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Ekaterina Vanovskaya was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 and an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2015. Ekaterina has exhibited nationally including New York City and Chicago. She completed the Artist in the Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts and recently participated in the Governors Island Art Fair, New York and the AIM Biennial at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Ekaterina has received the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant in 2017 and 2018.
The Interview
At what point in your life did you know that you wanted to become an artist? Did the realization emerge slowly?
I started taking art classes when I was 15 years old. I didn't think anything of it, it was just for fun. Then when I was a senior in high school (and I had to change schools when I was a senior), I saw a poster on the wall: Portfolio Day in New York City. All of a sudden I was adamant about going to Portfolio Day and I made my mother take me. I got into the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on the spot. In one of the many painting classes I took, I was having a rough time painting a still life. I was meandering around and when the professor came up to me I exclaimed, "I am just not painting material!" The professor replied, "You are too painting material." Something changed in that split second and I knew I wanted to become a painter. I was really going to go for it.
How did you evolve your style and favorite mediums?
In my last year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I knew I wanted to go to grad school. I waited two years to apply because I really wanted to go when I felt ready to change my paintings. While at Indiana University I changed my work from perceptual painting, like still lifes and landscapes, to more personal paintings about my life and memories growing up in St. Petersburg, Russia. My favorite medium is oil paint, oil on a linen surface, and the oil primer leaves the colors saturated and vibrant. I like a cold, slightly muted color palette and a combination of indoor and outdoor spaces.
What are your time management techniques? Do you have regular working hours...or favorite times to work?
I like working in the morning when the light is good and I have the most energy. I usually have an internal feeling of what a color or space should look like, I try to paint only when I have that feeling, only when I have an idea of what the next step should be.
Do you work on more than one piece at a time, or primarily just on one?
I usually have four or five paintings in my head that I am mulling over and five more paintings physically on canvases that I am trying to finish. I work a little at a time on each one, I can spend a few days or weeks on one painting and I can also switch paintings when I am in the mood for something different.
What would you say is your biggest influence--that which keeps you working, regardless of all else, your most steadfast motivation?
I usually have four or five paintings in my head that I am mulling over and five more paintings physically on canvases that I am trying to finish. I work a little at a time on each one, I can spend a few days or weeks on one painting and I can also switch paintings when I am in the mood for something different.
Does trying something new and not knowing the rules -- the boundary pushing -- create anxiety or excitement in you? (Or both?)
Trying something new is always exciting for me. In my own personal way I try to make each painting different then the one before it. Sometimes when I have a specific visual idea or theme I wait just for the right painting to come along so I can implement it. I have a feeling that I can only use a specific figure or pattern just once, for example. I don't like to be repetitive.
Do you enjoy having the "duality of both chaos and control" or are you happiest with a set plan?
I definitely like to work out a composition before I start working on a painting. That's what gets me really excited. Making up the paintings and coming up with ideas is the most fun part.
Do you have any projects or events forthcoming?
I just moved to a different state so I am excited about the opportunities to come.
Ekaterina
30x22"
graphite and colored pencil on paper 2019
30x22"
graphite and colored pencil on paper 2019
I DREW A HORSE
30x22"
graphite on paper 2018
30x22"
graphite on paper 2018
Grass
30x66" (three panels, each panel 30x22")
graphite and colored pencil on paper 2019
30x66" (three panels, each panel 30x22")
graphite and colored pencil on paper 2019
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