Great question. Anyone who has ever thought about why their present looks a certain way will definitely see in it the shadows of their thoughts, decisions, and actions in the past, as well as ideas, goals, and plans for the future.

The present is formed from the memory of the past and the idea of the future; therefore, despite the physical and objective absence of the past and future, they are the most important lenses through which a person lives their present.

"The Mechanical Gardens" is an attempt to create a space that helps the viewer feel out of time, free from conventions and regulations, and realize their own integral existence.

Imagine living in a house where you send a telegram to your neighbor through an ordinary postman to share news. And this continues for many years. Then, by a lucky chance, you find out that in the same world where you communicate using long telegrams, Elon Musk has successfully launched his fifth Starship.

Of course, I am exaggerating for clarity.

You love traditions, but not to the point of denying the new. You just want to be part of the new while protecting the old.

When the viewer looks at the picture, like its characters, they become part of what is happening.

Here and now, you are reincarnated as a character in this story. It's an instant shot that captures your gaze before your eyelid's curtain turns it into the past. And while your eyelid has not yet lifted, your imagination is already drawing a frame of the future that you are about to see.

The effect of the absence of time frames is the goal of this collection. Each picture is drawn with dynamic elements, including the movements of the characters, the perspective of the picture, and the retro-futurism style itself, all designed to help the viewer immerse themselves in the process.

In this collection, I aimed to combine several key artistic influences and stylistic traits.

Above all, the work of these artists has always reminded me of the possibility of technological progress coexisting with nature. In "The Mechanical Gardens", futuristic mechanics and nature intertwine into one, creating a sense of endless worlds and possibilities.

If we're talking about architectural elements, Art Deco adds a sense of symmetry to my work, magnificently conveying the traditions of the past in symbiosis with the future. As for Brutalism, it's expressed through massive, structural forms, symbolizing power and stability, which contrast with the fluidity of natural elements.

There is no definite answer to this question; it's like asking which of your children you love more. I really love futurism, technology, and admire how rapidly reality around us is changing. I love to flow with technological development, stay up to date with innovations, and fantasize about what humanity can still achieve. It's exciting to look at Boston Dynamics' robots or how Elon Musk is advancing space exploration. This shows how an obsessive dreamer can go from being an eccentric in the past to an unstoppable achiever of very real goals in the present. Amazing!

To return to the question: it's awesome to ride the wave of technology, but there's also an incredible pleasure in setting gadgets aside, turning on a vinyl record, watching a film on a projector, or reading a newspaper. If you know what I mean.

I would say that "The Mechanical Gardens" is the first full-fledged philosophical collection that tackles such a deep subject as time. Early in my career, I thought less about meaning and acted more on the wave of my feelings, creating atmospheres. I wanted to share my vibe with those who wanted to connect with it. It was a search for like-minded people, a way to create my own language of expression, and a way to find myself and answers to personal questions about my place in the world.

The search for answers to more fundamental questions, and the attempt to think through art itself, has come to me relatively recently. To do this, one must mature and genuinely ask these questions.

So, when we talk about previous collections, it's a long and conscious path of an artist that led me to "The Mechanical Gardens".

Architecture, in my opinion, is one of the most prominent forms of art. It's an art object where a person can live, not just admire it, but actually use it in everyday life. People live in architecture: they build families, love, laugh, share happiness, eat, work, create, rest, everything that comes under the word "life." Buildings witness different eras and see generations change.

Architecture is not just part of the art world, it's a symbol of generations of people's lives.

I want everyone to be able to walk through the streets of this city, feel its mood, and live in it for a little while.

In solving this challenging problem, retrofuturism, the style I draw in, helps me a lot. It combines the nostalgic experience of the past with a fantastically bold look into the future.

This “combining the incompatible” is my task. I use retro techniques and textures, drawing vintage-style details to create an atmosphere of the past. Meanwhile, the architecture and transport of the future, which I design myself, propel us into the distant future.

As I mentioned before, I love vintage things. Very often, while I'm drawing, I turn on my old player, pop in some cassettes, and listen to music from the '60s or '70s, it helps me get into the right mindset. I think that, due to my genuine love for retro culture and technology, my works truly convey that atmosphere. Art, and its audience, can always detect inauthenticity.

I believe that in a world of mass digitalization, physicality is finding new life. People's kinesthetic senses crave attention, so I'm pleased that my paintings make people want to touch the characters in this city, not just remain passive spectators.

I truly hope that my collection will achieve its goal and that each viewer will be able to discard the confines of time and feel their existence outside of conventional structures.

That's how I envision the impact of my collection for the moment.

But I also hope that my collection could become a symbol of timelessness and gain eternal life. I'd like it to remain relevant even 100 years from now. This, I think, is the essence of art, to remain eternal.