We were lucky to catch up with Oksana Devochkina recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Oksana, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
didn’t call myself an artist until I was 32. Despite the education and the abundance of paintings, I continued to work in advertising agencies and start-ups, and cry every day. This internal resistance was connected with the stereotypes of my provincial southern Russian city, where all the artists were either drunkards or poor. Yes, I didn’t know the real artists of my native city – my family, in fact, kept aloof from them, and my mother called my interests a whim.
I don’t blame her. The Soviet generation outside the big cities grew up on other criteria. Grandfather and grandmother were born before the war, they saw both poverty and hunger. For me, their desire for material values is absolutely justified.
I am done with the anguish whether I am an artist or not after 4-5 years of psychotherapy. And I began to do what I want – I opened a workshop, called it Kunstfuck Art Residency, began to work and teach on weekends. Things went so well that in less than a year I was making more money than ever before. I began to sell paintings, and the buyers were suddenly among landlords, table neighbors in a restaurant or students. And although my paintings were bought for a maximum of 1200 euros, I’m still happy with every sale. For me, this is not about money, but about the energy connection with the buyer, which I value.
Of course, there are always doubts to be or not to be. I think it is important for an artist to reflect and doubt. After the lockdown, I started getting hired by an agency. Providence (or the fate of an immigrant) saved me, I didn’t get the job. I am very glad about it. I did the requested salary in a month by myself; but while I was waiting for an answer, I, again, began to cry. Even the marble floors and 7-meter ceilings of the office did not save me from the fear of being enslaved. I appreciate the little that I do that gives me freedom. Although free time is not there, it is blurred between brushes and raising a child, but this is my choice and it makes me happy.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I am an artist. I was born at the Black Sea in Russia, trained in St. Petersburg, and made a career in Budapest (Hungary). I combine Orthodox icon’s heritage, post-modernistic discussions, and feministic or current social agendas. I use the knowledge about my culture, full of metaphors and symbols, and depict saints, abstract objects, or using gold with specific colors to tell my stories.
It’s interesting how the war between two Orthodox worlds fulfilled my concepts. Now, the Harrowing of the hell appears, or non-canonical images of ‘saints’ to protect us against attacks. One of my icons opened the Padiglione Morto — The dead Pavilion — at the 59th International Art Exhibition in Venice http://sevenshotartist.tilda.ws
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
By buying a work of art, you are investing in a creative economy, filling your area/city/country with art initiatives, making city life vibrant, your country rich, and people happy. Artists are needed no less than psychotherapists for a healthy psychological state of society. Art heals. If you can’t afford the artist’s work, request a lesson. Creating work together will help you relax, clear your mind, and lead to creative solutions at work or at home.
How did you build your audience on social media?
You should be honest on social media as much as you can, not being afraid to look natural, ugly, or ridiculous. By running Instagram with just 1000 followers I made my artistic workshops more profitable, than by having 40000 in a startup, whose Instagram was a corporate look. Your story and your honesty matter!
Involve followers in discussions, voting, or quiz — I personally find it entertaining and it engages more people. It’s fun!
Tag as many people as you can from the photos to spread your activity.
But honestly, don’t undervalue offline posters and partisan marketing. It works well, too, especially if you have no budget to feed the digital channels. Also, it’s better to bring people away from the screens, propaganda, and advertisement. Remember that social media does as good as bad things, and I prefer to show my audience that going offline maybe even better for us as humans. This diet is hard but useful for all of us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://devochkina.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devochkina_the_artist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devochkina/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oksana-devochkina-537891183/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/devochkina1984
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSRasjELGBWfWqgZNp2dh0Q
- Other: Please support my art classes for the kids of refugees in Budapest http://kunstfuck.tilda.ws/kunstfuckartrefugeeschool As a neighboring Ukraine country, we have a huge amount of refugees — mostly moms with kids. There are not enough schools or free activities for the new-come children. To have them is important for parents to have some spare time to find a job or settle down. Also, a bad economical situation of refugees does not allow them to pay for babysitters or take any creative or sports classes for their kids. My Sunday art school for refugees exists since March 2022, and I need financial support to hire art teachers — refugees from Ukraine, to buy materials and, soon, I will need to pay to rent the studio. I and my colleagues are working hard to establish schools, volunteering and creating such programs for kids. More about our volunteering community and the educational activity for refugees kids is here https://www.facebook.com/groups/342322581197163
Image Credits
1) Natasha Pavlovski 2) Marco Aurelio di Giorgio 3) Natasha Pavlovski 4) Masa Toth 5) Masa Toth 6) Ihor Kolosov 7) Jenya Vesnina