This interview forms part of a series of features on artists who participated in our ‘Together for Our Planet’ initiative. The ‘Together for Our Planet’ exhibition and publication is a collaboration between Occhi Arts and Entertainment and Phoenix FTA Limited, a UK-based sustainability strategy consultancy. Inspired by the UK Creative Earth Competition, Occhi Arts and Entertainment, and Phoenix FTA Limited invited artists from around the world to creatively engage with key topics of concern at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. The initiative provided artists with a renewed opportunity to visually express their views to world leaders and community stakeholders by producing 2D artwork.
Mary was born in 1975 and lives in Stavropol, Russia. She graduated from the art school and the College of Technology and Design of the Technological University. A. A. Leonov in Moscow. Mary wanted to study and have an art career, but during difficult times in Russia in the 90s change her direction and became a Doctor of Economics, working for more than 20 years as a chief financier. We had the opportunity to speak to her about her exhibition and publication entry titled,’ Oceans of Time’
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Arts & Entertainment. Congratulations on your career to date. For readers who are unfamiliar with you and your work, how were you introduced to the arts?
I have always loved to draw, I just do not remember the time without drawing and creativity. At the age of 11, when I first came to the great Hermitage Museum in Leningrad in 1986, the magical world of portraits with lively eyes, the finest lace and heavy folds of brocade and velvet by Rembrandt, Hals, Kiprensky, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Fragonard, Neller literally fell upon me. Since then art deeply entered my life. I was struck to the depths of my soul by the world of human bodies, their diversity, luminosity, naturalness, and openness in the paintings of Rubens, Bryullov, Bruni, and Guerin. I was amazed by the transfer of taste and smell of fruits and vegetables, wildfowl and fish, and the display of plentiful feasts in the works of Snyders, Kheda, Klas. The depth and infinity of landscapes, seas, and oceans, the glow of clouds and foliage of Reisal, Mordvinov, and the amazing transparency, complexity, and depth of Aivazovsky’s sea, struck me. Aivazovsky’s “Ninth Wave” simply shocked me. The same year I entered an art school.
What was the emotional drive in becoming an artist?
I have a dream of overlapping and merging my art in an act of love and understanding with the viewer. I wish my paintings to penetrate the viewer’s head, soul, home, or office, to leave a trace. I dream for tens, hundreds, or thousands of pairs of eyes to look at my art, absorb it, feel my message and my energy, recognize my intention or create their own art after being infused by mine. I’d like to share my world poured onto the canvas, to let it into someone’s consciousness and subconsciousness, to give it the freedom of its own existence, separate it from me and give it its own life through the lives of others. One day, after everything I had been through on my journey as an artist, I would close my eyes before going to sleep and just burst into tears at the realization that I had succeeded… I had managed to escape the three-dimensional world, to break free from limitations, from time and frame, to reach minds and souls, to soar above reality.
Who are your biggest industry influences?
The next important milestone in the world of art for me was the great Mark Rothko. At the Tate Modern in London in 2008, I had a cathartic experience looking at his abstract painting. “Black on Gray” and “Black Form”, these “million-dollar scribbles” made me experience an unforgettable emotional upheaval. With his canvases, he entered my soul and under my skin, opened the abysses there, broke through some walls, made a coup, made me cry, cleanse and fill. I realized that abstract art has acquired special meaning and importance for me. From that moment on, I allowed myself to dream of returning to painting after a long break and looking for myself in abstraction.
What encouraged you to participate in the ‘COP26: Together For Our Planet’ exhibition?
It seems to me that humanity can solve a complex of global problems through openness, inclusiveness, and interdisciplinary cooperation. Complex smashed and folded reliefs of my pieces of art with their multiple visual connotations and a wide range of assumptions regarding the translated images also open the highly promising prospects for the climate change thus assuring the healthy state of nature. The conflict between the softness of tissue and the hardness of plaster forms the union on the border of sculpture and painting. This is similar to the confrontation between modern humankind and nature, which creates a close union between technical progress and a caring attitude toward natural resources as well as the search for methods of improving the health of nature and correcting the mistakes made.
Please tell us more about your exhibition entry ‘Oceans of Time’ and how you felt during the creative process?
Multilayering and Layering are my vision of harmony in the entire existence. This is the main concept of all my work. When creating heavy relief work with sculpted surfaces, I use plaster, water, fabrics, acrylics, and waxes. Stretching wet heavy fabrics with my hands, I speak the language of forms, turning visions into reality. “Ocean of Time” is a big artwork. Its size is 100×80 cm. I created its shape with a feeling of freedom and scope as if I were floating in large strokes across the ocean as if I were diving into it and lying freely on the water. Working with color, I felt deep and dark, as if I was submerged underwater, and then I saw the setting sun, which covers the surface of the water with gold and bronze – this became the final metallic tint.
How do you feel your involvement in the ‘Together For Our Planet’ initiative will impact your creative practice?
In general, my emotions are represented by a common word – HOPE. I hope for openness, continued cooperation, interaction, and commonwealth in creativity between all artists of all countries, nationalities, and genders. I hope to continue developing my creative career, taking part at exhibitions and public activities, competitions, and venues.
What projects are you currently working on?
I continue to develop my chosen concept of “Multilayering and Layering ” in various aspects, contexts, and nuances. I am looking for more and more new reflections and embodiments of this idea. For example, I have new lightweight and half-transparent works with alcohol and acrylic inks on paper from the “Weightless Sensations and invisible Qualities” series. There is also a series of colorful wooden panels with drops and threads of resin “Thousand Eyes and Million Views”, reflecting my vision of cities and peoples. My plan is to develop my art and grow with it.
Images, courtesy of the artist
Artist’s social links
- https://www.marybobson.com/
- https://www.pinterest.ru/Mary_Bobson_Art/
- https://www.saatchiart.com/marybobson
- https://www.tricera.net/artist/mixed-media-artists/8105356
- https://www.instagram.com/mary_bobson_art/
- https://www.facebook.com/mary.bobson.art/
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