ICUL CTION Special Edition ART A C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t R e v i e w Special Issue While the shapes of your works sometimes communicate contrast, as in Connection and Temptation, the geometries that you choose are particularly delicate and communicate sense of release. How do you structure your process in order to achieve such brilliant results? Ivan Arkhipov: I let the process go. I guess it helps to get a result. At the beginning of the work on a fresh idea it is not completely clear, what will come out at the end. And I can put a structure only on myself – to prepare myself as a tool. I can organize a workshop time, get all needed materials – and then use it. Growing inside an idea is unpredictable process and the moment of it`s birth cannot be controlled. So I can only catch the wave of a proper state. Some of your works feature characters engaged in strenuos activities, as in Stone: other works seem to suggest delicacy, as Mother. In each of them, there's a human figure able to engage the viewers on the emotional aspect: do you aim to create allegorical images able to trigger the viewers' imagination,inviting them to elaborate personal interpretations? And how open would you like your works to beunderstood Ivan Arkhipov: Physical and emotional image of a person can convey a vast spectrum of feelings. Sometimes I see that my images crack viewers open, though I never do think about what will viewers feel from my works beforehand. Genuine sensation is all that matter. Every work could be perceived as a very personal thing or as a range of some spots. And that is genuine. Very often a viewer can tell a lot more about my works than I know about them. I suppose, every my work has its own main message, but honestly I do not fully understand some of them still. Your artistic production challenges the logic of ordinary perception, urging the viewers to a