We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pavel Sokov. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pavel below.

Alright, Pavel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I am currently focused on creating a series I call “Stories of the Tribes of Ethiopia” which aims to share the culture and traditions of the tribes in the Omo Valley, through the medium of realism painting. In November 2022, I spent a month with 6 different tribes in the Omo Valley, sleeping in tents next to their homes. During this time I painted, photographed and recorded stories and songs of the many people I met in the tribes.

Although it was pretty difficult on my health, I absolutely loved the adventure. I got to see so many traditions and ceremonies first hand, including donga stick fight, a rain dance, marriage ceremony, the catching of catfish with hooks swung by the hand in muddy water, a dance to say goodbye to a girl who is going to another village for marriage and the blood letting of a cow in which 2 young boys drank the fresh blood of a cow to strengthen them up for harvesting season. It was fascinating to see the sense of community and bonds people had with each other, as they lived a much more social life than most of us do. There was something to that. Of course there were many things that were difficult to see, as far as the fragility of life. Some people and animals were suffering from medical problems that had no solutions in the tribes. There was a lot of kindness as well. I particularly remember a woman named Inte of the Hamar tribe. She kindly invited us into her home, and offered us to drink coffee made from coffee husks with her. She was curious about our lives in our countries, so I was able to show her the snow of Canada, my girlfriend, and our cats, all of whom she invited to her home next time we visit Ethiopia.

This experience has culminated in a number of oil paintings and charcoal drawings already. There will be countless more. I will be returning to the tribes early next year for another month in order to explore the stories of 3 tribes that I haven’t had the chance to visit last time. My goal is to give you a sense of what it is like to be among the tribes of the Omo Valley and gain some understanding of their culture and ways of being.

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 back background and context?

I am known for two things. I paint commissioned portraiture for entrepreneurs, members of royal families, celebrities, and other leaders of industries, with a particular strength in painting full color and full detailscenes of historical ancestors from old black and white photos. In this way I can bring a family’s history to life on canvas. For modern focused contemporary portraits, I sometimes travel to the client, and get the portrait done in the city where they live, in order to protect their time.

I am also known for my personal work, which consists of my portraits of traditional cultures that I encounter throughout my travels all over the world. I am very interested in preserving the various cultures around the world by painting portraits of people and telling their stories. I have done so in India, Morocco, Ethiopia, and all over Asia. I suppose it can be said to be today’s equivalent to the orientalism of the 19th century. With time, we are likely to lose the various distinct ways of being, dressing, and the traditions that come with those. While we still have a lot of uniqueness of culture, I want to make sure to preserve it the best way I can. There are people all over the world living lives completely different to ours, and I can’t think of anything more interesting to me than exploring that.

I started being known in 2014 when I was 23. I was hired by Time Magazine that year to paint a time person of the year cover, and from then on I began making some portraits for royalty. This year I celebrate my first decade as a professional artist, and I couldn’t be more excited about this journey and all the adventures and challenges it brings.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

On my recent trip to Ethiopia, I was sick from literally day 1, as I arrived to Addis Ababa and stupidly brushed my teeth with tap water. This caused a fever and all sorts of other negative outcomes. I was pretty much in this state for 80% of my time there. Towards the end I got a lung infection from sleeping in the area where the tribes kept their cattle. My chest was burning up, I couldn’t stop coughing, and wasn’t really able to breathe all that well. However, I still managed to crawl over to a ceremony that was happening, record some audio of tribal singing which I use when posting videos of me painting Ethiopian portraits, and did a photoshoot. There were many instances when I was painting plein air (when you paint landscape from life, on location), that I was too sick and had no energy for it, but I forced myself. This actually resulted in a positive surprise: more efficient painting.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I don’t entirely believe an artist’s mission has to be singular and the same over their whole career. Whatever interests them in a certain period, and what they are most excited about will likely create the most inspired works.

For me, right now, I am still extremely excited about creating paintings of traditional people and lands across the world. I want to visit more tribes, and share the visual experience of people that are seldom seen. This seems important because I think all these windows into the past will soon disappear. Even amongst the tribes of Ethiopia, there is a high degree of western clothing, and changing of traditions happening. There is nothing wrong with that per say, and I am not against it. I just feel an urgency to paint what culture is still left, as I find it more inspiring then the modern western person.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pavelsokov.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pavelsokov/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PavelSokovArt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/pavelsokov
• Print shop: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/pavelsokov/