Artist Profile: Anastasiya Shekhtman Name and Year: Anastasiya Shekhtman, C’14 Hometown: Philadelphia, PA; born in Zaporozhye, Ukraine Major: Fine Arts—Communication Design
Street: What’s a typical creative day at Penn like for you? Anastasiya Shekhtman: My typical day at Penn is disappointingly typical. Creative breakthroughs usually strike when my mind finds refuge from the stresses of Penn: attempting to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, in the shower, during a run—unless, coffee.
Street: Do you have a favorite medium? AS: Digital never ceases to amaze me with its endless possibilities. Sometimes you just need to experiment in an almost stream of consciousness sort of way, and digital software gives you that freedom.
Street: What draws you to the crossover between words and images? AS: Words and images coexist in the world—I don’t have the heart to divide them. Each informs the other; images describe, words evoke pictures, and text can be image. Both share the ability to spin moods and stories. I’m interested in what their interaction can do for an idea.
Street: How would you describe your style? AS: I have yet to define a style, because I am still very much in the learning stage. That said, I think that a person’s interests and aesthetic become manifested in every project, whether they like it or not, so certain moods and concerns recur in my work. There is a dark element in a lot of what I do, but it’s the dark of mystery, not of horror. I consider light and dark as two sides of the same thing, and within each are traces of the other. I love to explore the magic born of darker themes mixed with childlike elements, too.
Street: Who do you look up to for inspiration? AS: I found Alexander McQueen at fourteen, and he has stayed with me ever since. Also, filmmakers like Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard and Cedric Klapisch. Tim Walker. Fashion. Literature. Music. They are all constant sources of shock and awe.
Street: On top of your love for illustration and design, where does your passion for stories and creative writing come from? AS: I’ve always felt like a writer above anything else. I observe the world in words, even when I can’t write them down. When I was younger, I liked to write stories, but I was often discouraged by trips to the teen fiction aisle in my local Barnes & Noble. I remember reading the copy on the inside flaps and thinking I could never come up with anything so elaborate. During my freshman year at Penn I took Karen Rile’s fiction writing workshop, and it changed my life. It opened me up to the world of the literary short story, and I was instantly hooked. Literary fiction felt more natural for me than the more plot-centric stories of popular fiction. Sometimes, I have the chance to explore an idea through a written story. Other times, I channel the central image into whatever project I happen to be working on.
Street: The greatest book in the world would be like… AS: Life.
Street: What’s the future look like for you? AS: Bright! With lots of glitter. I’d like to travel a lot and collaborate with open, passionate people. I want to curate those experiences that make life beautiful. I aspire to become an art director, so I can do this repeatedly.
