4.05.2022
"Blue evokes ambivalent and very complex feelings in Dunaev."
Tanya Peniker — about working on the chapter "Mythogenic Love of Castes in comics"
Tanya Peniker — about working on the chapter "Mythogenic Love of Castes in comics"
More than 30 artists and art groups undertook to turn the novel by Pavel Pepperstein and Sergey Anufriev into a comic strip. Each chapter represents a unique approach to the text of the novel. Nakovalnya publishes a series of mini-interviews with the project participants.
Artist Tanya Penicker has prepared the chapter "Blue" for the comic, succinctly approaching the depiction of the events of the novel and fitting it, in fact, in one drawing.
Artist Tanya Penicker has prepared the chapter "Blue" for the comic, succinctly approaching the depiction of the events of the novel and fitting it, in fact, in one drawing.
Chapter "Blue", fragment. You can view the entire work at the exhibition.
I want to ask you about your first encounter with the novel, when did you first read it? There are many images in your graphics that are poetically similar to the mythological plots of the book.
The first time I took up this piece was a few years ago. But then I didn't finish reading it... I usually take big works on vacation to read, but that time the vacation ended prematurely, and the novel was postponed by me. And then, when Pasha invited me to participate in the project, I, of course, reacted more thoughtfully to the text. I'm much better at focusing on work rather than leisure. For some things, it is necessary that the right time comes. Apparently, it has arrived.
If we look for some parallels, I've always been interested in worlds that are not as completely separate as the Lord of the Rings universe, but worlds at the intersection of our material, real world, and the subtle, imaginary world, like The Matrix, Harry Potter, The Watch, and others like it. works that convince us of the existence of something greater than the reality around us — I would classify the "Mythogenic love of castes" into the same category of works.
Your work impresses with its imaginary worlds, but with you it is always a very personal, subjective process. It seems to me that you are a lyrical author, and here you had to deal with illustrating someone else's imagination. How do you like this experience?
I love illustration too. I had to do illustration, and soon the second book with my illustrations will be published in Berlin. It's a separate profession, and I like it too. But I also bring a lot of personal things to the illustrations, as you correctly noted. In Mythogenic Love, it was important for me to choose a hero, or rather a heroine, with whom I could associate myself. Among all this boyish-peasant narrative, which is based on battles and other masculine plots, the main female character stands out very much. I was interested in the image of Blue Maria and the Girls who accompany her.
Perhaps this is not surprising, but I find that the character of Blue reflects your graphic style incredibly accurately. In the sense that Blue is the epitome of absolute seduction. And you also resort to the tactics of seducing the viewer in your works.
Yes, there are elements of the erotic in my work. For the main character, Blue is the character he is most afraid of. On the one hand, Dunaev hates her because she is an enemy, on the other hand, she is extremely attractive to him. This femme fatale is one of the oldest archetypes. It seems that her appearance immediately knocked Dunaev off his feet. And there is a passage in the text itself where he hates her, on the one hand, but on the other hand, he loves her very, very much and immediately wants to ask her for forgiveness for all his bad thoughts. She causes him ambivalent and very complex feelings.
Comparing the comic with your graphics, it's easy to see that you've chosen a very concise form. The Blue comic is closer to the crystal clarity of the diagram than to the chaotic tangle of intertwining plots characteristic of your graphics as a whole. What is the reason for such self-restraint?
Comics are a separate genre, I've never tried myself in it before. But when Pasha asked if I wanted to do something like that, I thought, why not? I often work with texts, and creating a comic book has not become a big problem for me. Since there is an initial assumption that the heroine is, frankly, blue, this indicates a certain color. Blue can be contrasted with red. And here everything fits perfectly, because Dunaev is such a red soldier. Thus, they are already opposed to each other in terms of color. That's how I originally intended to reflect their polarity.
Finally, there is a very specific question. I couldn't solve one of your puzzles: what is the point in the first drawing of the comic, where the cone from Blue's gaze and the triangle from Dunaev's boot to his hat converge? What's it?
Here I am, as they say, "following the text," quite detailed and thoughtful.
Artem Dark was talking.
You can view the full version of "Blue" with all its puzzles and other works of the project "Mythogenic Love of Castes in comics" at the Anvil Gallery until June 8.
The first time I took up this piece was a few years ago. But then I didn't finish reading it... I usually take big works on vacation to read, but that time the vacation ended prematurely, and the novel was postponed by me. And then, when Pasha invited me to participate in the project, I, of course, reacted more thoughtfully to the text. I'm much better at focusing on work rather than leisure. For some things, it is necessary that the right time comes. Apparently, it has arrived.
If we look for some parallels, I've always been interested in worlds that are not as completely separate as the Lord of the Rings universe, but worlds at the intersection of our material, real world, and the subtle, imaginary world, like The Matrix, Harry Potter, The Watch, and others like it. works that convince us of the existence of something greater than the reality around us — I would classify the "Mythogenic love of castes" into the same category of works.
Your work impresses with its imaginary worlds, but with you it is always a very personal, subjective process. It seems to me that you are a lyrical author, and here you had to deal with illustrating someone else's imagination. How do you like this experience?
I love illustration too. I had to do illustration, and soon the second book with my illustrations will be published in Berlin. It's a separate profession, and I like it too. But I also bring a lot of personal things to the illustrations, as you correctly noted. In Mythogenic Love, it was important for me to choose a hero, or rather a heroine, with whom I could associate myself. Among all this boyish-peasant narrative, which is based on battles and other masculine plots, the main female character stands out very much. I was interested in the image of Blue Maria and the Girls who accompany her.
Perhaps this is not surprising, but I find that the character of Blue reflects your graphic style incredibly accurately. In the sense that Blue is the epitome of absolute seduction. And you also resort to the tactics of seducing the viewer in your works.
Yes, there are elements of the erotic in my work. For the main character, Blue is the character he is most afraid of. On the one hand, Dunaev hates her because she is an enemy, on the other hand, she is extremely attractive to him. This femme fatale is one of the oldest archetypes. It seems that her appearance immediately knocked Dunaev off his feet. And there is a passage in the text itself where he hates her, on the one hand, but on the other hand, he loves her very, very much and immediately wants to ask her for forgiveness for all his bad thoughts. She causes him ambivalent and very complex feelings.
Comparing the comic with your graphics, it's easy to see that you've chosen a very concise form. The Blue comic is closer to the crystal clarity of the diagram than to the chaotic tangle of intertwining plots characteristic of your graphics as a whole. What is the reason for such self-restraint?
Comics are a separate genre, I've never tried myself in it before. But when Pasha asked if I wanted to do something like that, I thought, why not? I often work with texts, and creating a comic book has not become a big problem for me. Since there is an initial assumption that the heroine is, frankly, blue, this indicates a certain color. Blue can be contrasted with red. And here everything fits perfectly, because Dunaev is such a red soldier. Thus, they are already opposed to each other in terms of color. That's how I originally intended to reflect their polarity.
Finally, there is a very specific question. I couldn't solve one of your puzzles: what is the point in the first drawing of the comic, where the cone from Blue's gaze and the triangle from Dunaev's boot to his hat converge? What's it?
Here I am, as they say, "following the text," quite detailed and thoughtful.
Artem Dark was talking.
You can view the full version of "Blue" with all its puzzles and other works of the project "Mythogenic Love of Castes in comics" at the Anvil Gallery until June 8.