist. How do you bring all your artistic interests together for a project?
It’s hard to work in just one narrow genre. I want to take a risk with the unknown, not to make everything by the rules but to combine different interests and techniques in one project. It’s not that difficult, after all; an idea can be expressed in various forms and languages.
Even in the abstract form of supersonic airplanes, laid out in a mosaic across the entire territory of Australia. Or a love confession, engraved under a microscope on the eye of a needle. After all, some people stick bananas to walls with tape.
What are your future plans? Are there any other genres you’d like to expand into?
In the near future we plan to show the documentary-fiction, full feature film Absolutely Augmented Reality – an autobiographical picture about a namesake photo project of a hundred works that we completed in 2018. Work on the film has recently been finished, you can watch the trailer here at absolutelyaugmentedreality.com.
Perhaps the next project will be a new art film. As for other genres, we would like to try to mix photography and the plasticity of painting at a new level. There is also enough material for a new photo album.
How do you balance personal vision and commercial appeal in your work?
Good question. I have an answer for you: art cannot be 'commercial'; that’s an oxymoron. A true idea maintains its virginity and has no price. The more commercial, the more dead-end. We’re not going to call work that is done to order for corporations – in the broad sense of the word – 'art', are we?
Muriel Roberta Latow advised Andy Warhol to draw money. We all draw money from time to time. Some with pride, others with a sense of shame. If you’re a guy who loves money, you should be polite to the mainstream!
Kuzma's photo kit
The essential gear items used for this type of professional work
Hasselblad H2
A classic analog setup for a range of artistic tasks in-studio and outdoors, this is still one of the best Hasselblad cameras.
Hasselblad HC 80mm
A standard MF lens for the H2, equivalent to the classic 50mm in 35mm format. Autofocus is effective at smaller apertures and it delivers a shot with notable plasticity.
A classic camera body well-regarded for various tasks. One of its advantages is its capability for both photography and video recording.
Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 35mm T1.5
Designed for cinematography, this lens has an aperture of T/1.5, enabling low-light performance and beautiful bokeh. For close-ups, consider the 85mm T/2.1 too.
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For top tier work, arm yourself with one of the best professional cameras. And take a look at the best books on photography for more inspirational work.
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