Where the beauty gets created: in the studio of “Anton tut ryadom”

The phrase "To not insult is a great action" welcomes every visitor to the studios of “Anton tut ryadom”, authored by Alexander Drugov, one of the center's students. Housed in a bright and spacious building on Nevsky Avenue, the center comprises six different studios: sewing, ceramics, culinary, bookbinding, decorating, and silk-screen printing. Here, under the guidance of skilled mentors, adult autistic artists create works that can softly "touch with words" and serve as a reminder that "everything is made of magic and bricks".

DMITRY PAUKOV

HOW DO YOU GET INSPIRED?

I get inspired by books and TV series. For example, “The Forester” action series. For this show’s main character, the most important things are honesty and incorruptibility. In one of the episodes he refuses to get paid a big salary and says he doesn’t care about money at all. Nowadays, there are not many people around like this guy… You could offer him a million, and he still wouldn’t take it! I just love TV series where good beats evil.

DO YOU THINK GOOD BEATS EVIL IN REAL LIFE?

Not always, of course. But life is partly a movie by its nature.

DO YOU HAVE A REAL LIFE HERO WHO INSPIRES YOU THAT MUCH?

It’s my granddad, my mom’s dad. He was in the navy. My granddad was a very courageous man. I have a very beautiful picture of him: he is 30 years old in that photo, and he wears a peakless cap and a mustache.

WHAT DO YOU IMAGE ON YOUR PAINTINGS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE?

Cartoon and movie characters. Sometimes I draw scenes from my favorite TV show.

DO YOU ONLY DRAW OR DO YOU DO OTHER ARTS?

I write scenarios, and we make plays based on them in our center. I borrow the stories from movies. I also used to write many poems. Started writing them in 2018. I can read one of them.

YES PLEASE!

The old birch lies dormant,
Its head bowed so low,
A rose all alone,
In a garden so slow.

It peers into the water,
Of a small, tranquil pond,
It longs to be free,
But its fate is beyond.

The willow whispers,
As its leaves rustle soft,
“What’s troubling you, dear birch?
Why do you stand aloft?”

The birch replies with a whimper,
“My life is but a mere wisp,
The lumberjack will come for me,
And take me with a swift snip.”

WHAT GAVE YOU THE IMPULSE TO START WRITING POEMS?

I think of an image. For instance, this one: I was thinking of a wolf in a winter forest…

Alone in snow I wander free,
Beneath the moon's bright light I see,
Master of my own domain,
I dive into a drift with no refrain.

Icicles cling upon my back,
Impatiently I continue my track,
For the wolf has but one aim,
To hunt for food and never tame.

Lapping snow from left to right,
Through snowdrifts I roam all night,
With gaze upon the sky so wide,
I let out a howl, my song to abide.

I have a favorite cartoon, “Balto”. I used to rewatch it on tapes many times when I was a kid.

DO YOU HAVE FAVORITE ARTISTS?

Yes, Leonardo da Vinci. I read about him. I know that he used to paint a lot, but when he moved to France when he was 68 years old, he had his hand become numb, and he almost stopped painting. Leonardo da Vinci made very beautiful paintings and he was a wonderful sculptor too.

WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED ART FOR?

I think art helps people. If a person loves art and creates it, then his loved work can help him. A lot of old actors continue to work in theater even after they reach the age of 90. It’s because they realize that without their favorite job they will cease to be much faster.

If a person loves his job and he gives everything to it, then he gets great help from it. You also should never be lazy. I once read this saying of one old caucasian, who worked in his garden all his life till he died: “Idleness breeds laziness, and laziness is death!”.

SERGEY TISNEK

HOW DO YOU GET INSPIRED?

I like and I’m interested in the very process of drawing. Usually I draw animals or portraits from books or directly from a phone screen. I love to draw cats. I often picture my own cats.

DO YOU FEEL HELP OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS REGARDING YOUR PIECES?

Yes, a lot. It inspires me to do more.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DRAWING?

I started drawing here, in the center, back in 2013. But I had been drawing before that, since my childhood.

WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?

I just complete tasks now. Usually I come here, to the studio, choose the materials: we have a bunch of pencils, pens, color markers here, and then I just draw what I want.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MATERIALS?

I love drawing with felt pens and liners.

WHAT IS ART?

Art is an image of life.

HOW ART HELPS PEOPLE?

People get engaged with art. And being engaged in something is very important, it lets you not get bored.

WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE INVENTED ART FOR?

To notice beautiful things and picture them.

CAN ART BE NOT ONLY ABOUT BEAUTIFUL THINGS?

Yes, it can. But it’s mostly about beauty.

DENIS SIROTKIN

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ART? HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO PAINT OR DRAW? WHAT TO YOU PICTURE MOST OF THE TIME? WHAT IS ART? DO YOU HAVE FAVORITE ARTISTS? WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW? WHY DO PEOPLE NEED ART?

paintings drawing and sewing notebooks draw portraits from paintings choose paintings to draw them denis does art draw pictures people read books and they visit museums on purpose to look at the paintings and people watch movies it’s interesting several years I’ve been doing art roerich used to paint war and a movie about war was seen in 2021 moiseenko wrote a project denis draws portraits in these times painting people drawing and art denis chooses paintings he likes and draws images from them this is an exhibition movies portraits documentary movies cartoons theaters circuses dances rehearsals plays and concerts songs music melodies performers musicians orchestras the bremen town musicians