Interview with Modern Artist – Lila Serezhkina

Lila Serezhkina is an artist and an accomplished, award- winning filmmaker. Half of her CV is filled with writer/director/ camera credits. She has been a brand manager for a large Russian company, self-employed as a photographer, art director, cinematographer and director for many years. She also created a new style/technique of creating art.

Lila Serezkina creates art of multi-level silent stories that can only be deciphered by each individual viewer. Hence, each story is different depending on the person looking at Lila’s Photosculpture. Her sense of story doesn’t stop with porcelain and photography, however. She learned the art of filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles and has been telling stories as a writer, director, cinematographer and editor ever since. She has produced countless films, including, Tales, Merger, Killing Me and After Six, to name only a few.

We know that you have a BA in Fine Arts, from Moscow State University of Art and Design in Russia. What made you decide to study art?

I chose this path because I felt a vision and passion about learning the fine arts. I chose a degree that I would be happy with. Many fascinating industries such as fashion, film, television, education, art therapy, arts and culture management and the entertainment industry are looking for artistic people. So, I felt like it was something I needed in my life.

Your art style is a fascinating cross between detailed realism and abstract design. Do you find that people try to classify your work in certain ways, whether it be style or genre?

Learning about different art styles, seeing what you have created and trying different approaches is all part of the journey of developing your own style. Viewers see my work differently, so for some of them its mystical -others think it is calm and relaxing, maybe even a little dreary. For me, it is just a way to express the importance and the meaning of masks.

As you are working on pieces for an extraordinary project like this, does that importance change your method or thoughts?

It is a project that inspires me. I really liked the idea and the desire in the part of combining together sculptures and photographs. Creativity shows the importance of my work and I diversify methods and try new approaches to create another new technique since the development of my inner world is important to me.

Would you consider Photosculpture series as being a part of the gothic world?

We are bewitched by fear whether it is real or imagined. It gets your body ready for action by giving you an extra dose of
adrenaline. The desire to feel something strongly, no matter what
the emotion is, that can drive viewers to experience terror.
Photosculputes might have some of that, but they allow you to go deep inside and think about life and compare your life to the feeling which masks eject.

Your first of the Photosculpture series was named ‘’InHarmory’’. Why was that?

I chose porcelain for its nobleness, softness of the texture and the maximal closeness to the structure of skin. As it turned out during work with the masks, porcelain absorbs a part of the model’s energy. It can be felt through the brush in which I paint the masks with -the same harmony exclusively, in which the model was in during the moment of casting.

How did the models react to your proposal to work together? What were some of the consequences?

The models to whom I offered to participate were surprised and the reason was that they did not consider themselves beautiful, but they agreed. That was the part where I wanted to show them the opposite and prove that everybody is beautiful in their own way. Afterwards, they fell in love with their faces. I won’t tell their reaction, but just listen to one of them:

“There are images, pictures and visions flashing through my head. With my withering consciousness I still see. I see myself. Always wearing a mask – of contempt, superiority, irony. Am I really like this? I’m crying but tears aren’t falling – the cement layer deprived me of my ability to cry. So I am crying inside my soul. Cement is crumbling and falling off my face taking away layer by layer, the masks of my previous self that had been imprinted on it. One after another. Why don’t I regret it when it had been me? Or not? The bright light is warming up my face, but I am no longer afraid of this world. I let it stare at me, just the way I am. This is a challenge, but it’s not a mask. I am not scared anymore”. –explained by one of the models.

Knowing your special talent, are you also working on any new ideas that you can share with us?

Absolutely! When I became interested in making videos, my desire was to add much more of living elements into the photosculpture. I immediately came up with ideas on how to intensify my photosculputres with live video. My goal was to turn a face into the whole body, which can actually illustrate more of life.

What is your next plan?

I am planning to elaborate deeper on the Photosculpures series, creating performances for my third of the series of Photosculpure. Surprise the viewer, by cooperating with galleries from many countries, especially the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany and Russia. Therefore, I will be glad to participate with other proposals.