Interview

Nicholas Shaplyko and Ekaterina Sorokina

Nicholas Shaplyko and Ekaterina Sorokina are two artists working together on each artwork, co-founders of the “Museum of Modern Renaissance” Boston landmark which became the Top 10 Boston Attractions in 2017. They had been shown at on Netflix, Discovery Channel, WGBH Channel, NBC-News and more. They had purchased the old Masonic Temple and transferred it into Temple of Art, they named it “Museum of Modern Renaissance.” The original meaning of the word “Museum” is “ House of Muses,” so they took this approach by creating it. This Museum is one of a kind and is a single piece of art itself. It gives you a unique opportunity to enter inside a single piece of art, inside another world, inside another dimension. The walls and ceiling are covered with fresco-like paintings of mythological themes which achieves a stained-glass effect.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I have a master’s degree in architecture; I had studied world history of art and world history in architecture. I was trained in drafting, drawing, painting, sculpture and design. My journey in the art world started when I met my wife Ekaterina Sorokina. Since then, we have been working together creating our artworks. We are both born in March, so we are “Pisces,” and it is symbolic that we met each other on the river during white water canoeing. Since then, our life and our art we create together is full of dynamic and symbolism, emotional like turbulent mountain river and artistically explosive like a bottle of champagne.”

What inspires you?

“We travel all around the world. Visiting different countries, we are diving deep into local culture, traditions and art. We are absorbing its energy trying to feel it from inside from its original source. We touch artifacts with our own hands, feel local flavor, test food and wine. We are like a sponge trying to absorb as much as we can, build our new emotional atmosphere and turn it into the inspirations which would trigger our imaginations which we later will put on our canvas.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“The main themes we are pursuing is beauty and happiness. We had purchased an old masonic temple and transferred it into the “Temple of Arts.” We called it “Museum of Modern Renaissance.” The first Renaissance brought beauty and humanity back to society, and we think it is time to do it again.

How would you describe your work?

“Writing about art of an artist is like interpreting an abstract idea, it is like trying to express the meaning of something much more nebulous and abstract; it is like trying to materialize in words something that is not material to begin with. And yet we have in front of us very concrete paintings that are quite material. What do they say? Where do they take us? What do they mean? Our art is not representational. It is not a still-life or a portrait or a landscape in the traditional sense. There are landscapes and city views, there are faces and there are objects on those canvases of course but they are not renditions of reality. What unites them all is exactly that - they take the perceiver of this art away from reality in terms of representation of reality. One views an image of a city that is all crooked like reflection of the city in the water and then one realizes that the landscape has an idea that carried the viewer away, an idea that the city we are looking at is a fleeting image distorted by its reflection in the water broken into tiny bits and fleeing into eternity as a mirage. What one sees on the canvas of our art is only a doorway to a mystical world beyond the canvas. The images on the canvas are simply invitations to the world beyond, a world of spiritual energy, a world of struggling deities, and a world of powerful forces tearing apart the human soul. The subject matter of this art therefore is not a landscape or a portrait but rather the idea or a feeling which is evoked by the image on the canvas.

A viewer is carried away when confronting this art, carried away to his/ her own interpretation of the images confronted with. For some a sea deity would evoke the spirit of adventure and never-ending voyage like that of Odyssey, for others it would be a sense of boundless energy and affirmation of power, for still others the very same image would generate a feeling of fear and an acute sense of danger. The key to understanding our art is that it is merely a door to another world, a world of mystical reality created in the mind of the viewer. Thus, the perception and mental realization of the meaning of these images has more to do with the viewer than with the artist. The persona of the artist is manifested by its absence. In other words, the artist does not cry out here I am, here is me, my art, my style, my contribution. In these paintings the artist says: I am not here, investigate your own conscience, and look into your soul that is what I am doing to you as an artist. Our art is about mysticism or rather mystical experience of a human soul. This art is deeply religious in the sense that its key theme is Man’s relation to God. God is manifested in this art in a variety of guises and forms. God is ever present. But it is not rendered as a concrete image as in Christian art. One will not find representations of God on K&K canvases. We can feel His presence, His power and His support or His wrath but we do not see him. As in Judaism and Islam, God is not to be represented. As in Buddhism God is everywhere, reincarnated a million times. As in Hinduism he appears in the form of many deities and spirits.”

Which artists influence you most?

“It is hard to say which artists influence us most. After studying world history of art this question sounds like if for instance, I would ask you which ingredient of the very complex and delicious dish you like the most? How would you compare, for instance beefsteak and apple pie? But I will try: Aubrey Beardsley for his graphic design and theist is incredible. Mikhail Vrubel for his mysticism and passion. And lastly, Dashi Namdakov; his sculptures are beyond words.”

“The main themes we are pursuing is beauty and happiness.”

What is your creative process like?

“First, we paint our new canvas with black gesso. We always work on black background. White color reflects energy, but black color absorbs it. Besides, black background makes colors more refined. Then, we are thinking a few minutes trying to define the theme of our new artwork just with one key word. Then we start to draw with white chalk creating rough line design of our new painting. Then we take brushes and paint and bring color and life into the canvas. We never do any preliminary sketches to keep our emotions fresh and alive. Emotions are very fluent, and we waste no time to catch them.”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“Average people living usual everyday routine, making living, eating, sleeping, taking care of children etc. They are living that way year after year, turning over daily pages of their lives, acting almost automatically like robots in predetermined pattern without thinking. It is very important to break this routine, to make a stop and to look at the artwork and to have a dialog with it. Each artwork is the door to another dimension, the door to a different world and suddenly it is the door to inside yourself, inside your inner world, inside the cosmos. This is an opportunity to feel yourself a part of something big, part of universe, part of God.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?

“Our artworks are featured in public collections in the Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon, Dijon, France. Museum of Vatican, Rome, Vatican. Boston State House, Boston, MA, USA. Dijon State House, Dijon, France. Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, Kathmandu, Nepal. Maharaja’s Palace, Trivandrum, India. Institute of Sanskrit and Ancient Indian Culture, Mumbai, India.”

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Website: modren.us

Instagram: @museumofmod.renaissance

Other links: www.youtube.com