AS IS | Tania Kandracienka

Artist

From Minsk, Belarus

Based in Warsaw, Poland

"I start several works at once and then work moving from one to another and returning again. There are days when I only work with sketches on paper. The only constant ritual is washing the brushes at the end of the work.."

A: What brought you into art?

T: In my opinion, all kids are artists from a young age. With time some of us begin to pay more close attention to ideas or materials and begin to deal with these ideas or materials. My son is constantly making volumetric shapes out of cardboard. Basically a weapon. So he has both: the idea and the material. I had oil pastels at the age of 5 and I concentrated just on the process of painting surfaces with these crayons and mixing colors. At the age of 10, I drew the interior of the houses of both moth grandmothers with a simple pencil.

The idea was the documentary fixation of all the details. Then there were all the time other ideas and materials on which I concentrated. I can’t name a specific moment when I decided to enter an art college. But I am sure that graduating from an art collage or art academy does not guarantee that you are an artist. Rather, the deep attention to ideas and materials that was in childhood. It either grows stronger or one day becomes not important anymore.

A: What inspires you the most?

T: Everyday experience, maternal care, and art historical references are giving me many subjects for my work. But probably the most important is labor itself. I show up in the studio, responding to painting in my studio working until I “recognize” the painting as what I am intending it to be.

A: Do you have any specific rituals while working (creating)?

T: No, I have not. Work sessions may be very different. As a rule, I start several works at once and then work moving from one to another and returning again. There are days when I only work with sketches on paper. The only constant ritual is washing the brushes at the end of the work.

A: What would you recommend to someone who's new to art (an artist or just an admirer), what to begin with?

T: To focus on micro and to move from inside out. I mean not to pay especial attention on macro narratives; not to focus on the context surrounding art, the market, the audience, etc

A: Your top 3 adjectives related to art?

T: Authentic, acting, anxious

A: The best angle to look at art is from..?

T: If you are not an expert than the best angle to look at art is to ask yourself "Does this art gets under my skin?"

Be demanding and uncompromising, because there is so much art in today's world. If the answer is - yes, then try to determine what works in it, what is the context in which it is created, what are the internal rules of the work, and so on.

A: The perfect phrase to start any conversation about art is:.?

T: There is no all–purpose phrase. But I can offer to start with combining the concrete work of art with the car and invite the companion to define what its engine and what is its fuel.

A: Must-read books to help us talk about art (or do we even need them)?

T: "How to See" by David Salle, "The Love of Painting" by Isabelle Graw, "Bluebeard" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Picture This" by  Josef Heller

A: What would it be if you could change one thing in the art world?

T: Nothing. The world of art is a system that constantly creates itself, and reacts to everything that happens, including totalitarian regimes, the war, the pandemic, the emergence of AI, and so on.

A: Please, share your favorite quote (not necessarily related to art)

T: “… But more to the heart of work (painting), the thing that reveals its nature and quality, is the how, the specific inflection and touch that go into its making. To take a work’s psychic temperature, look at its surface energy. Like syntax and rhythm in poetry, it’s mechanics that reveal an artist’s character…“

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