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Anna Gadzhikurbanova | Episode 1275
Anna Gadzhikurbanova is a Russian ceramic artist whose work blends psychology and biology into biomorphic forms. Developing her practice across Tokyo and Austin, Anna crafts functional wheel-thrown pieces alongside handbuilt sculptural objects, exploring the parallels between natural living systems and human emotion through clay and glaze patterns.
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How do you how do you recognize when an idea is worth pursuing?
So if I have an idea, firstly, I think if it stays long enough time in my head, so if I don’t forget it the next day, I will try to make their the work according to this idea. And I see how if it goes, if I feel that it goes on naturally, then I continue. And then if I feel like half work is done, then I will do my best to finish it, even though it’s not, even though if I feel that it may not turn great in the end, but I try to go all the way to the end just to see what is there closer to the end of accomplishing this idea.
How much does refining the idea come into play as you start to think about presenting it to the world?
I think many of them, they come So I try, I start different works and sometimes it just doesn’t go right. Sometimes it’s like a go, as I said, to the end, but I still not satisfied with it. But many of them, of course, after doing different other ones that didn’t survive. So the ones that that I reveal, they usually kind of, from first time, from one attempt. Interesting. So I don’t repeat the exact things. I just cannot do it. So they all are different. Even though they can be similar, but never repeat it. If I like the color combination, their shape, I just don’t repeat it. If it’s not cups, they’re still different.
How much does solitude or being alone shape the way that you make?
Even working by myself at the studio? In the studio. I actually enjoy working like not, yeah, not I think in the studio with other people, though it also have very nice things about it. But I enjoy working on my own and I feel myself more free when I’m not watched. When I do my work, it’s like a meditation. It’s like a lot about, I think, the mind state, state of mind, the flow, the feeling like, yeah, more like a process. So I’m in this process and I am this process.
When you’re working on a project, you can’t just bring everything you know to it. You have to have restraints or you have to have boundaries. So what kind of boundaries do you put into your making to give it direction?
So there are functional pieces that I make. And there are like, I need not only to think of this feeling and dynamic, but also about the function. So I think this is a restriction for them. And for sculptural pieces, sometimes it’s a material restriction, like with carved pieces which are have several layers. It’s difficult to go like really big. So this kind of material restriction.
Because your work is very organic, how do you know when to stop?
So I still, for most of the pieces I have a picture in my head. So I do sketches, but they’re very like, not detailed, very like abstract ideas. But usually I have a picture of the finished piece in my head. Or if it’s not like that, I just feel that It’s like more about the feeling.
If a young person were to ask you, how can I create, sustain a creative life? What would you say?
That’s a good question. I think you need to have your mind free enough to be open to what’s happening around you. And it’s important to understand about yourself what is actually, what does really interest you. What is your passion? And then working with your interested, what is dear to you, what’s moving you, and then translate it to the art practice that you’re doing.
Book
Fractals: The Pattern Of Chaos by John Briggs
Contact
annagadzhikurbanovaceramics.com
Instagram: @booganchick