In the USSR I didn't know what to draw. I remember how I'd sit in the studio and literally give up. Here I'm eager to draw everything. Everything here is interesting.
Roughly speaking, I could say that as an artist I find it interesting here, but as a normal, ordinary person I find a lot of things difficult, and there are a lot of bad things. The hardest thing of all is the constant psychological tension, the difficulty of survival. Frankly speaking, I'm already absolutely indifferent to this, since I have only one goal – that of art. Any human relations simply take time away from me.
Now I often draw old men and women in all of their utter moral and physical destitution. I had earlier liked drawing all kinds of vagrants and beggars, so this is more of the same.
I draw everything as I see it. Here there are wandering street mimes and musicians (sometimes even small bands) playing on the most varied, sometimes unbelievable instruments. I see them every day at lunchtime when I go out. Sometimes this is a horrible and pitiful sight, similar to the beggars who are everywhere.