Pasha Setrova is a Russian NYC-based sculptor. She creates elongated, moody, and dramatic works that generally stand around 2-3 feet tall. She designs all aspects by hand, including the fashion and accessories. We visited her studio to learn more about her process and understand her environment. Please find the video below along with her corresponding interview.
Describe to us your career in Russia before coming to New York.
In Russia, my art didn’t fit into any genres. It wasn’t traditional or folk, it was more contemporary than the general Russian public was used to. But I realized that I had become pretty well known, when at some point people started to recognize me on the street. I was having a lot of interviews and I wasn’t a celebrity, but some kind of visionary. What was interesting for me was that the public eventually became more interested in my personality itself and rather my art was the accessory of it. Starting over in America was a real shake, a shake so hard that I was thrown back to the very beginning, even though my art now is more advanced.
Do you feel your Russian roots influence your work now?
Of course. I have a pretty eclectic cultural background. I was born in the Soviet Union. That’s even more different than just being from Russia. My life can be separated into various different time periods: my childhood growing up in a village, Perestroika, my time living all over different cities in Russia, the 90’s, my days spent holed up in freezing Siberia, the new millennium, my modeling career years in Europe, and my days living on the main streets of Moscow. But with television and more-so the internet
, little by little, my cultural borders have became more transparent. Though I can call it rich, my background has not been easy. But isn’t that what every artist needs?
How has anti-gay sentiment in Russia affected you personally as a Russian-American in queer community?
I never accepted that situation in Russia and so as you know, I eventually moved to America. I have scars of course and I defend myself more desperately because of them, but at least I’m not numb. In Russia, everything that’s gay is directly connected to sex and what it means to be inappropriate and taboo. You feel you don’t deserve to be happy like everyone else because it’s not appropriate to even think about being with someone of the same gender. So you just settle on the thought that you’re a freak who’s trying to fake living like a normal person. In America it’s mostly about relationships and loving whomever deserves your love. I’m happily engaged now and I feel I deserve happiness – like typical normal happiness.
What inspired you to be a sculptor?
I was always sculpting. Though once I saw a doll-like sculpture in a gallery by a very good artist. It was so beautiful and I immediately wanted to possess it. But it cost about $5000 so I decided to make it instead. It took me a long time and it didn’t really turn out to be the same sculpture because I have my own style. And luckily, now I don’t have this I-need-to-possess-that-sculpture feeling anymore.
I understand you do performance art as well. Can you tell us more about that?
Performance art is the most free form art you can make. You could just stand in front of someone in silence…unmoving for 5 minutes, simply staring into someone’s eyes. And that would be a performance. Though personally, I would make more of a statement and finish it with something dramatic like suddenly feigning a gun shot wound, grabbing my chest and falling to the floor. In my performances I try to make a statement. I’m not just an entertainer and wouldn’t call someone just dancing in a weird costume in a crowd a performer. To be a performer, you need to perform – you need to claim that you are making art and not just someone being weird in front of crowd. So yeah, my performances are little shows; little stories with context that I assembly completely by my own hands.
Which artists have influenced you?
My grandma. She wasn’t a “real”, real artist. But she was schizophrenic like me. And she was a very interesting person. Once when I was at school, she went out, gathered leaves of the agrimony herb (because they give the most green color), mixed it with her own sh*t, and used it to paint a big green rectangle on the wall of our room. And that’s without any canvases or paint, she made a clear statement and made a life-lasting impression on me. If anything, the one thing all artists are trying to do is make an impression. It was amazing.
Tell us about your process in creating your pieces and how you describe the finished product?
People like to call them dolls. In my head my art gets belittled by the word doll. Its like it holds less of an artistic quality to it. But I can totally understand the obvious resemblance. Their hair, their painted faces, their fabric clothes, shoes, and accessories. So I prefer to call them mixed media sculptures. In the 60’s there was a movement by artists who were saying that even a regular chair was a sculpture and I totally agree. It’s made by humans – it’s art. But we no longer live in those times. Now, art is art, a chair is a chair, and a doll is a doll. I believe that soon in the future we will discover that animals are making art. I mean purposely making something for purely pleasure; without any survival purpose. We don’t need the Mona Lisa to survive. If we will think about that, everyone’s making art without any survival purpose in the form of sex. Modern sex is pure art. We are choosing when we want to have a beautiful side effect of it – babies. Lesbian sex is the art without any side-effects. So yeah back to our sheep. Everything starts from the idea, then I’m sculpting everything by hand, then there’s the boring process of molding and cleaning…and molding and cleaning. Then I put all the parts together and paint it, glue hair lock by lock for a full head, make shoes, and clothes. Then very often, I’ll tear everything off and redo it all from the very beginning. I need to be a painter, a shoe maker, a seamstress, a wig maker, a jewelry designer, but most of all, a sculptor.
How long does it take you to create a sculpture?
The most common question. If I were to count the days from the moment I unwrap the clay to the moment I set the finished sculpture into it’s carrying box, I’d say each piece takes about a month. The days however are riddled with time spent fixing damaged sculptures, correcting mistakes, setting up for exhibitions, hurrying to meetings, going through self promotion trials, and preparing and performing in art performances. There’s also the hours spent buying supplies – everything from fabric and pliers to nails and fur and much much more. As well as the agonizing times spent mulling over disappointments, failed experiments, and more unpredictable trials. But I love it so much. And in my head there are tons of ideas. Some sadly too crazy to ever make.
Tell us about the latest project you are working on?
Recently I became obsessed with Vivienne Westwood. I am making a collection of my impression of her based on references from some of her particular fashion pieces. Of course I am making my own version of them so I’m not a complete plagiarist. I’m also making Vivienne Westwood herself in her golden dress. It’s no secret that fashion and art are one in the same. Vivienne Westwood made a big difference in fashion itself – she was the one who brought punk street style to high fashion and high fashion to the streets. She was the one who said you could “do it yourself”. She’s a very interesting person that I admire. She reminds me a little of Salvador Dali – old, crazy, and amazing. That’s what I am going to be some day. That’s what everyone’s going to be some day; some of us more amazing, some of us less crazy, but everyone pretty old.
What goals do you have as an artist in NYC?
What goals does anyone have? I would lie if I would say that I needed nothing or that I would be fine living as a humble, unknown artist with no money. I have a lot to show, I have a lot to say, I have no time left.
