Artospective: Drawings by Yulia Lobanov from Barcelona, Spain.

An Interview with Yulia Lobanov.

Who and where are you from?

My name is Yulia Lobanov, I was born in Moscow, Russia and I'm 31. Several years ago I moved to Europe, initially to Italy and currently I'm based in Barcelona and I love it. I'm a yacht designer but drawing and painting more than just hobby for me..

How you got into this?

For the first time I asked my mum to let me go to the art school when I was 4 years old! So for me it was easy - I always knew I want to draw. At age of 11 I went to art school and I was lucky to meet an amazing teacher from the "russian old school" so I was never get bored from the academic studies. There was only joy and passion for art.

I'm endlessly thankful for my family for supporting me in that period, they never ever told me that it's useless. But there was one advice I took seriously - is to get a profession more practical and stable than artist. And I became architect and interior designer and never regret of that. However my drawing practice stoped for more than 10 years. When I moved to Barcelona I started to feel I need something else apart my job and fortunately I started to visit a life drawing studio. Later I resume my oil painting practice. And it gave me so much pleasure and I'm happy to draw and paint again!

What is your driving force?

I love to draw. The process itself gives me incomparable feeling of freedom and concentration in the same time. It's the best meditation practice for me. So I'm driven by necessity, fulfilling my wellbeing.

What kind of work you do and why?

If speak about object of my works is usually human body and portraits. I study how shadows can create shape, how shape can express character and emotions. It's a path from charcoal stain to storytelling. Through my studying while drawing I see how beautiful human being could be. No mater how close the model to the "beauty standard" is I see her uniqueness and beauty. I admire all my models!

However I usually don't call my works "art", it's rather drawing studies, technique exercises. I feel I need some time to find my art language and style.