ART IS TRUTH

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Francesca pía - Where to start. I'm just embarrassed... Interviewing you. (Laughs)
LUKA' - Why?

Francesca pía - Well, I don't know, it's somehow, officially. You know.
Working and spending time talking about everything is one thing, but here... It's too serious! I already regret that I agreed.
LUKA' - This is a whole opportunity to gossip, just like you love! How we discussed people over an iced latte in Piazza Navona... Do you remember that time in Rome? When we first met. We didn't know each other at all, but that didn't stop us from spending time together, as if we had known each other forever.

Francesca pía - What were you doing in that store anyway?
LUKA' - Versace?

Francesca pía - In this paradise of kitsch.
LUKA' - I told you so. I came to look for a talented 3D designer, and at the same time to die this belt... With a jellyfish.

Francesca pía - But you always did the design. (Smiles)
LUKA' - I just draw a little with a pencil. If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be any jewelry.

Francesca pía - You're exaggerating!
LUKA' - Not at all... Okay, I'll pretend to believe you. As usual. And also pretend that you're seeing me for the first time and that we met not in that distant '18, but only today. Ask any questions, and I'll try to be sincere.

Francesca pía - Agreed. Where are you from? Where were you born?
LUKA' - In Siberia, in dark and cold Siberia. Where hungry wolves run along the street and a bear plays the balalaika...

Francesca pía - What year were such miracles there?!
LUKA' - In 1986. March 9. But you understand, I myself have not seen either the balalaika or the bear. But my mother told me.

Francesca pía - And what else did my mother tell me? (Laughs)
LUKA' - That a huge owl could take me away at night. And I believed her, until I was 4. Until I saw my mother knocking on the back of the bed. Since then, I have not been used to trusting women. But I believe my mother!

Francesca pía - Almost all creative creative people take a nickname. Are you an exception?
LUKA' - Partly. My name. I had to partially change my last name. I would even say better - adapt.

Francesca pía - Are you ethnically Russian?
LUKA' - I have different genes. Israel, Caucasus, Russia.

Francesca pía - Were you a good student at school?
LUKA' - No. After nine years, I firmly decided to become a hooligan.

Francesca pía - And how long did you act like a hooligan?
LUKA' - Until I graduated from university. And then a little bit more.

Francesca pía - How did you manage to do it being a hooligan?
LUKA' - I don't know, it just happened.

Francesca pía - Really?
LUKA' - No! My family is in medicine, so I didn't really have any options. Then I just wanted to walk around and enjoy life, without thinking about the future.

Francesca pía - So you didn't have a goal to be creative?
LUKA' - I was into painting when I was very young, I also drew caricatures while sitting in class, but it was more for fun. Nothing serious.

Francesca pía - Then what's the point of higher education if you're not going to work in the profession. Especially medical school...
LUKA' - School, education, work - these are all social sandboxes. We learn to live in them, overcome something, go somewhere. That's why I don't regret this experience, it was useful in any case.

Francesca pía - And what happened next?
LUKA' - And then, I did things that are not usually talked about, even to a beautiful girl like you.

Francesca pía - Accumulating initial capital?!
LUKA' - You could say that.

Francesca pía - Well..!? Tell me, tell me, I'm very interested! (Smiles coquettishly, clapping her hands)
LUKA' - I've always been drawn to distant countries, their culture, their way of life. At first it was Asia. Thailand, China... Then there was India, South Korea. The Caribbean.

Francesca pía - All this requires money, what did you do while traveling?
LUKA' - I just lived, listening to culture, design, fashion...

Francesca pía - And about the first point?
LUKA' - I had some savings. And a little stream.

Francesca pía - I wish I had a stream like that. (Laughs loudly)
LUKA' - You don't need a stream like that, believe me. It relaxes, forcing you to be content with little, it lulls your vigilance... It draws you into laziness, idleness...

Francesca pía - What's wrong with celebrating life?
LUKA' - Nothing bad, but not much good either. When idleness accompanies success, yes. But no more. It should be the highest point, after a new ascent, but not the meaning of existence. It's like dessert, you know?

Francesca pía - It seems so, but for me it's too complicated. (Laughs)
LUKA' - At that time I was into various jewelry, rather their shapes, design. I was interested in everything, hot enamel, diamonds, topazes, production technology. From the sketch to the final result. I bought, wore different interesting things, then parted with them just as mercilessly.

Francesca pía - And you never felt sorry to sell them, give them away...
LUKA' - No, it's just a thing. It can please you for a while, and then it's better to get rid of it. At least in order to see, to see something new. Since the places where you can wear all this suddenly end. After some time, I wanted to make a design myself. And I started with a massive silver bracelet. It was a product weighing about fifty grams in the form of a rope, and all this beauty was complemented by a massive lock stylized to match the general concept. Then the whole product was covered with 24-karat gold.

Francesca pía - So your creative path began with jewelry?
LUKA' - yes, but there was a lot more. And luxury men's shoes, clothing design and women's clutches... But if with clothing design something worked out, but only exclusively for myself, then with shoe production things didn't work out from the very beginning. Having bought a certain amount of caiman skin for production, these are small crocodiles...

Francesca pía - I know. (Smiles)
LUKA' - So, having made sketches of models, mainly men's loafers, a new vision of the classics, something else, I started looking for production. But since I was not familiar with Italian manufactures at that time, even through a handshake I found a single master working for himself in Siberia.

Francesca pía - In Siberia... Model shoes...?!
LUKA' - Yes, that's right. I have always preferred good, elegant, high-quality and stylish shoes, giving preference to Fabi, Fratelli rossetti, later Santoni and many others. Mainly Italy, because style is in their DNA. But we got distracted! Having given all my sketches and materials, I began to wait for the first results, but this was not destined to happen... This "master" simply ruined everything, literally everything! Not a single skin was left, everything was destroyed by this miracle man.

Francesca pía - I don't even know what to say.
LUKA' - There's no need to say anything, it just didn't go well from the very beginning, you need to feel this moment, so as not to waste your energy in vain. After some time, I left for Rome, a city of ancient beauty, artists and poets...

Francesca pía - And also chic restaurants, cozy trattorias and great coffee!
LUKA' - Yes...

Francesca pía - That's how our story began, but to be honest...


LUKA' - Wait! Let me ask you a few questions now.
Francesca pía - Go ahead, I'm listening. (Smiles mysteriously)

LUKA' - How long had you lived in Rome before we met?
Francesca pía - 8 years. Before that, we lived in the north. We moved to Rome with my mother, after her divorce from my father. My mother earned extra money by singing, in restaurants in the evenings and on weekends. And I mastered 3D design and modeling. To tell the truth, when I met you and we got into such a friendly conversation and you offered me a job, I doubted whether you needed a job. Well, and then, when you showed me these things...

LUKA' - Cupidon. Before that, they were called by another name, but I focused all my attention on the heart. And by the way, you know that this is not a fantasy design, that in fact such a nugget in the shape of a heart was found somewhere in Europe.
Francesca pía - Well, yes, you've already told me that.

LUKA' - Don't forget, we haven't met! (Smiles)
Francesca pía - Yes, yes, I actually felt kind of sad.

LUKA' - That I'm not Italian?
Francesca pía - No, my father who left us when I was little is enough for me.

LUKA' - What?
Francesca pía - It doesn't matter.

LUKA' - As you say!
Francesca pía - I just wasn't sure that I could do it, before that I was doing simple things and if I got orders for jewelry, they were ordinary. Ordinary forms, clear patterns. And then you show up with your sketchbook and blow my mind with your "natural nuggets"...!

LUKA' - No one can do it better than nature. Nature is God himself! Moreover, you completely coped then and we had a great creative union.
Francesca pía - That's enough! I prefer to ask, let me take the initiative into my feminine hands.

LUKA' - I don't mind.

Francesca pía - Who are your clients, what are they like for you?
LUKA' - Self-confident people who are not afraid to show their own self, their character, their charisma. Those who do not look back at others, wherever they are. Capable of surprising, inspiring! In addition, this is a great gift for lovers. Do not forget that they can also be worn as a pendant. A pair of pendants. After all, the design is unisex.

Francesca pía - And why exactly 24 carats?
LUKA' - Because it is the best there is. It is the highest standard and real weight. Do not forget that each nugget contains about twenty grams of pure gold.

Francesca pía - Why on the feet?
LUKA' - Well, because they've all been worn everywhere and have been somewhere, but gold jewelry on classic shoes or women's luxury sneakers is nuovo!

Francesca pía - Well, what about Italy, why Paris, the logo is the Eiffel Tower?
LUKA' - You know how much I love it, especially since it's so romantic. So Cupidon, Paris, that's the story. Especially since the production is in France. And the logo is a signature in the form of a fountain pen, only slightly modified. Maxim, if you look closely. You can see it in the Art work, in the picture on the beauty's shoulder.

Francesca pía - But you can order something from jewelry, besides Cupidon. For example, rings?
LUKA' - We do not work according to the customer's sketches, but it is possible to make rings and bracelets from our catalog. This can be done through the concierge. CATEGORY MENU - Jewellery - 24/7 reception.

Francesca pía - Okay, I understand jewellery, even crocodile skin sleep masks... That crocodile didn't give you any peace. (Smiles) But how did you start writing poetry?
LUKA' - Oh, that's... A separate story.

Poetry is like music in words, it is beautiful, melodic and light...
It has frozen in essence for centuries, preserving the imperishable meaning of the thoughts of the departed.

Poetry, oh how beautiful you are.

You are the light, you are God, you are the wind!
Let it blow! Let it fill the sail of this life...

10/06/2021 Maxim LUKA'

Francesca pía - Where do you start?
LUKA' - It was more of a coincidence than something meaningful. It was autumn, warm and dry. The most beautiful Saint Petersburg and me. Alone. Completely.

Francesca pía - Completely alone... How did it happen?
LUKA' - A number of circumstances. It's personal.

Francesca pía - Ok.
LUKA' - You know I don't talk about personal things, only through creativity. Only like that!

Francesca pía - How can I know Max, I'm seeing you for the first time. (Smiles)
LUKA' - Ok to you too.

Francesca pía - Did you have any experience before that?
LUKA' - Yes, mostly prose, but it wasn't serious and it was a long time ago.

Francesca pía - And suddenly poetry.
LUKA' - Well, here too, everything was not so sudden. Certain circumstances developed, its own climate. Moreover, I rented a very atmospheric LOFT. All paneled with wood inside, imagine. Coffee-colored. There is a gorgeous park nearby, Pobedy. Small shops with seasonal fruits, homemade cheeses and other delicacies. Sometimes I ordered food home from a Georgian restaurant nearby and wrote. I thought, dreamed, remembered and wrote again. There was silence all around, brown, yellow, golden foliage was visible from the window through old-fashioned blinds. The tree crowns were becoming poorer and poorer. And I was sitting on the windowsill eating raspberries from a small basket and writing poetry. It was such a sweet sadness. Such a bright noir. Having been in this mood for several months, I would probably have continued to stay in this cozy little world, where a lonely, green Benjamin ficus stood on the window, and crows cawed in the yard in the morning. But everything turned out differently.

Francesca pía - Why St. Petersburg?
LUKA' - Because I love it.

Francesca pía - Do you love it?
LUKA' - Yes, and a long time ago. The first time I visited this city museum, and I simply cannot say it any other way, was in 2012. And it took me. Later I came there more than once, for inspiration. And if there is love between a city and a person and vice versa, then this is just the case. I hope it is mutual. True, he never told me about it directly. Only if... Hints.

Francesca pía - It was a long time ago, I mean. a wooden hunting lodge.
LUKA' - 2020.

Francesca pía - I lost you then.
LUKA' - Everyone lost me then. Even myself.

Francesca pía - I hope I found you. (Laughs loudly)
LUKA' - As you can see.

Francesca pía - How many poems did you write there?
LUKA' - About 100.

Francesca pía - Wow! That's a lot.
LUKA' - Probably. But everything is relative. Especially since as time has passed, some things are no longer close to me, I look at some differently. But at least it was sincere. Each person has their own content, what they are woven from. Words and actions, desires and manners, unfulfilled dreams, love, sins, bad and good deeds, some accomplishments. At that moment my vessel was full and if I hadn't spilled it on paper... Who knows what would have happened next. Fate simply wouldn't have given me another chance. And I did.

Francesca pía - And now, are you writing?
LUKA' - Paintings. And the plots are just from those very poems. Poetry also sometimes comes into my life, but now it doesn't happen often. There are enough of those plots that were written then. That already distant golden autumn.

Francesca pía - Cool.
LUKA' - I don't know... Maybe. I want everyone to find something of their own in my work. What charges them, creates a mood, motivates, relaxes somehow resonates in the soul, evoking emotions. Let these be paintings, I don't mind.

Francesca pía - Yours? (Laughs)
LUKA' - Let them be mine, I will be only glad.

Francesca pía - How is the price formed? Let's say today you want 1000 dollars for a painting, and tomorrow you wake up in a good mood and already want as much as 5.
LUKA' - From 10,000 euros minimum. That's for now! The drawings are more modest. It happens that I really like what I got and the opinions of those people whose opinions I am ready to listen to too, then my hand reaches out to set the price closer to the sky, but conscience and common sense do not allow it to do this and I simply set the most relevant figures. Based on the current moment, and also focusing on the experience of already sold paintings. Understand that real art cannot be cheap, otherwise it is not art. A low price humiliates the artist first of all and is detrimental to his inner creator. It is simply toxic! In the end, everyone loses. Both the one who buys and the one who sells.

Francesca pía - Why?
LUKA' - Because an inexpensive piece is not an investment for the buyer, not a source of income for the artist or ART dealer, it can only create a mood. But in this case it is better to give, not to sell. But not all artists have such an opportunity. Not everyone can afford it.

Francesca pía - Can you?
LUKA' - I can and sometimes I do, but it's business first and foremost, and everything else comes after.

Francesca pía - What about art?
LUKA' - It all starts with it. But when I walk along Montmartre and see these dull eyes and hands drawing to please the crowd, for a few euros I feel sad. But it just so happens that among talented artists there are not many entrepreneurs. In the end, everyone wants to eat and when the question turns in such a way that you need to somehow live, people begin to "create" those very portraits that I mentioned above.

Francesca pía - But still, I'm interested in how everything is arranged for you. How everything works.
LUKA' - First, inspiration appears, then ART appears. It happens that it doesn't take one day, and it happens that I finish the plot within a month or two, changing the concept until I feel a sense of completion. Anyone who writes or designs will understand me.

Francesca pía - I understand! (Coyly raises her hand up smiling)
LUKA' - That's right. Then the work is exhibited on the website.

Francesca pía - In yours?
LUKA' - Yes.

Francesca pía - And galleries?
LUKA' - I cooperate with ART dealers in Europe, the UAE, and I also cooperate with galleries. Sometimes this is a wonderful mutually beneficial partnership, and sometimes it's a simple waste of time. Therefore, I try not to exhibit my paintings and drawings in galleries in real life, since logistics takes quite a lot of time, and time, as we know, is the most valuable resource. Therefore, based on all that has been said - the Internet. We have high-resolution photos at our disposal, VR demonstrations are also possible. But if a person, even if he is not professionally engaged in art, offers my ART to a potential buyer .... I will only be glad!
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Francesca pía - Did you study painting, design?
LUKA - Yes, of course. Among the European masters of modern art. Amsterdam, Rome. There were many pleasant, good acquaintances there. There was an academic school too. Courses in graphics, drawing. But design, probably, is just as unlikely to be learned as poetry. You can master some tools... But... You were just my tool in working on 3D models. Forgive me for being frank, I hope you will understand everything correctly, but this spark is either there or it is not.

Francesca pía - What sizes do you prefer? I mean canvases. (Laughs)
LUKA' - I like miniature neat canvases, because I mostly paint with a very elegant palette knife in a textured technique. But size for the sake of size... It reminds me of a huge book written by a graphomaniac in which there is hardly a couple of lines of useful meaning.

Francesca pía - But in the textured technique there are interior paintings of very large sizes.
LUKA' - Let it be. Some people draw lines, some circles, then come up with a meaning for all this. Sometimes they do without it altogether. But I proceed from the essence from the first minute to the end. That's the whole difference! Color, capable of setting the mood, form, style, meaning. Size has always been secondary for me.

Francesca pía - How do you sign your paintings?
LUKA' - The same way as graphics. My name is in the form of a feather. Only on the inside of the canvas.

Francesca pía - Interesting. Most artists like to put their signature on the outside.
LUKA' - I'm not most. The signature distracts from the work itself, and also takes up space. For me, this is especially appropriate. It's better to let it stay inside, the most valuable things are not always worth putting on display.

Francesca pía - Is a signature valuable?
LUKA' - For me, yes, and I think for a painting too.

Francesca pía - Who is an artist?
LUKA' - Someone who conveys meaning that comes from where no one knows. This happens consciously or not, but it happens. A work can inspire, upset or frighten, but it must certainly have energy. Whether we are watching a film, a painting or communicating with a person. Everything has an aftertaste... And let it be beautiful. Creative, forming the desire to live! Otherwise, all this is empty.

Francesca pía - Are you a member of any unions or art associations?
LUKA' - Any unions, if we are not talking about cooperation, are a useless gathering of competitors. With rare exceptions, people are sincerely capable of sharing someone else's success... So no, i am not a member of any union. And it seems to me that they do not miss me at all.

Francesca pía - What is waiting for offers?
LUKA' - It happens that a canvas goes to a new owner without even appearing on the site, but basically my manager tries to post everything on the resource as soon as the work is ready. Once online, ART is put up for waiting for offers. If the proposed price is to my liking, the terms and delivery address are discussed. Sometimes there is a bargaining by correspondence, after which the deal is closed. For some time, you can see already completed works on my website. It happens that I repeat some of my works at the request of clients, but mostly I try to create new things.

Francesca pía - As I understand, each painting comes with a poem?
LUKA' - With painting, yes. With drawings, it's different.

Francesca pía - Do you have social networks?
LUKA' - I have neither the time nor the desire for this. And I don't want to delegate it to someone.

Francesca pía - So you are not a public person?
LUKA' - Yes, that's right, I value my freedom too much, and publicity imposes certain restrictions. Therefore, it is better to leave everything as is.

Francesca pía - What style do you work in?
LUKA' - I don't like this word.

Francesca pía - Okay, (smiles ironically) what styles are close to you?
LUKA' - Avant-garde, symbolism, realism. If we talk about me, then rather the first two of the above. But now modern artists do not like to designate their style, this promises certain boundaries and gives food for critics. I only welcome criticism, though in my absence. So my style is rather closer to symbolism, such an avant-garde in symbolism.

Francesca pía - Your favorite masters. Classics. If you don't mind, of course.
LUKA' - Yes. Sculpture or painting?

Francesca pía - Both.
LUKA' - Ok, if sculpture, then I would note Gustave Doré, his "Poem of the Vine" on the hills of San Francisco, engravings in his performances are also worthy of attention. They are simply beautiful. Rodin, without a doubt. This is sculpture. Painting - Ilya Efimovich Repin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Bouguereau, Bosch, Picasso... Rembrandt of course. Especially drawings. Of the modern ones... We probably won't advertise them. But they exist and there are quite a few of them. And I've listed very few of the classics, the first ones that came to mind. It's just too long a conversation.

Francesca pía - Good. How is the collaboration with you going and on what terms?
LUKA' - Collaboration with GALLERIES. All dishes on the menu.

Francesca pía - Thank you for this pleasant conversation. (Smiles sensually)
LUKA' - And to you too, mon ami...

Translated from Italian - Bonaventura Fontana


I spent a million on the million st.
She turned out so airy... I would spend more...

I would have spent you some more...

My beloved, sweet, million.

01.18.2019 Maxim Luka'
Collaboration with GALLERIES
Tilda Publishing