Jon Beinart - "What inspires you Naoto?"

Naoto Hattori - "I simply love to draw from my head. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I always drew made-up characters and made stories with a drawing. Some of my sketch books from my age 3-5 are filled up with tits and peeing images (lol) you can see them on my web page. I remember I drew so many made-up characters when I was in elementary school while in class so all of my drawings from this period are on the textbooks and note books which sucks cause I lost them. I've been painting weird images since I was a kid so I never thought of what really inspires me. Some people decide to become a painter/artist at some point of their life, are inspired by other artists or something, but I can't even recall a point when I became an artist.  I still feel like a kid and paint images from my head. That way I can express what I really want to paint without thinking of other people's thoughts or critics."

Jon - "So your mind was perverted from the age of 3 ;) Some of those early drawings are fascinating Naoto. I have noticed a phenomenal amount of art is shown on your website. You must be very dedicated to your art. Do you make time to eat or sleep?"

Naoto - "I usually paint 12-14 hours a day on weekdays. I don' like the way a day is 24 hours cycle. I usually sleep 4 hours but if I don't get tired, I paint 24 hours straight. Because of the style of my artwork, some people think that I'm on drugs when I paint (lol) but there is no way I could paint on drugs. Working on details is more like a needlework. I have to concentrate on every single stroke. I feel like I'm in a trance when I paint. I start painting in the morning and next moment I look outside the window and it's getting dark. I have so many images I want to paint in my head and I can't catch up to paint all. I always think that it would be great if I could get a copy of myself.

I don't paint at all on weekends though. All I need to do is have fun."

Jon - "Two Naoto's. A scary thought! But I believe the world would be a richer place. I'm not sure if the art world is ready for two of you ;) Your answer takes me to another question I have had on my mind. I understand that you have to be sober when you paint, but during your 'fun' weekends do you ever indulge in psychedelics? I only ask because of the mushroom & marijuana references in some of your paintings. Your imagery is also reminiscent of what I have seen on acid."

Naoto - "I have had many experiences on psychedelic substances but they are not helping the direction of my art, but I'm sure they helped me create my imaginary world somehow. They put me into another place where I can open up my mind. I feel like there are so many doors and windows in my mind and some of them are not able to be opened with a sober mind. I used to imagine a still image in my head when I painted but my imaginary world is more like a zoo now. I see so many images, characters, creatures living in my head. I grab hold of them and paint. Recently, I see so many weird animals in my head and I don't know why…"

Jon - "What kind of feedback have you received in your career. I'm sure you have been praised countless times for your technique and imagination, but have you received much negative feedback or have you been subject to any abuse because of the explicit content of your work?"

Naoto - "I get really good feedback which makes me happy to keep myself busy. I really appreciate people support my artwork. I don't receive negative feedback but sometimes I get a funny email saying that they think I'm a drug dealer or something.  Also some girls keep sending me their naked pictures asking me to use them in my artwork. Oh, I love when people send me a photo of their tattoo based on my art."

Jon - "Naked women and tattoo's eh? You lucky man ;) Who are your favorite artists and why? Have these individuals influenced your own work?"

Naoto - "I like Van Eyck and Bouguereau's paintings. Van Eyck's work is amazing. He puts so many details on a small size board. I believe great artists can paint on a small size canvas/board and show their technique and brush control. It's easy to paint a realistic work on a large scale. My instructor from an art college (School of Visual Arts in NYC) is obsessed with Bouguereau's paintings and I learned portrait technique from his work. But learning from paintings is nothing compared to learning a lesson from nature. Understanding the theory of color, light and shadow, anatomy… etc, makes more sense to my artwork and also help my creatures look alive. That's why I respect Da Vinci. He studied so many things for his work."

Jon - "Many of my friends are obsessed with psychedelic trance (I'm more of an old school Blues and Tom Waits fan myself). I have noticed your images printed on a few psytrance CD's and have always wondered whether you listen to this genre of music. What music do you listen to? Do you listen to music when you paint?"

Naoto - "I like DJing. I spin breaks, drum and bass, Chicago house and hip-hop. I listen to psytrance too. I have a lot of friends into the psytrance scene too. I used to go to parties every weekend when I was in New York. I've been busy painting for upcoming shows so my turntables are collecting dust now. I barely listen to music when I paint. Sometimes I put some music on randomly from my i-pod."

Jon - "Please give us more details about these upcoming exhibitions. Also, will your work be featured in any new publications? Do you have any exciting news for our readers?"

Naoto - "I really love showing my work at gallery shows. It's hard to see details and correct color on the low-res images on the website. the gallery show is the way people look at my artwork up close. I have been working on my book project so I hope I can publish my portfolio book sometime soon."

Jon - "Naoto's is having a solo show of new works from June 1st - July 1st at the Lineage Gallery - 21 N. 2nd Street Philadelphia, PA USA."

Naoto is also one of 50 artists published in Metamorphosis.

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Jon Beinart - "Where do you draw your inspiration from Oleg?"
 
Oleg Korolev - "The existence of inspiration is not depending on us or our personality. It is like a Sun. All we have to do is open ourselves to it's rays. The less the ego works, the brighter our inspiration. Sometimes a sudden beauty can inflame something in me and lead to new expression."

Jon - "Are there particular philosophical and/or spiritual beliefs that you wish to communicate through your work?"
 
Oleg - "When talking about philosophy, I think I must say not about some particular school (like Existentialism or Rationalism etc), but rather about certain introvert , meditative, esoteric approach.  I am an Orthodox Christian and have a great respect and interest in the Hesychasm, though I feel more comfortable and clear if I approach things the Apophatic way (via negativa). A negative approach to the search for truth is more appropriate for me, because I feel a lot of irony around. Humor allows me to reject many things which seems actually are false. From my point a rejection of the relative realities and conventionalities is much more connected with the surrounding world than a cultivation and concentration on mythologies and symbols. Nevertheless I understand that symbolic, achetypal sacral space makes me a part of the ontological cosmos and I become a symbol among other symbols.  But from my point, this practice demands especially organized conditions and spaces, which are not always fit to each artistic outlook. So I can say that artists also look for truth and express it in their work "via negativa" or "via positiva".., like a sculptor who chops off all the unnecessary and another sculptor who acts "positively", building his sculpture by adding clay. The Abstract which exists beyond these two, and which can be expressed by the mean, is what I wish to communicate through my works."

Jon - "Do you have the whole composition in mind before you start a painting? How much of your process is intuitive and how much is planned?"
 
Oleg - "From the very beginning of a work I try to act as spontaneously as I can… It means before it I choose a certain subject, which I believe must be reflected by my painting, and then try to "ask the Existence", to concentrate on the image in the Abstract, initially having no image in my mind. After all, when I make sketches (usually getting unexpected images), I try to operate more dialectically, using the school and professional knowledge, involving aesthetic feelings."

Jon - "You mentioned before that you are an Orthodox Christian. Over the past 2 years I have found you to be quite open minded. Surely you are not strictly orthodox with your acceptance of so many other religious faiths, traditions & symbols. Perhaps my view of what it is to be an Orthodox Christian is a little misinformed, but I always thought that you guys were very strict and inflexible with your beliefs (by the books). I am sorry if this line of questioning is rude, but I feel that we have become fairly good friends (I know you enjoy a good debate) and I would like to understand more about your personal faith. But then again, you are talking to an agnostic Jew (who occasionally dabbles in atheism), so perhaps I will never understand, but I try to keep an open mind."

Oleg - "Well, I actually already answered this, it has to do with the two common ways all humans perceive Orthodox Christian theology (Apophatic-negative and Cataphotic-positive). I prefer the negative one - Apophatic way. This opens the consciousness, destroying the conventional illusions because all the affirmations of all the 'religious faiths, traditions & symbols' including my own are just products of our own mind. The Ultimate Truth remains beyond all mental constructions. Cataphotic - opposite, leads to a concentration on symbols, canon, which narrows the focus on the ontological metaphysics (these people can seem to you 'inflexible'). By the way 'Orthodoxy' it is how you in English call this. In Russian this religious denomination has a different name, so the word 'Orthodoxy' itself leads to a wrong perception. I think the term 'Original Christianity' or 'Initially pure' would fit better, it means the ancient teaching which have not changed from the very beginning. I wish to tell you a short anecdote my friend, so you can understand my personal faith principle better and how things can be done well, including art work: An old Jew is dying and all his big family have gathered together because only he knew the secret of a tea cooking… For many hours all of them, one by one asked him: 'Moishe, Moishe, tell us the secret of a tea cooking!', but he kept silence… Then they asked again and again: "Moishe, Moishe, tell us the secret of a tea cooking!".. and he suddenly said OK, shut up, I will tell you! PUT MORE TEA!' :))"

Jon - "I think I understand where you are coming from now. You're right about the English definition of 'Orthodoxy' causing some confusion. I associate the word with strict adherence to a particular doctrine. Thanks for clearing that up Oleg. Your anecdote put a smile on my face. I could visualize the old dying man's last bust of energy to shout at his family ;) Oy Vei! Moving right along (away from religion), I'd like to hear more about your background as an artist. Did you want to be an artist when you were child? (which was a loooooong time ago now, but please try to remember for our interview)."

Oleg - "Well, actually the anecdote was about how to involve energy and to create an artwork. "Put more tea", it means to be total in action. Totality is the right thing for a contemplation and it is an absolutely necessary condition for art. I can not exactly say when I started to paint, and not because it was a long time ago, but because it seems like always. My parents played a great role in my relationship with art. My father was a self-taught artist , a lover of arts and I remember when I was maybe 8 years old (it means a little younger than you are now), our family went often to Art museums. It was like a dream for me. Later I was enrolled to a Classical drawing art studio, then Art School and College of Art. Visionary Art is actually not a mainstream which we had in USSR, or better to say it wasn't in that time, because people could be persecuted, and even now it is true ( I mean that it is a not a mainstream) for a present moment in Russia, but because a very narrow circle of art audience are interested in it. I think a reading of books on various forms of philosophy, theology and psychology, or experiments with some entheogens usually brings people to the style. Not all do it, so we have not so many followers and art lovers as other styles have. We all in the movement are 'touched by Spirit', charmed with it's force, it's play and beauty. I think we all in the Visionary Art , not depending of our actual religious denominations, experience some kind of a shock and a delight with the fact that consciousness is a special space, which can be explored, cognized and realized artistically."

Jon - "Have you experimented with entheogens Oleg? I have noticed masses of swirling energy recurring in your imagery and wonder if this has been at all derived from visions induced by psychedelics. I never assume that Visionary Artists are trippers. This movement is made up of all sorts ;) I also wonder if you have ever been persecuted for your art?"

Oleg - "No, I do not use any special 'additions' to evoke visions. I believe they leave a person in the digital dual space, which is never ending one. The space is similar to a computer video game, but it is not the eternity in the Absolute meaning and a way for the personal realization in It. Drugs close a way to the Absolute and to any perception and understanding of It. I think that people who seriously practiced with entheogens either realize it and after all avoid the usage or remain with the worlds, becoming an integral part of them, acting according to the shamanic conceptions. As for the persecution, in a political meaning, absolutely no, and I hope I will be able to say the same in the future, even after my answers to you. :))"

Jon - "Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your world Oleg. Do you have any exciting news to share with our readers? Any upcoming exhibitions or publications featuring your work?"

Oleg - "Well, I have no plans or great expectations. I would say that I have dreams rather than plans. A future will bring something, but currently a stream is carrying me to a cooperation with some of Moscow's Art collectors. I like a direct cooperation with art lovers."

Oleg Korolev is one of 50 Artists featured in our first publication: Metamorphosis.

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