Dmitry Komissarenko is an artist from Ukraine. Most popular for his arts in the genre of male eroticism. He is a photographer, NVRMIND paper publisher, editor, producer, and, in this photoshoot – model. We talked with Dima about creativity, style, successful collaborations and the paradoxes of his personality. Interview by Kseniia Chaykovska!
Tell me about NVRMIND paper. What is now with the project?
Now my editorial activity is on pause. First of all, the newspaper was created as a way of communication with people of interest to me. So, for example, we met Marcel Schlutt. I flew to Berlin to shoot and to make an interview with him, my first ever. After that, there were many interesting acquaintances and creative collaborations. Without NVRMIND, this would not have happened.
By the way about collaborations. Recently was released the NVRMIND perfume. Does it have some connection with the newspaper? How did you come up with the idea to make a perfume?
A year ago, I was preparing the 8th issue, the funds for which were raised using crowdfunding. But crowdfunding for each issue is extremely difficult. The newspaper needed advertisers, and I needed to attract them, to show what advertising could be in my edition. I had an idea for visualizing perfume and it turned out to pick up the necessary aroma from the ÆTHER line. After the release of the issue, the owner of the brand contacted me and suggested a collaboration based on the “newspaper” concept. Thus was created the NVRMIND x ÆTHER perfume, the basis of the aroma of which is ink, paper and amber.
A Boys! Boys! Boys! book is coming out now, which has your work. Let’s talk about it? Is this also a creative collaboration from NVRMIND?
Last fall, when the 10th-anniversary issue of NVRMIND paper was completed and I was waiting for the print, Ghislain Pascal Co-Founder & Director The Little Black Gallery contacted me and invited to participate in a number of their events. The first of these was the fifth online auction Boys! Boys! Boys! as part of Paris Photo in November 2019. It was then when my two works that were presented at this auction were sold.
And now the Boys! Boys! Boys! book is coming out, where is presented my photography work, and all funds from the book sales will be transferred to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. As a part of the release of the book, many more various events are planned, in which I also participate. For example, in July, during the pride, will be held, Boys! Boys! Boys! POP-UP Berlin. But everything will depend on the situation in the world.
Male erotic picture. What is the reason for this choice of style?
Now I realized that everything I do is can`t be explained. Why exactly male erotica? I don`t know. I just feel that way, I’m interested. I like the masculine texture, how light and shadow fall on it. I just love it.
As a result, each interprets this in his own way. Someone just admires the work, and for someone is important to interpret them and hang up labels. Everyone needs to explain something. I don`t like to explain. I love photography.
By the way, do you feel that you are more demanded in Ukraine or somewhere outside of it? And do you consider yourself as a sought-after photographer? Or are you more like a “free artist”?
Sometimes it happens to me that I think whether the audience will like or not. But then I pull myself and remember that I don`t care. The main thing is that I should like it because my toughest critic is me. And when I get high of it, then my audience get high. They feel when I am deceiving myself for the sake of general approval, that I`m faking. General approval is the road to nowhere. I am a free artist, and demand is a subjective concept.
Does it happen that you think of a shooting, do it and get the wrong result you expected? What is then? Does shooting go to the box?
Even if I get what I planned, I still think that it’s not that. Best of all is to wait a while and return to the material you shot when the mood is conducive. I don’t know how to explain this, but I need an “ageing” (in the sense of wine) to begin to apprehend my pictures adequately. My favourite works are all that were taken more than two years ago. At the same time, I can’t normally look at fresh shots, I scold myself for a flaw. It’s especially terrible when the photos have already been published, but I want to change something.
Do you have any special tricks to warm up the model before shooting?
Such tricks are part of my behaviour. Five minutes is enough for me to get the right frame. I imitate the adjustment of light and at this moment I am making allegedly test shots when a person is not yet tense. Because the call “okay, action” instantly drives people into a stupor. Well, in the process I often talk a lot, talk about myself, ask questions. Compliments are also important. By the end of the shoot, we know so much about each other that you can build a family. We are friends with many models to this day.
By the way, you once said in an interview that people in your shot are more often get undressed by themselves, rather than this is the concept of shooting. Are these your erotic vibes or what?
These are hardly my vibes. This is the exhibitionism gene that is present in each of us. One way or another, everyone wants to unveil their nude pics. But I’m still more a portrait painter. I have a lot of shootings of artists, musicians, fashion photography. Naked bodies are just better remembered.
As far as I know, according to the idea, in the photo story for this interview, everyone should have been with hidden faces. But on the set, it turned out that no one was against to be declassified.
Yes. And I’m only glad about it. These faces cannot be hidden, they are beautiful. And the topic with closed faces is my fetish. I like to think it over. Someone thinks out how a person would look without underwear, I want people to think out the faces. This is very interesting.
Thus, you are a portrait painter who doesn`t like when a person’s face is open and in the shot?
Yes, do not look for logic in this. I am a paradox person.
By the way, did this fetish appear after shooting Bob Basset? Or did this shoot come from your fetish?
We just found each other. I always liked characters with hidden faces: Darth Vader, ninja, special agents. When I was offered a shot with Bob Basset, I was in unrealistic enthusiasm. And by the way, these were my very first erotic shootings.
In this, your shoot can be traced to a logical chain, as if a story is hidden behind it. Is it so conceived?
In this shoot, I wanted to show myself from the side, my interests. The faces of the guys had to be hidden, there is no emphasis on them, and the bodies are naked. Also in the shot with me, there is a girl. She personifies my deep and warm relationship to the opposite sex, it is something native that I want to protect and what I want to be inspired by.
But at the same time, the girl and the guys don`t appear together in one frame in any photo…
This is another paradox of my personality. And maybe this speaks of my different personalities, which never intersect.
How much is important the plot of the shoot to you? Is it enough of image/character or does it need a story?
The plot is secondary. Most often, it does not initially exist, but it can appear during the shooting process or come up with the result. The person, the character is important to me. I need to fall in love with the image. Meaning? I don’t need it. But the viewer will surely come up with it for himself.
Credits: @dmitrykomissarenko @dmitrykomissarenko
With the participation of models:
Maxim Khozey @tigrovolka
Yarik Yanchuk @yanchuk_yarik
Dmitriy Pavelko @pavelochka_d
Ivan Kolesov @vanya.destroyer
Vladislav Bekovski @bbekovski
Anna Siettarova @annasettarova
Photographer: Ksyusha Tverdohleb @tverdohleb_k
Styling: Vasyl Bondarenko @vaskabond
Jewellery on Dmitry: Anastasiya Poltavets Jewellery design @handmade_studio_purpur
Text: Kseniia Chaykovska @the_chaykovska
