Sanya Kantarovsky is a rare combination: a painter’s painter who works across a variety of media. The Russian-born, Upstate New York-based artist is best known for his haunting, darkly humorous figurative paintings. But he also makes videos, animations, and sculptures.
“A conceptual painter friend recently told me that you can only be a good artist or a good painter—one or the other,” Kantarovsky said in an interview with the Brooklyn Rail in 2019. “I think there’s some truth to that, but I’m of the mind that being both is possible, albeit very difficult.”
At Frieze London, the British gallery Modern Art will present 15 new stoneware sculptures by Kantarovsky. Some wall-based and some freestanding, they all showcase his dedication to the art and science of painting. They are enveloped in glazes that incorporate copper carbonate, cobalt oxide, and manganese dioxide.
Ahead of the fair, CULTURED checked in with the artist about life in the studio.
What’s the first thing you do when you enter your studio?
Look at what’s in there.
What’s on your studio playlist?
I like to listen to entire albums. Lately a lot of Bohren & der Club of Gore and Waylon Jennings. Also Blue AF, a recent album by my brilliant friend Gobby.
What’s in your studio fridge?
Happy Dad Death Row Grape Hard Seltzer.
If you could have a studio visit with one artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
Andrei Rublev.
What’s the weirdest tool/instrument you can’t live without?
A level.
When do you do your best work?
At night.
Do you work with any assistants or do you work alone?
I usually paint alone, but two really wonderful and talented people help me in and around the studio a couple of days a week.
What’s the biggest studio mishap you’ve experienced?
A parakeet that flew in through the vent. Took a whole day to help it leave.
There are a lot of costs that come with being an artist. Where do you splurge and where do you save?
I spend money on things that are important and try not to on things that aren’t.
What was the last time you completely lost track of time while working?
The last time I worked.
Have you ever destroyed a work to make something new?
Countless times.
Is there a studio rule you live by?
Trust the process.
When was the last time you felt jealous of another artist?
When I discovered Zachariah Maisuradze’s ceramic works in Tbilisi last July.
If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be?
Less interest in power and more interest in art.
If your studio were an animal, what would it be?
A Pangolin.
in your life?
