Liza Victorova Mlechkova

How did you become an illustrator?
I started studying graphic design and that’s when it first occurred to me „oh, I really like painting and creating stories.“ And so I started painting and painting and asking myself „is this my style? What more could I do with it?“ and other such things, which people often ask themselves. One day I concluded that what I do is actually illustration more than it is graphic design.

What inspires you?
I’m mostly inspired by us being here and thinking we have so much time, while our nonexistence is lurking in the corner behind a few short seconds. And the short while we have here is the most exciting thing because we decide what to do with it. To take this turn or walk forward or take a break; to contemplate a tree or climb it or sleep on a branch. And then recount this story and make a book about it.

So many things that are just waiting for us to observe, investigate, and describe. And the most exciting thing is they’ll never run out. Only time will.

How would you describe your style in 3 words?
Comically tragic and twist-entanglingly existential minus two/three or so words.

Let’s talk about confession:
Confessions are paintings and thoughts, which I’ve had. And someone else too. Or which someone will have but is not yet aware of it. They’re a way to delve into the consciousness of our species and examine what’s inside. We’re all quite similar, even though we think we’re not. We keep asking ourselves is this the right decision, am I on right track. Yet, we’re all headed in the same final direction afraid of what it’s going to be like. We have feelings and emotions and carry this humongous world inside us.

How long until you get bored of your new shoes?
I still often get bored. Even with my most favorite things – such as confessions. Sometimes I am painting for 3 hours and then start catching my brain telling me „come on, let’s do something more stimulating, let’s eat some sugar or take a walk, come ooooonnnn.“ Typical brain stuff that my brain does. If I resist its tempting ideas for long enough, eventually it stops being so loud. That’s what I try to do in such moments, to not let my brain decide instead of me. But it doesn’t always work out to distance myself from its temptations (they can be quite luring and tasty).

What piece of work are you most proud of?
Come to think about it, I can’t single out individual pieces. Rather, I am happy when I go back to past confessions and see how they’ve evolved over time, and how their visual style is constantly moving and how I have no idea what it will be like in a few years.

What’s on your mind right now? What else do you want to say to the reader?
I’m traveling by train right now and it’s hot. I’m thinking about how the rest of the people here most likely feel the same way. It usually happens so that we all feel similar things and we’re all searching for meaning in our existence. And because inherently there’s none, we invent meaning ourselves. And start coloring it. First a splash of pink, then right there a bit more grey, but not the ordinary grey, the one we especially picked. Then someone else decides to use that grey too. And no matter how lonely the coloring sometimes is, there they are, all the other billions of fellow tiny humans coloring just like us.

Liza Victorova Mlechkova – www.lizavictorova.com/, www.instagram.com/lizavictorova/