Igor Klepnev in Conversation with Aleksandr Blanar
AB: How did you come up with the idea for this project?
IK: I was showing my work to my father, and he showed me a drawing I'd made as a child. I was surprised that an abstract, snail-like form was labeled "Swan." It's unclear who saw the swan—me or my father. He must have seen value in it, and something clicked. I decided to work with children as fellow artists using parents as their canvases. It wouldn't just be a child's drawing, but a documented project in a magazine that many people would see. Years later, they could look back and see their first real work
AB: How did the participants behave?
IK: The children were completely immersed in the process. We asked what they wanted to draw with and gave them tools. But we didn't correct or direct them otherwise—they were given complete agency. Parents suggested colors, offered candy and asked them to add something, but the children calmly said "no" and only did what they thought was right. The parents accepted their refusals and surrendered to the process. They played by new rules. Usually the parent is in charge—they embody the present. Here we gave control to the children and the future. An act of complete trust and building a new relationship.
AB: What about the resultingdrawings?
IK: The main thing for me wasthe process itself. I wanted to experience that freedom of self-expression.In childhood we draw creatively, inventother worlds with pleasure. Later on,it fades. We hide it because the adultworld doesn’t allow fooling around.We develop ideas of “how it should be”instead of how we feel and want. Butwhat’s right? Is there even a right way? I remember my childhood curiosity. Nothing seemed uninteresting—everything deserved attention. I thinkthis feeling still helps me explore different themes and move forward.
AB: If you were offered to changeworlds now—go to Mars to build a newlife or any other planet—how would youfeel about it?
IK: I’d want to understand thisworld first. There’s still so much tolearn and explore on our planet. Eachperson is another world.
