From mine to art

Oleksandr was born in a small town of Kirovske in Donetsk oblast. Since his childhood he has been fond of football and graffiti. But at the age of 17 he went to work to one of the biggest mines of Ukraine, “Komsomolets of Donbas.” He had worked for two years on the surface before going down to the mine face. Later he understood that the only thing he wanted to do was painting. He left the mine, took part in competitions, and decorated the facades of houses. In August 2014, when the war came to Kirovske, Oleksandr moved to Kyiv. At the moment the artist is trying his hand at oil painting and getting to know the art world of the capital. Oleksandr Korban told The Day about the world outlook of the miners and traditions of graffitists.

“THE MINE IS A STRANGE, BUT A VERY KIND WORLD”

“In the mine I worked as so-called fastener. I fastened and changed the frames on the entry, the underground mining roadways, so that the rock didn’t fell down. There was no surface above my head for 500 meters! On the whole there are many occupations in the mine, every day you may do something different. Both my peers and hardened old men, who had spent 30 years underground, were working with me. The mine is a strange, but a very kind world. After finishing a very difficult shift, before a day off, we would joke and smoke: we were happy.

“Everyone thinks that mines are scary. I have worked there for a year and later walked underground like in the street. However, I understood that I could not be a good miner, because I lacked enthusiasm and love for the work. Therefore several years later I quit and devoted my life to creative work.”

“THAT PAINTING IS STILL IN KIROVSKE”

“I have been painting graffiti since my school years; I learnt to paint by myself. I still recall the feeling when I sprayed for the first time from an aerosol can – it was in 2002. Since that time my friends and I were carrying aerosol cans with white and blue paint. For some reason the paint was leaking all the time, and we didn’t have enough of it. But that painting is still in Kirovske.

“Later I started to create some interesting works. I uploaded my works on the Internet, people saw them, and I got an invitation to a Zaporizhia festival of graffiti. It was 2010. Well-known Ukrainian masters were working at the competition next to me. My hands were trembling because of excitement. Later there have been lots of competitions. I have painted in Kyiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Yalta, and Kharkiv.”

“WHEN MINERS SAW THIS PAINTING, HALF OF THEM WERE CRYING”

“If I like the wall, I can come up to the owner of the building with my sketches and offer him to decorate the building. This is hard to do in Kyiv, but I did so in Kirovske. I decorated houses, fences, interiors. I have many times worked in the mines. To Miner’s Day I painted graffiti in the building where the miners prepare to go underground. That was a motivating painting: a girl was writing the word ‘Dad’ on a sheet of paper. When the miners saw this, half of them were crying. It is important for people to understand they there is someone who is waiting for them at home. Then they even stick to rules of safety more.”

“WHEN I HEARD THE SHELLING OF GRAD, I UNDERSTOOD THAT I MUST LEAVE”

“I came to Kyiv on August 9. I had planned to move for a long time, but I thought I would do this later. I had to flee because of the DNR. I understood that I must leave when I heard the shelling of Grad. The combat vehicle was shelling five kilometers away from me, but the sound was very loud, I got scared. Later it turned out that was the beginning. Kirovske is surrounded by Yenakiieve, Shakhtarsk, Savur-Mohyla, where battles were underway in summer. It was silent in Kirovske, but since September the battles focused on our town. The town has suffered heavy losses.”

“TRYING TO CONVINCE SOMEONE IS AN UNGRATEFUL THING”

“Many of my friends are working in the mine. Some miners are openly for the DNR, but there are lots of my friends who support Ukraine. But for intellect it is hard to fight with physically developed stupidity. There was a period when I had frequent rows with people. I was speaking about the situation in Ukraine, but trying to convince someone is an ungrateful thing.

“People are suffering. My close friend, who has been my partner in the mine, is in Yalta now: he has relatives there. He got married not long ago, he has a little daughter, he made a repair in his apartment, but suddenly everything was ruined. Now this person is terribly suffering, because he cannot fulfill himself anywhere. I was lucky to find people who have given me shelter and support me.”

“ARTISTS WHO PAINT WITH OIL ARE GODS”

“I don’t have any large-scale plans at the moment. I want to paint a lot and master oil painting. The artists who paint with oil are gods for me. Maybe I have set a barrier for myself that is hard to overcome. Now I work ten hours a day. It happens that I paint for 24 hours a day with small breaks, of course. Sometimes I regret I am not 15     years old: I want to work more, but I’m not strong enough.”