Aleksey Dmitriev, metal sculptor from Russia. Connection, Turkey. Photography © A. Dmitriev
1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.
My profession is related to metalworking (turning, milling work) and this helped me find my calling, because it was at work that I made my first crafts. My initial works were floor lamps that I made for myself at home. Then I became interested in making small figures from solid metal.
I took metal pieces, welded them, and already grinded them with a power tool. But that was not enough, I wanted something more. I wanted to do real sculptures, but I didn’t want to do them in the classical way. This is how a sculpture of pieces of metal welded from the inside “Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow” appeared.
This work became the starting point for defining and directing one’s potential, as well as the reason for working abroad – at the invitation of a Turkish company, sculptures “Stream of thoughts” and “Connection” (in the main photo).
2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?
So far, I have visited a very small number of museums in order to compare, and in general I think that in all museums, in which works of real geniuses and masters of their craft are collected, it is worth visiting. I would love to visit at least three museums, these are the Academy of Fine Arts, the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum in Vinci and the Vatican Museum.
3.Нow important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.
I believe that social networks in our time are vital for artists and for spreading the fruits of their activities around the world. It was thanks to Instagram that the Turkish company Asaş Aluminum noticed me, and was invited to make sculptures in their collection.
I would like to visit as many countries as possible, to share my art. It’s hard to manage several social networks at once, so I focus on Instagram. Now I started using TikTok.
4.What are your future projects?
One of my future projects is already underway, this is a wire sculpture “White star” or “Light carrier”. The estimated height of the sculpture will be 4.5 meters: this is a girl without eyes, with her hand stretching upwards, she stretches out her second hand a little back, for perhaps holding her hand (according to the first idea, she was holding a glowing ball in her palm, but decided to get away from literality).
The idea is that you don’t have to see it in order to strive for light. After it, or maybe I will not stand it, and in parallel, I will begin to make a series of small sculptures from wire, for possible transportation and display in galleries .
5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?
Continue to do your job well, develop, strive for something new. When you do something with love, it will definitely be reflected and interested in people. Talk more about yourself, let your project be heard, manage to surprise with your approach, and success will be unambiguous!
Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist
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Aleksey Dmitriev on social networks: Instagram – TikTok
Aleksey Dmitriev (Magnitogorsk, 1985) aka Demant_made is a self-taught Russian sculptor and his artistic production is based on the shaping of metal to produce works of different sizes.
The artist finds inspiration from everyday life and the subjects he carves are generally the human body such as faces and limbs, but also animals and fictional characters such as Minions. Each work of art comes to life through the powerful light that comes out of the sculpture and / or the reflection of light on the shiny metal sheets or wires.
Among his latest works, Dmitriev has created Connection, a giant bust of a horse from which a strong white light comes out as if to highlight the strength and freedom of this animal, but also the connection between the animal world and the human being. Dmitriev lives and works in Magnitogorsk.
