Eugene Kuperman
Could you tell us about yourself and your background?
I’m primarily an artist and a designer. I have three design degrees. My knowledge of design, helps me with creating my art.
When did you decide to pursue a career as an artist?
Ever since early childhood memories I’ve had, when I was living in Ukraine. I recall, when I was about 3 years old, my father called me up to his bookshelf to show me something. He opened up a book and in it was a grayscale image of the replica of The Statue of David by Michelangelo Buonarroti. I recall, as a child, I was stunned by what I saw as well as a bit confused. I asked my father several questions which were; “Why is this man completely naked and why is he completely white or monochromic?” My father then responded, “This is a sculpture, carved out of stone called marble, by an artist who lived 500 years ago, named Michelangelo.” Then he said something that completely blew my mind, which was, “This sculpture is taller than our ceilings.” We had tall ceilings in Ukraine, but nowhere near as tall as the original David. Back it didn’t make any difference to me, because everything seemed so big to me, so I had no real point of reference in size. Since then, I was either doing 4 things, which there wasn’t much to do in Ukraine in the early 1990’s which was, drawing, playing outside, riding the bicycle or watching tv. I would draw ninjas and try to copy cartoons that I saw, such as Tom & Jerry, which was absolutely my favorite cartoon at the time, I couldn’t get enough of it. However, in Ukraine we only had 3 channels, so it was kind of decided by the government of what we could watch, but back then, we didn’t know that this wasn’t enough, we were happy with what we had. Fast forward to when I was 7 years old and my family immigrated to the United States. As a kid, I just knew that I had to draw and paint. So my parents gave me up to art lessons since. So in doing so, I started drawing since I was about 3 years old and painting since I was 7. At 13 years old, I went a year without doing art, because I was discouraged and disappointed at how bad my work was, even though my friends told me that for my age, they haven’t seen anyone draw/paint as well as me. I’ve always been my worst critic and after a year of not doing art, I started up again, because I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Since then, I’ve been consistently taking art classes and painting various subjects. I went through a landscape period, lots of experimentations, as well as with abstract and surrealism to realize that what I really needed to do, was to pursue art in the tradition of my favorite old masters, most specifically, my biggest inspiration - The Divine Michelangelo Buonarroti, whom I consider to be the greatest creative genius who’s ever graced this planet.
What does your artwork aim to say?
At this point, my aim in my art is to express my philosophy and possible wisdom that I’ve gained throughout my life. A major part of my work, are social commentary pieces, on the subjects which I feel strongly about. Some of these subjects are controversial which include themes of homelessness, genocide, narcotics, race as well as various aspects of human society. My aim in my work, is to hopefully enlighten as well as give my audience some energy, which will better themselves as people, in the hopes to propel them forward, in a positive manner, through this life’s journey. I want my work, to make the world a better place, if even one person was positively influenced by any of my works, then I feel like, this work was a complete success. Much of my art is aimed to create awareness, in the hopes of people gaining not only enlightenment but empathy as well as sympathy for one another.
How do you stay motivated and productive in your art practice?
As Michelangelo stated 500 years ago, “Inspiration is for amateurs.” I don’t need inspiration when all I think about is art. My mind is like an art computer, I’m constantly seeing ideas which I may or may not create. The ones which I believe are worth possible efforts, I sketch out in my secret sketchbook, while I believe many ideas need a healthy filtration. I also feel privileged to have any free time to be creative, this is why when I have the time, I can do an art day up to 22 hours of creative work. I love to learn and this is one of my biggest goals in life, which is to keep evolving, growing and learning. This goal keeps me happy and makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing. I want my life to be lived in the best effort that I can put forth into it, so I don’t have any regrets if I reach old age. Essentially, I want to one day, be a great artist, for my works, to rival my artistic heroes from the past as well as the ones living today. I want to be able to earn a spot to sit at the table with the greats.
How has your artistic career progressed and changed over time?
I’ve always been on a journey to find myself, art has helped me with that. At first beauty was my idol, this is why I’ve painted hundreds of landscapes, which many people claimed that they have healing qualities. I’ve even given away paintings to sick people, ones with cancer, some of whom survived, while others did not, so I really don’t know how “healing” my art was, to what extent. Also, as far as I know, two of my paintings are in churches and one I gifted to a synagogue that I used to go to. All were landscapes. At a certain point though, even though my landscapes sold, I felt like I wasn’t satisfied with doing repetitive work of just painting landscapes, because I’m way too creative to be only within my comfort zone. I had to create challenges for myself, to make my life more interesting. I also felt like there are so many problems in the world and I had to use my talent for something positive, instead of selfish, like making money. I had to create art, which not only was reminiscent of my favorite old masters, but also had a deeper meaning on the subjects which I thought would be important to address, some of which were subjects of the nature of social commentary. I wanted to make statements on the things I felt were wrong in the world, that if nobody would do them, I felt obligated myself to take upon this role. I wanted to make the world a better place, because all of the suffering that I saw in life, bothered me. From genocides, to homelessness, to violence and wars. I knew that something had to be done and I didn’t want to merely, live my life out as a craftsman, rather I wanted to be a real artist.
Who are your biggest influences?
In fine art, my biggest influence is The Divine Michelangelo. To me, he’s the archetype of what a great artist should be. Being an architect, painter and sculptor, whom reached unparalleled heights in all three disciplines. He was also an ambassador, draftsman, engineer, general, poet and an ideal Renaissance genius. I also love Rembrandt as a painter, to me, he’s my biggest inspiration for painting. My technique in painting is most closely related to the Dutch masters of the Golden Baroque Age. I also love music and listen to it often when I work. I love anything that truly is great, because it inspires me to aim to be great myself. Some of my favorite current artists are 2Pac, Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lana Del Rey. I absolutely adore Lana Del Rey and she is one of my heroes, in the same way, 2Pac is a hero to me. I believe that she’s the greatest singer in the world, nobody even comes close to her musical genius. Her voice is divine, her lyrics are so poetically brilliant and are so interesting. Not only that, she’s just as beautiful on the outside as her soul is on the inside. I’m in complete awe of how amazing she is and I look up to her as an artist. I’m just happy to be alive in the same century that she exists. Her music, gives me hope for better days in life, despite so many problems I’m facing in life. When I hear her music, my problems go away and I realize that there’s a higher purpose to this existence, than the mundane and vulgar aspects of life.
Which elements are essential to an artist’s work?
I believe that in order to aim to truly create something that will be great and stand the test of time, all of the elements need to be at the highest level, such as: Composition, concept, design, formalism, ideas, technique, message, philosophy, sophistication and vision. If any other important aspect can be added to this, I’m all for it. Basically, every decision, every part of the work, needs to be at the pinnacle of the discipline. Every choice an artist makes, is a reflection of the quality of the end product which they create.
Which function does the artist fulfill in society?
I believe that artists not only are obligated to bring beauty into the world, but also to make the world a better place, by their notion of what that may be.
What do you want your artwork to stand for?
I want my artwork to stand for empathy, love, peace, sympathy and understanding of one another.
What are your long-term goals for your career?
I want to be able to hopefully create masterpieces in various different artistic disciplines in which I want to express myself in. I recently started sculpting, I’m working on a clay sculpture right now, but I want to work my way up to carving marble. I want to someday design architectural buildings, reminiscent of the classics, such as Bramante, Michelangelo and Palladio. Before I do so, I’ll have to study classical architecture in depth, so I’m well versed in the concepts as well as the traditions, so I can innovate properly, because I’d know all of the rules. I also have ideas of possibly directing a film as well as other ambitious goals, if I’m presented with such opportunities. I’ve never had a fear of hard work, hard work is what I live for and my aim is to be the very best artist that I can become, with as much effort I can put forth with any opportunities which present themselves. I won’t take the opportunities for granted, because like I mentioned, I feel privileged to be creative, this is what I live for.
