Interview with Sergei Kosyanov
«I define myself as a man who is curious about everything.»
Photo artist, designer, member of the Russian Union of Artists. He graduated from the Department of Journalism in 1981. Worked in Science and Life, Youth Technology, Planeta. Founder and director of the studio (subsequently the publishing group) Arbor. Publisher of the illustrated magazines «Camera Obscur», «Arts», «29», and «Amaday». Author of photographic books, «Exclesiast», «God’s comedy», «Infinity».
Photo from The Infinity, Temruk
Commencement
I worked first in the amazing newspaper Luberecca Truth. It was a miracle! The editor-in-chief was concussed during the occupation of Estonia. Worked somewhere at the KPSS mountain, then retired to run the newspaper. That’s why he sat there all the time looking at everyone suspicious. The paper was released every day, and the entire edition was 6-10 people. Everyone had to take a lot of stuff to the room every day. When someone said, «Peter Vasiljevic, I won’t be able to do it, then I’ll do it, next number,» his face was filled with blood, and he said, «Sabotage? I mean, the man was in his mind in '37. And he also said, „You don’t get the text on your knees!“ Imagine a man after Moscow University got into the Lubersky Truth and watched the whole panoptic. I don’t know why I went there. You take pictures of all kinds — front-liners, monsters — you turn them in. The editor takes something and puts it on. He was a man raised by the Communist Party, who believed that there should be a photograph on every page. Alone. To avoid using zinc, it’s strategic material.
Photo from The Infinity, Orlov Oblast, Novosil
He was very warm to me, apparently, because I always had my front hat. When he asked, «What are we going to do to illustrate the people’s control strip?», I said, «Peter Vasiljevic, we have a lot of cards…» He said, «Very good!» At this point, the flyer ended, and I went to Pushkin, and he was working in a broom theater at the time, after he was the main artist in Vyatka, Kive. It was a soul mate you could talk to about art. But at some point, of course, I had to go out and shoot the front lines.
Photo from The Infinity, Moscow
Worked for Science and Life, then for a while, even for a magazine that didn’t last long, «Trust and Culture.» That’s where they appointed the editor-in-chief of the drunken man, but the rest of the group drank perfectly calmly, locked up in the offices. We made materials for a sober and cultural way of life. Then for a number of years, I worked for Youth Technology, and a friend called me there. That was amazing! I went to work once a week or once a month. We traveled across the country and photographed all kinds of equipment and young people. Well, that was great. The first co-operative opened there. It was called the LTD Youth Technology. We rented a room in a magazine, and we started this cooperative life. It’s 1989 and there were also the press guys who opened the Armi advertising agency (which still exists), and we were together, but then they said, «Well, guys, we don’t need this agency, we do design, we do pictures,» and since then, more than 30 years ago, there’s an Arbor.
Photos from The Infinity, Moscow, Vladimir region
Self-determination
The autonomy of the artist and the energy that exists in the artistic people pushes them into all kinds of adventures. When they are no longer given 10 magazines, they have free time, and instead of being quiet and fashioned designers, they start to be burgeoning restaurants, for example. I define myself as a man who’s curious about everything. It was interesting to set up an office, it was curious to take pictures, it was curious to have designers release things that we’ve been making. I was curious about all these new processes. Seriously say myself «I’m an artist,» «I’m a photographer,» or «I’m a publisher,» too high a bar to take so seriously what you’re doing. That’s what’s missing, that’s not. My curiosity moved me, and I still do. Anything new is curious to come up with and then do.
Photos from The Infinity, Kaluga Region, Moscow, MGU
Art projects
Photo from The Infinity, Moscow Region
Entertainment
What am I having fun with? First of all, there’s something going on in your head all the time, and all the time you think of something, it’s fun to think about. Secondly, I fly to Georgia, and there I eat hinkals and drink wine with beautiful Georgians. It’s the second fun. Sometimes I press the button as a photo amateur, and I enjoy the pictures I see in my camera and on my phone. Pure Chinese meditation when you don’t even show it to anyone, because I’m not on social media. I have no ambition, no desire for recognition, no honor. More than that, I hate it. I always didn’t like my photo exhibitions because of what’s going on out there — people are, they’re telling you something, they’re pulling a button or saying some words about how beautiful it is — I’m sick of those words.
Photos from The Infinity, Moscow Region
Painting, letter and reading
Painting is fun. I painted it and dropped it off for two weeks. What painting?! They’re fun copies. I drew two pictures, five, and I was happy. At the children’s art studio, I saw children from 7 to 10 years old making copies from great masters. I was laughing! I realized how fun and wonderful it is when you don’t know how to draw, but you take it and you draw it. I used to enjoy it, too, out of curiosity and a desire to have fun. To write, no, that’s not what happened, that’s not what happened. For three years, I was forced to sign pictures at the Lubernsky Truth. I guess I was really poisoned by that. Since then, I’ve had a hard time carrying a pen and paper. More like reading. My books come from what I’ve read. Read, for example, Gumileva, Ethnogenesis, and as a result, publish Alice in Wonderland. Surprisingly. It doesn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t follow trends. Like a researcher. I’m watching something just get caught in the eye.
Photos from the book «Infinity», Lubers, Voronezh region, Ljubers
Design
Design is part of painting and graphics, one space. It’s just, unlike them, he’s got the best PR in the sense that people need him for something, they pay for him. So design is kind of separate from everything because it’s in demand. And so it is, of course, part of a common birth mother, which is called «fashioning art».
Photo from The Infinity, Fiveigorsk
«… [the design] is, of course, part of the common mother-child, which is called „the visual arts“.
