Computerlove™

Full Name:

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Born:

February 13, 1978

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Job:

Illustrator / Artist

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Website

sumkin.opera78.com

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Status:

Unknown

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Biography:

I was born in a Byelorussian family of artists. As a child I loved drawing and painting from an early age. I left school at the age of 16 Two years later I moved to Moscow to avoid the compulsory army draft. By that time I had already painted, sold, and exhibited my pictures. I made a firm decision to become an artist and earn my living by making art. Moscow was the only city in Russia where I could do what I wanted and make money at the same time. I worked as a graphic designer and produced illustrations for different magazines. During this time I also traveled a lot, mostly to Berlin, Stockholm, and Paris. It has made a considerable impact on my work and changed my life style as well. I lived in Moscow for 6 years.

For the last 10 years I have gotten a really valuable experience. What I learned in Russia, Italy and France is useful for me in Holland. Most importantly, I can finally work in hard conditions and create high-quality pieces on any hardware. I can use 6 years old PowerBook or work in an Internet-cafe without any professional software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I also can work 15-16 hours a day without a weekend month by month.

Then I moved to Italy and after getting settled in the new place I went on to produce my artworks. I began to get orders from several galleries in Milan and Rome, working for music industry, arts & culture, fashion and advertising clients. Then I lived in Paris for three years working for a small publishing house on a variety of projects including art direction, design and illustration.

I am now an illustrator based in Amsterdam, where I produce illustrations mostly with traditional fine art media; sometimes I produce images in Adobe Photoshop using a MacBook Pro with Apple Cinema Display 23". I am also interested in typography, history of type, and calligraphy. Recently I started creating my own typefaces in FontLab and I find it amazing.

For the last three years I've been living without a passport. I've been using my girlfriend's credit cards and can actually travel freely because there is not much passport control within Europe. I sincerely thank all my friends in Moscow, Berlin, London, Rome, Paris and here in Amsterdam who helped me to survive. It is a destiny present to me that all those people have been there for me at the right moment, whenever I needed them.

I would like to return to Byelorussia and restore my passport there. I have not done this earlier because all these years I was afraid of the compulsory army draft. Moreover I find it hard to accept the political situation in my country, i.e. prosecution of the opposition and infringement of human rights.