Tanya Shatseva's Circle of Hell

Memento Tea
Aug 19, 2019
4 min read

Welcome to the new "Artist's Circle Of Hell" editorial: a journey through the eyes and thoughts of magnificent Dark Artists.

Today we are delightful to talk with Tanya Shatseva... We'll be honoured to show her oustanding surreal art for the upcoming "Centuries Decay" exhibition, from September 9 to October 7, 2019. Tanya Shatseva is a traditional artist based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, depicting metaphysical scenes and subjects in dream-like states. She explores the beauty of tricky human mind generating boundaryless intricate illusions, themes of existentialism and love in all guises. Her artworks in the genre of meta surrealism are a merging of demonic and pure, scientific and mythological. Enjoy the interview!

First circle - Limbo

How old is your soul? Do you have an inner child?

To answer that question we need to determine: 1. What soul is - an illusion of self, a conscious? 2. What the age of the soul is based on - age of the brain or the amount of life experience or else? I’ve no idea and prefer unknowing to some invented lie. I am 29 physically and don’t feel any age psychically. As for the inner child I’m pretty sure that I don’t have extra humans inside me yet.

Second circle - Lust

Before you have reached your artistic path, have you ever instinctively tried different fields that did not appeal to you, just for the sake of it? Are you still in search for your art style?

I think each field I tried appealed to me somehow, taught and extended myself and eventually led to creating art. The most fun and unexpected was working as a dancer in Penthouse club in USA. Probably there I realized that my mindset could be more interesting to people than my appearance as many times I was payed for my stories, which was a pleasant discovery. I never searched for style, only for beauty and I will keep looking for it.

Third circle - Gluttony

How hungry are you for the art, for your passion? How much are you addicted and addicted to it, moving away from your perception of reality?

10/10.

Fourth circle - Greed

Sometimes, do you feel greedy with your job? Do you think that a strong attachment to money can compromise your art? No intention to offend, but only to explore what goes beyond being a "starving artist".

I suppose artist’s starvation from that awesome quote has nothing to do with money, at least I understand it differently. However, greed for money and fame can compromise art indeed! I’m rather careless about getting rich otherwise I wouldn’t choose artist’s career, but I have to ignore poisonous conceited thoughts from time to time.

Fifth circle - Anger

How you see the Art World today? There are some stuff that make you uncomfortable?

I see the art world blooming and ruling the world today. There are so many contemporary artists that I adore. Art is also spreading into all kinds of fields, its synthesis with science and technology seems the most fascinating for me. Two things make me uncomfortable – censorship and “empty art” created only to gain attention on social media.

Sixth circle - Heresy

Have you ever done a project or commission totally different from your kind of art? (for example, as fairy art, erotic art, fantasy art or comic art)

In the beginning of my art journey I was doing various boring commissioned portraits but that was ages ago. Now I am lucky to be able to paint only my own concepts.

Seventh circle - Violence

Are you afraid to represent cruel stuff of the reality in your art? If not, it goes beyond the simple visual impact?

I paint about anything that excites me. Cruelty is very subjective, I prefer existential suffering, themes of love, death or overall illusion of reality (the last one is pretty cruel).

Eighth circle - Fraud

Without naming, have you ever been deceived by a false customer or company? What was your initial feeling? Do you want to give some advice to those who are new in this field? Don't worry if you do not want to answer.

Was never deceived by a customer – I just can’t imagine why would any artist do a job without being paid upfront, it’s a mystery. However I had some funny customers, like the one that ordered a portrait of a woman to present it as his own work as I was told later. Also there are a lot of companies and people selling my prints without licensing, and I’m too existential to fight them.

Ninth circle - Treachery

Would you ever exchange your life as artist with a safer and quieter life? What would you do if you could not make art?

Safety is a myth – everyone has a possibility to die any moment. My life is super quiet – most of the time I paint alone. But the most important thing is why to be anything else when you can be an artist? And if I couldn’t make art than another me would have totally different answers.