California
Nikita Budkov, East of the Sun, oil, 40 x 30.
Art Education: I received a certificate in fine art after completing a three-year course of study at Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.
Style: Contemporary traditional.
Creative Spark: Atmosphere is most important to me—the beauty of the mystical is something that moves me, be it music, a story, or a visual image.
Other Passions: Healthy lifestyles, listening to music, learning about the past, and seeing into the future. I try to balance and mix intellectual and physical activities.
One Thing People Don’t Know About You: I was the homecoming king back at Cotter High School in Minnesota while I was an exchange student from Russia.
Best Advice Received: Slow down to speed up.
Biggest Fear: Important phone calls.
Pet Peeve: Waking up in the afternoon.
Quirkiest Trait: I laugh, then I cough, and then I sneeze.
Mantra or Motto: I feel it is important to have a strong body with a clear mind and a powerful spirit, like the philosophers were advocating in the past.
Favorite Work by Another Artist: THE LADY OF SHALOTT by John William Waterhouse and ASGARDSREIEN by Peter Nicolai Arbo.
Future Goals: I am striving to make a living from my art. My goal is to create meaningful and beautiful narrative paintings, and to help make the representational art movement as big as it was before.
Representation: American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena, CA; Hillside Fine Art, Claremont, CA;
www.nikitabudkov.com.
This story was featured in the September 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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