Rolands Zilvinskis
Rolands Zilvinskis takes his creative concepts to new limits as he bases his work around a sci-fi aesthetic mixed with global events and the things that are going on around him in his day-to-day life. The Latvian artist started his creative journey over ten years ago when he took up photography. A few years later, surreal photography kickstarted a new wave in Rolands career, he started using Photoshop to manipulate his photos in order to create supernatural imagery. Most recently Rolands has focused more on 3D work which has furthered his work in terms exposure and depth; read on to hear more from this exciting artist!
Can you firstly tell us about your creative journey and how you got to where you are today?
I moved over from Latvia where I was born, to Ireland in 2008. I picked up photography as a hobby shortly after. While I was enjoying taking photos, I was also learning Photoshop in the meantime. I had dabbled around in Photoshop before when I was a kid, but it wasn’t anything too serious. Photography was always just a hobby for me and nothing more and I felt like I needed to do something more exciting. Around 2016, I saw a new trend emerging on Instagram, a lot of artists were creating surreal photo manipulations and I thought it was awesome and wanted to give it a go. I merged my photography with my Photoshop skills and started creating surreal imagery. I did that for a couple of years until again, I started feeling stagnant and needed to do something more exciting. That is when I discovered and fell in love with 3D and haven’t looked back since. I’ve definitely finally found what I truly love to do.
What are the main aspects that you want you work to portray?
I always try to create work that is super conceptual, that is the main aspect that I want to portray – great ideas and a great story. I like to touch on relevant themes and subjects, such as social media addiction, which I know resonates with a lot of people from all around the world and there is no greater feeling for an artist to know that someone understands and appreciates your vision.
Talk us through a project that you have worked on from initial idea to finished piece?
Most of the pieces that I create come from random bursts of inspiration and motivation. Ideas usually just pop into my head when I least expect it. If the idea is good, I sketch it out or write it down so it doesn’t get lost and that way I build a small archive of ideas that I can come back to. Whenever I feel like creating something new, I visit the archive and pick out an idea that I think is doable at the time. I open up my 3D software and I get to work. It’s always important for me to have a clear vision of how I imagine the finished piece will look like. Of course, things change a lot in the process, but you have to trust the process. It usually takes me anywhere from one day up to a week to finish a piece.
Who and what inspires your work?
I take a lot of inspiration from social media themes, global events, things around me, personal feelings and movies. I’ve always been obsessed with science fiction movies. I try to pick out interesting visuals or concepts from movies and keep them in my head, which definitely helps me to come up with new ideas later on.
What techniques and processes do you utilise to create work?
Well, I create all of my work in Cinema 4D, a 3D application, but I also use a ton of plugins that speed up my workflow and help me reach that next level of execution. Whatever tools you can use to help you create better work, use them.
Can you talk about your surreal photography work and how you create these images?
I don’t create those kinds of images anymore, but what I used to do was whenever I travelled to different countries I always tried to take as many photos of as many things as possible to try and build up a huge archive of images that I can pick and choose from later on. When I got back home, I carefully went through the images and looked for something that might spark an idea. Once I found something interesting, I brought the image into Photoshop and tried juxtaposing it with another image or a series of images to create some sort of surreal worlds.
What are you currently working on that we can expect to see in the near future?
Right now, I’m focusing mostly only on NFTs, so just keep an eye out for new pieces dropping in the near future. No one knows how long this thing will be around, so I just want to get the most out of this opportunity.
interview GABY MAWSON
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