Photo: Courtesy of Svetlana Fabrikant
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
I was born in Odessa, at that time part of the USSR, into a family of Jewish academics, with a mathematics professor as a father and a school principal as a mother. I am an Aries with Gemini as an ascendant, a metalworking engineer and a scholar of art history and statistical astrology; my passions since always. After the experience of being a gallerist and exhibition organiser, I have dedicated myself to my art full time.
I currently hold the position of Art Director at the “Accademia Vetrinistica Italiana”. I teach exhibition techniques and scenography and consult on jewellery displays. My work often takes me on travels and I do take advantage of travelling to see art exhibitions in museums in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, as well as London, Amsterdam, Basel, and Tel Aviv. Passionate about mathematics, astronomy, numerology and scientific astrology, of cinema and, obviously, art, I try to share my universe through painting and design.
What inspired you to become an artist?
I love art and since I was a little girl, I have visited all the important museums of the Soviet Union: Hermitage, Tretyakovskaya Gallery, Pushkin Museum, etc. My training is multidisciplinary, as is my art. The engineering career was fine, but at a certain point; I made the decision to change my destiny’s direction into an artistic one, more congenial to me, starting my career as a “talent hunter” gallerist, followed by emigrating in order to continue my training in Europe. I settled and then naturalized in Italy, the country with the greatest history of art in the world.
What is your specialty?
I have explored different fields because I am curious and because I like change; the ability to live through different experiences: creativity leads my mind to travel in spaces between pop art, abstract art, Neo futurism and furniture design, iron sculpturing, steel and aluminium; opportunities to take advantage of my “previous life” in the field of metalworking.
How and where do you work?
I divide my time between Italy and the French Riviera, where I have my ateliers and where I realise my ideas, which I often dream about. I can truly say that I make my dreams come true.
What is the most indispensable item in your studio?
The paints and canvases for painting and my iPad for designing.
Do you do bespoke work?
Rarely for paintings. More when it comes to furniture design: tables and designer chairs for restaurants and bars that wants and visual impact and love to stand out.
Where do you take your inspiration? Are you pursuing any themes?
My inspiration is also the theme: love, in the broadest sense of the word. I try to convey my joie de vivre.
What projects are you currently working on?
I owe my latest version of New Pop Art and Neo Futurism to lockdown, to a difficult period of three months of worldwide fear and worry, of the sadness and helplessness of each of us. Coronavirus has marked many families, directly and indirectly. People had to be locked at home because of a force majeure; they had to return to themselves, to live within the small world of their nuclear family or to face this inauspicious time in loneliness. For many, solitude is a burden, for me however, it is a state of grace for my creativity.
I spent this period of seclusion in Nice, the Côte d’Azur, where I had been since mid-February after my presence at the ArteGenova.
The luck of being able to enjoy a beautiful sea view and undisturbed seagulls on the deserted beach helped my imagination. It all started on a Sunday afternoon, when I sat comfortably on the sofa watching a news segment after having lunch.
All of a sudden, casting a fleeting glance over the beautiful panorama that the seventh floor terrace offered me, I noticed with amazement a seagull sitting on the railing, with the air of indifference, just three metres away, in front of me. “How cheecky”, I thought with a smaile, and it was this very moment when I came up with the idea of painting it, immortalizing it in my own way, in all colours. Then, gradually, other characters arrived: first the butteflies, then the hummingbirds, then flamingos, and the geckos; obviously all in colour.
Every day brought me new artistic ideas, such as those of introducing musical instruments to make jazz music and beautiful vintage cars to be able to travel within one’s imagination, both serve to combine my new characters into a story to tell, because every work of art must tell a story.
What are your favourite items in your current collection?
The hearts, seagulls and chairs as well as the sculptures of the “Cinema Collection”.
How do you know when a piece is finished?
I see it and I feel it.
What was the first artwork you ever sold?
“Fluid dreams”, a small acrylic on canvas, 30x30cm.
Which project have you enjoyed working on the most so far?
They are quite diverse. My favourites are “The Galaxies of Love”, “Cinema” and the last one “Journey to the Côte d’Azur”.
What do you want to achieve with your work and what are your wishes for the future?
I would like to realize my project of a residence for young pop and digital art artists. I am thinking of opening an artistic foundation in the future.
Among my wishes and projects for the near future are to have are exhibitions in Tel Aviv, Miami and Los Angeles that I have yet to organize in collaboration with local art galleries. Tel Aviv because it is the promised land of my ancestors, a young city full of life that I visited to look for my roots and that remained in my heart influencing a new beginning in my life as an artist.
Miami and Los Angeles to explore the spirit of current American Pop Art and to venture to propose my latest full colour pieces, very suitable, in my opinion, for the sunny environment of the cities on the ocean shore.
Where can we find your work?
Definitely at my ateliers in Italy and France and art galleries that represent me. My works are also present in many private collections in Italy, France, England, Germany and America.
To view my art you can visit my social networks: Instagram @lana.kant and Facebook or simply by looking up “Svetlana Fabrikant Art & Design” on Google.
Photos: Courtesy of Svetlana Fabrikant
