Basketball player Andrey Kasay aka Flakonkishochki is a big fan of dogs and always selects the best to aid the creation of his artworks and projects. The artist's trippy, skip-the-light fantastic work has translated into campaigns for the likes of Adidas and Red Bull. Here's what he had to say for himself...
Tell us a bit about yourself and your relationship with dogs!
Let’s see. I'm from far east Russia. That's why I love everything asian, especially food. I play basketball and travel on my bicycle. It’s a well known fact that animals are better than humans and that dogs are the kings of the animals. I had a dog when I was a child, his name was Larry and he was my main mentor, from him I learned what life is. He ran away and I never saw him again. He was a good dog, good boy.
Your work is petty trippy in places and verges towards the bizarre. What's the craziest project you've worked on for a client?
I think that's a video trilogy for Russian rock-band called Mumiy Troll. The guys gave me complete freedom to do what I wanted, so I just had to make sure I didn it in the best possible way. To tell you the truth I don't like the music videos being produced nowadays - I find them so boring, they’re all the same and they make me sleep.
We love your Fanny Packs and Back Packs collaboration with Nikita Gruzovik. How did that come about? What was the brief?
Nikita is my friend so that was simple – we just decided to make something together. There was no brief so I had full freedom in the creative process. We weren't even sure if anyone was going to buy one, but now they are sold out which is awesome! We are preparing a new project...
Where do you head for inspiration?
Мy basic inspiration flow is on Pinterest.
Your works spans paintings, print, digital and video - do you have a preferred medium?
Digital is my favorite but I do like to play around with formats.
Which of the above mediums did you start working in first?
That all started with a paper and pencil in my childhood, I drew robots, ninjas, NBA teams and music band logos in my copybooks. Then I started to draw big posters and stick them on the walls in my room. They were ugly!
What's next for you? What are you enjoying working on this year?
New trips, new adventures, new animation and artworks. I'm gonna make some objects for festivals and I hope to find more galleries for future exhibitions.
