Interview by Jimon

1-Where did you grow up, and where do you live currently? I grew up in a small town in Poland called Brzeg. This city located very close to Wroc?aw one of the biggest cities in Poland where I studied and lived.

2-What is Karifurava mean and what is its origin? My artistic nickname comes from the very first word I learned from the Japan language and means cauliflower. Cauliflower is a symbol of health, happiness and prosperity 🙂 I liked the name that sounds serious, but if you already know its meaning, it simply means vegetables and is fun rather than serious. At first I started signing my graffiti with this nick name, then I started using it as a signature on my art and paintings.

3-Did you have any official training for art?  I graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw in the field of graphics.

4-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?  As a child, I drew a lot of vases, suns, rainbows and cars. Later, in junior high school / high school, I painted a lot with pastels. Back then, I was fascinated by surreal themes, traditional tattooing and Asian art. After high school, I went to study economics where I was called a sketchbook. I focused little on the classes and instead of taking notes, I drew in notebooks with the bent bodies of women in various poses,  fat men and motifs that could now be described as ignorant style. After the second year of studies at the WSB University, I attended the graphics department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroc?aw and focused mainly on drawing, painting and workshop graphics. I put a lot of emphasis on drawing nude figures, for a long time it was my routine to start the day by sketching a series of different poses, hands and feet.

5-Is there any reality behind your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  Rather, it is my fantasy and the sum of the things I have experienced, read and believe in. I often present visions that come to my mind before going to bed, when I am focusing, while meditating, or when I have a hangover; but I try not to drink alcohol and I have not for a long time.

6-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at? All arts of Toshio Saeki, Hokusai Katsushika, and most of the work Hieronim Bosch and Jozef Mehoffer.

7-What was the last job you had before you decided to pursue art full time? I still co-run a company dealing in painting large-format murals in Poland. This is my springboard from painting canvases because if you do one thing all the time, you can burn out and you lose your will and heart to do it.

8-How did you acquire your style? I owe it to many years of work. I has developed my own designing process, which I have been constantly improving for several years, and it all starts with a freehand drawing.

9-What influences you as an artist?  The music I listen to. I like melodic techno and chillout electronic music. I also compose a lot of songs, collect instruments and produce music in a melodic techno atmosphere. I am definitely influenced by the artists I am a fan of  I also really like literature related to life after death and esoteric themes.

10-What kind of art hang on the walls of your home?  only mine.

11-How do you describe success as an artist? Success as an artist is to be buried at Père-Lachaise after you die. cemetery for famous.

12-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration? I think the most inspiring thing one can do is traveling and meeting different people. The place that I like to visit the most is Berlin.

13-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio? I think without easel, instruments and computer.

14-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Corey Taylor, the lead singer of Slipknot and Stone Sour, because when I was younger they were my favorite bands. With Joel Zimmerman of Deadmau5 because I’m still a huge fan of and Eric Andre because he’s funny.

15-What question would you ask if you were the interviewer and please follow up with an answer? 

Do you prefer dogs or cats? Cats

16-How would someone find you on Social media? @karifurava on instagram

17-Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art= Exhibitionn

Food= Ramen

Sports= Ping pong

Politics= Rat Race

Sex= Selena Gomez

Luxury= Luxemburg

Poor= Africa

Rich= Rockefeller

God= Jesus

Religion= 7 deadly sins

Picasso= Dead

Afterlife= Reincarnation