A Micro World of Lines: An Interview with Mikhail Nechaev
A discussion about complexity and the beauty in freedom of expression.
In this interview Mikhail shares what opportunities tattooing has given him and how it keeps affecting him. He also talks about the complexity of the people he meets along his career and the influence they have on his creative process. We also get an inside view on his style of tattooing and both the outside and inside factors that have created it with time.
Do you remember the first moment you were drawn to art? Are there any important memories that hint at the artist you would become?
Ever since I can remember, I have always been an insanely curious child. And I’ve been attracted by interesting shapes and unusual combinations in everything I could see around me. The first moment of my conscious attraction to art was on my birthday, I turned 6 years old and my mother gave me an Encyclopedia in which there were a lot of graphic drawings, engravings and sketches. I couldn’t read at that time, but I was considering them over and over again with a keen interest and great pleasure, wondering about the content. My mom immediately noticed that I liked all these illustrations. So, every year for my birthday I received new books from her. As I grew up, I gradually became aware of this interesting world in its various graphic variations. I found them everywhere, often creating reality in my head as a drawing or a sketch.
Why were you drawn to tattooing? and what made you pursue this profession? Who were the tattoo artists you would and/or still look up to?
I am drawn to tattooing because of its freedom of expression. It is a great opportunity to see something absolutely ordinary and familiar from a different perspective. You can create your own reality, come up with new rules and vision. You can also be a pioneer, a traveler, a creator. Tattooing helps me to learn new things and to learn constantly: languages, symbols, history, art, the past, the future. It is a permanent development and involvement in all areas of life. In fact, I am inspired by many of my colleagues, but at the moment I’m trying to look inward in order to find new forms and meanings, keep them separate from someone else’s art and not to get inspired by it.
Can you talk about your style and how it developed over time?
My style is geometric graphics. Now when I look at my old works, I get a feeling there have always been 2 people in me. It’s like, throughout my career as a tattoo artist, the first one is inspired by minimalist forms, very simple, clear and concise. He finds them in architecture and in contemporary art. And the second person inside me creates complex systems in which each part affects all the others. This is how the universe and humanity, society and community work. And it is my inspiration as well. The tattoo style is developing along with new meanings that I discover inside people I meet on my way.
If you are able to pick, which is one of your favorite pieces you have tattooed?
I really love to do everything