I'm 18 and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I'm currently studying Communication Design at RMIT. http://www.eugeneplotnikov.com/

My work is a dark, twisted reflection of self, each individual piece mirrors a part of me. My emotions and deep subconscious are cosmically distorted resulting in an inter-dimensional glimpse at who I am through pen and paper. My creations also narrate the words I know not to exist, to describe how I feel, my interactions with other people and often questioning perception, morality, fear and death. Recently I've been exploring themes of emotional connection, isolation and dependence. My past artwork intends to make commentaries on various issues in the world, such as government and religion. I aim to revert to these ideas in the future as right now my work is fueled by the inner-self, rather than my perception of humanity.

Painful nostalgia towards old school Console and PC games like Doom, Abes Odyssee and Full Throttle, childhood memories I can only slightly remember and seem more amazing than they really were, Basquiat, paint stained train-lines, Lady Gaga, rainy days, Yesir, Calma, Moonassi, Skinner, Alex Pardee, Panok, underground Hip-Hop and my puppy, Stella.

The 3 B's; Bread, Butter, Black caviar. Other than that I guess I'll indulge the cheese variety.

After I've woken up, slammed some breakfast and watched enough cartoons until my eyelids fully expand I sit down in my catacomb and start creating. I enjoy the company of musicians such as Cage, Army of the Pharaohs, Eminem, Non Phixion and Necro to get me inspired. However, some of the works I am more proud of were born in the dead hours of the night, when my subconscious begins to take over, I'm an hour into a trance mix and I'm half asleep. Other times I have a creative epiphany when I'm drawing on public transport or at a cafe, somewhere where I'm not expecting to create anything of quality.

Death himself pays me to collect souls for him.

Generally I don't have anything planned and I like to start off with miniscule, dense details as the focal anchor of my image, like an eye, and branch off from there. I like the suspense of creating work this way, I don't know how it's going to turn out. Other times when I'm working on something larger and with a strong message behind it, I tend to sketch a plan and work methodically in layers of color and outlines. Sometimes I enjoy completely destroying a finished piece, cutting it into oblivion and putting it back together as a collage. It feels refreshing to do something out of the ordinary every now and then. My brain gets stale if I'm too repetitive.

A Pacer, Micron Pigma 005's, 01's - 08's, Copics, 02mm Poscas, Russian sable brushes, black Indian ink, a bit of water colour, a pair of scissors and glue. I want to explore the use of spray paint more in the future. I adore Moleskins and various sketchbooks I find when I fall in love with the paper. I like to use unusual paper and in particular, sheets taken from a notebook book that was given to my parents upon my birth, having my birth details written in it. This paper is amazing, the texture and worn, faded quality is to be born for.

Right now I'm terribly excited for the 2011 edition of the Semi-Permanent book to be released, having scored a place among it's pages with one of my collages. I'm keen to start my second year of Communication design too. Also, my friend Cameron is going to be here soon, and we're going to concoct some dope beats on Reason and perhaps watch Inception.

I would buy a ticket to New York City. I really want to experience this place, and being such a high benchmark for Illustration and art in general I need to be there. I would then pursue a career in Illustration by purchasing a nice little studio and spend the rest of the money on supplies like giant canvases, paint, pens and paper in bulk until the rooms of the studio aren't separated by walls, but by art supplies.

My favourite days consist of a fulfilling creation such as a drawing or painting. When I create what I have intended to I am content, and feel as if I can continue throughout the day, see some friends and just kick back. Most days if I haven't succeeded in this I feel guilty and useless. However, I'm partial to a lazy afternoon start, followed by hours of internet lurking, wandering around the household searching for snacks and soaking in inspiration. Life is inspiration.

The graffiti culture in Melbourne is exploding and highly inspiring. Unfortunately, the train lines are gradually being painted over by a disgusting shade of grey, rejecting the blood and sweat poured into the creation of these pieces by immense artists. Melbourne also is a highly diverse city. You can pretty much pursue anything you want and every niche is catered for. I think that also a general familiarity to the city makes it appealing as I've grown up here. We also have pretty sweet gigs and festivals all year round and the music culture is huge.

I was taking the train home from the city once and it was jam packed as usual, with not a seat in sight. Suddenly, I spotted a vacant seat and approached it. Arriving at the seat I noticed the man sitting across from the seat. He looked homeless and very dirty, maintaining a kind yet focused expression. He has in his hand a little bible, in which almost every second line was highlighted in various colours with little notes scrawled across the margins, and skulls and arrows pointing everywhere. To my surprise he engaged in a conversation with me, initially asking me If he could tell me something 'amazing'. I ended up hearing some strange but mind blowing stories of his life and encounters with people, how he escaped death from a gang of thugs and so forth. Afterwards, he ended up telling me some powerful advice: 'You shouldn't value yourself by how much you have, but by how much you're willing to give. '

I'm planning to have an exhibition with Stefan Imbesi at Simply Skateboarding in Ringwood, with a few other artists as well. I'm also planning to work on some massive canvases and more wall pieces to practise the technique of working on a vertical surface. My dream is to have a solo exhibition and I think at this rate that maybe in late 2012 I'll be able to achieve it, in conjunction with the end of the world.

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