RED MAN: Where were you born?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I was born in Lebedin city, Sumy region, Ukraine.

RED MAN: What was your childhood like? Are there any events related to art?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I am just an ordinary boy. He is very interested in technology, travel, and literature. He also engages in boxing and small caliber rifle shooting. He wrote humorous and imaginative stories.

RED MAN: When did you start drawing?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I painted my first painting when I was 26 years old.

RED MAN: Have you ever studied at an art school?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: No, I didn't attend art school. Learn to draw on your own. At the age of 40, I studied etching techniques in Paul van Eyck's studio in Belgium.

RED MAN: Did you start creating cartoon at that time?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR : I drew my first cartoon on the tent I sewed myself. I selected some cartoons about tourists from magazines and asked my friends to redraw them on the tents. There is an empty space on the tent. This is my first cartoon. During hiking trips in the Caucasus Mountains, this tent has become a portable cartoon gallery. The newspaper published a comic about my tent.

RED MAN: We would like to know when you decided to become an artist? Is your family full of artistic atmosphere?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: My father is a military pilot, but he likes to draw movie scenes with pencils. He did a great job. My mother is very interested in art photography. I graduated from Kharkiv State University with a major in space radio physics. He works in a secret military factory, producing flying missiles, writing scientific articles, and intends to become a scientist. However, after my first cartoon was published in the newspaper, I became interested in cartoon art and decided to change my career. I think the human world is more interesting than space.

RED MAN: What do your family and friends think of your choice to "make a living through art"? To what extent do they support you?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: My family doesn't understand my interest in cartoon, but they don't condemn me either. I made many new friends at the Kiev Cartoon Club, and they are closer than my previous friends.

RED MAN: What is your family background?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: My mother is an amazing woman who works as a salesperson in a bookstore. My father is a remote air force pilot. Grandpa is the principal of the school, teaching mathematics.

RED MAN: When did you start creating international cartoon works and participating in international cartoon competitions? Did any special issues or events ignite your inspiration and start a new creative path?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I live in the Soviet Union, which is isolated from the outside world by the so-called 'Iron Curtain'. I heard about a colleague's international cartoon competition. We informally send our cartoon to the competition. I didn't draw cartoon for the competition, but sent them the cartoon I liked. It is the International Cartoon Contest that has effectively promoted the creation of philosophical and social cartoon. For us Ukrainian cartoonists, the competition has opened a window to the world for us.

RED MAN: We understand that you, along with Kosobukin and VALENTIN, are known as the three giants of the Ukrainian cartoon industry. Ukrainian cartoons hold a significant position in the world and are the result of the efforts of these three cartoonists. Your work appears to have profound skills, clever creativity, profound connotations, spectacular scenes, grand atmosphere, full and rich visuals, and rich colors, making it very distinctive. How did you develop your own style?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Ukraine has a traditional cartoon that draws inspiration from the works of British, French, and American artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. These cartoon are all accompanied by text. Cartoon from the Soviet Union (including Ukraine) were censored and followed the approach of 'socialist realism'. Our young cartoonists were attracted to the "Silent" cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker magazine and Paris in the 1920s. We are imitators of this art genre, which was very popular in the world during those years. I have written a monograph called 'Modern Comic Art' and taught it in English at international humor conferences in Kyoto, Beijing, San Francisco, Paris, Istanbul, Luxembourg, and other places.I didn't intentionally create my own style. It is independently generated, it is personal, just like a person's handwriting, their signature. Of course, I have studied the works of my favorite artists. For example, I borrowed a graphic technique from my idol and cartoonist at the time, Sergei Qiuning. In his cartoon, he created a special world where the light source is not the sun or a light bulb, but rather the object or theme of the cartoon book protagonist. The shadows in Sergei Turnin's paintings spread out from the side of the object. This effect helps the audience immediately pay attention to the essence of the cartoon. After all, humor and the essence of comics should be understood by the audience within 3-5 seconds. For me, the best cartoon is when the audience first laughs, then thinks, and then cries.

RED MAN: What is on your mind when you are painting?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: When I started drawing, my heart rested. When I draw, I can listen to readers or music. But before sitting down to draw, I had already thought a lot. I had come up with the idea of taking cartoon from space, considered the composition of the pictures, and tested whether the idea of the cartoon was in line with Professor Victor Ruskin and Professor Gatado's "General Theory of Linguistic Humor". My painting was entirely created in my mind, I 'saw' it. If there are already devices and programs that can scan visual images in my brain, just connect a printer. But I will lose the joy of traveling, my pencils, pens, or brushes on rough paper.

RED MAN: There is no text in your work. Do you oppose the use of text? Do you think there is always a way to convey information or ideas purely from images?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I write stories and novels. But I am fascinated by cartoon without text because they provide the audience with a huge space for thinking. The text in the cartoon guides the audience. Cartoon without text are infinite and ambiguous. I am often asked to explain my paintings at art exhibitions. In response, I ask the audience to explain my painting to me. This is a paradox, but sometimes the audience's explanation may be better than mine. Subconsciousness often triumphs over consciousness. Cartoon without text can convey any idea, any story. It depends on the artist's skills. For example, I just finished a graphic novel about refugees, which only has about 500 pictures. This novel has no inscriptions or even numbers. This is a novel without words. People who have read this novel say they completely understand. Everyone understands novels in their own way. I am looking for a publisher for this novel. Perhaps a celebrity will tell me about publishers in China.

RED MAN: What artists or works have influenced you in the process of forming your unique style? You can give an example, for example, show the two or three works that you think have had the greatest impact on you to everyone.

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: As I said, 'wordless' cartoon originated about 100 years ago. At that time, one of the most popular founders of this school was Saul Steinberg, a Romanian American. Later on, I became fond of French cartoon artists Ronald Axe and Sere, and British cartoon artist Ronald Sere. I like many artists.

RED MAN: When did Ukraine cartoon originate? What are the representative cartoonists? You can tell us about them.

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, and then part of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian and Russian cartoonists drew inspiration from British cartoon schools in their works. In the 20th century, all Soviet cartoonists adopted the "socialist realism" method that reflected the national ideology. Ukrainian cartoon without text appeared in the 1970s. At that time, the so-called "golden age" of Ukrainian cartoon emerged. Over the past 20 years, Ukrainian artists from the Kiev Manga Club "Akim" have won more than 1000 awards in international manga competitions. Yuri Kosobkin has been dead for 13 years and is still considered one of the best cartoonists in the world. Valentin Druzhnin immigrated to Russia decades ago.

RED MAN: Where do you think the world's cartoon originated from? When is the origin time?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: The first known cartoon appeared in rock paintings of primitive humans, and then in ancient Egypt, these were paintings from the Book of Death. Cartoon have appeared at various stages of human development. The Napoleonic Wars particularly propelled the development of political comics. But the 'silent' cartoon I like are not self generated. It appeared before many artistic revolutions. Absurd theater (E. Ionescu...), absurdism in literature (F. Kafka...), surrealism (S. Dali...), and new ideas in film have emerged. D. Other matters In the midst of such a knowledge revolution, cartoon without words have emerged. It became so popular that at the Brussels World's Fair (1958), the US Pavilion was decorated with giant panels by cartoonist Saul Steinberg. Later, "wordless" cartoons began to spread to Eastern Europe and Türkiye, and then to other Asian countries, especially in Iran, Japan, South Korea and your country.

RED MAN: We know that Ukraine art is very distinctive. How has the development of Ukraine cartoon been? Are there many professional cartoonists in Ukraine? How is their living condition?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Cartoon art is not as popular in Ukraine as it is in France. Publishing cartoon without humor or satire. Most publishers use comics as illustrations for serious texts.

RED MAN: Are there many cartoon publications, magazines, and newspapers in Ukraine? How did they reach the hands of the readers?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Now, when Ukraine faces Russian aggression, only a few dozen magazines and newspapers are published on paper. I work for such a magazine. In Ukraine, there are very few cartoonists, only a few dozen, and there are also a few professional cartoonists who can count with one hand (as my colleague in Paris told me, there are about 75 professional cartoonists in the United States and 25 in France). The cost of painting in Ukraine is very small.

RED MAN: What is people's definition of cartoon? Do people like cartoon? Especially do schools and parents allow children to read cartoon?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Some people love opera, others love rock and roll. There are also people who love and understand cartoons, but there are people indifferent to cartoons. If I observe the viewer who is watching my cartoons, by their reaction to those or other drawings, their mimicry, the speed of their reaction, I can tell a lot about that person. He can say a lot about me as a painter. My audience and I are like doing a spiritual strip in front of each other. Caricature lovers and admirers are people close to me in spirit and intelligence. They enjoy viewing cartoons that are essentially frozen scenes of the theatre of the absurd. Kids love the art of cartoons. But they do not understand all cartoons, because they have not yet known the absurdity of the adult world. Those parents and school teachers who love cartoons instill that love in their children. Sometimes teachers use cartoons in the educational process to make learning easier for children.

RED MAN: Are there many derivative products of cartoon in Ukraine, and do cartoon images often appear on products? Do people like these products?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Ukraine has been engaged in a full-scale war for three years, with rocket attacks on all cities every day. Business life in Ukraine has slightly declined. Therefore, cartoon are rarely used for commercial purposes. Cartoon have a more promotional nature.

RED MAN: In Ukraine, whether it is primary school, secondary school, or university, are there any specialized courses in cartoon? What are the ways people learn cartoon?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: In all countries of the former Soviet Union, there was never a school or university that taught cartoon. There is now a college named after Salvator Dali in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, teaching comics and cartoon.

RED MAN: Is there a cartoon museum in Ukraine? If so, please introduce the Cartoon Museum to your readers.

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: No, no former Soviet country has ever had a cartoon museum. There are also such museums in neighboring countries such as Bulgaria and Poland.

RED MAN: What cultural heritage is there in Ukraine? Do government departments and people attach great importance to these cultural heritages? What is people's understanding of these cultural heritages? What impact does cultural heritage have on you?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Ukraine attaches great importance to cultural heritage. The state and philanthropists promote and support ethnic arts, culture, and science.

RED MAN: What have people done to protect these cultural heritages? (Specific measures and promotion methods.) What role has cartoons played in cultural heritage protection? What role do you think cartoons can play in the protection of cultural heritage in the future?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: The cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people has been protected. For example, all monuments in Kiev are protected with special shields and sandbags to prevent damage caused by Russian missile explosions. All museum exhibits are stored in air raid shelters. The hall in the museum is not empty, but a venue for modern art exhibitions, including cartoon. The theater and gallery were crowded with audiences. If the theater issues an aerial warning during the performance, the audience will hide in the air raid shelter. When the alarm is cancelled, the audience returns to the theater and the performance continues. At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, my cartoon issued an aerial warning at a central museum in Kiev. All the audience and guests have come down, and we continue to hold the opening ceremony in the air raid shelter. Then everyone returned to the hall.The cartoon genre is very popular in China. For example, I gave a gift of 1500 cartoon catalogs and books from my private library (many of which were signed by the authors) to the Central National Library. Now cartoon art enthusiasts and researchers can get to know them. I also run a TV program to promote cartoon art.

RED MAN: This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the world anti fascist movement. Currently, Ukraine is at war, and we call for an end to the war and a return to peace. The people need a peaceful life! What is the understanding of Ukraine youth towards the 80th anniversary of the victory of the world anti fascist movement? What educational measures does Ukraine have in this regard? Have Ukraine cartoonists produced any anti Fascist cartoon works over the past 80 years?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the world anti fascist movement. Now, no one in the world desires peace more than the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian people suffered from fascist genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries. At 4am on June 22, 1941, Nazi German planes began bombing Kiev. At 4:00 am on February 22, 2022, Russian missiles also began bombing Kiev. Like Germany, Russia invaded Ukraine without declaring war. Russian soldiers have started killing Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. My old relative (94 years old) was occupied by Russian soldiers near Kiev. She saw Russian soldiers shooting Ukrainian civilians. She told these soldiers that she remembered when German soldiers occupied Kiev during World War II. You're worse than fascism, "she said to the Russian soldiers.Ukrainians yearn for peace. They hope to live in an independent democratic country. They are even preparing to hand over the territories they have already occupied to Russian occupiers in order to achieve peace. I used to rarely draw peace comics. Now in a separate folder, I have dozens of new comics about the world. Ukrainian anti fascist cartoon have been being created for the past three years. For Ukrainians, fascists are now Russian soldiers.

RED MAN: Are there any commemorative facilities in Ukraine for the victory of the anti fascist movement? What are the regular commemorative activities?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: There are many anti fascist monuments from World War II in Kiev and throughout Ukraine, where thousands of Ukrainian soldiers fought against German fascism in the Soviet army. Ukrainians condemn the fascist aggressors of Germany and commemorate the heroes who fought against them. Now, during the Ukrainian war, a new anti fascist monument is being built, symbolizing the Ukrainian people's war against Russian fascism.

RED MAN: What other hobbies do you have in your life?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I enjoy writing graphic novels without text, short stories and novels, the history and theory of cartoon, and traveling. Cartoon have opened up the path to the world for me. I have traveled to about 40 countries, but not as a tourist, but as a guest participating in festivals, competitions, and conferences related to comic art. I am fortunate to have met many cartoon artists from all over the world. I have been invited to visit China three times by manga and cartoon related organizations. I like the warm and hospitable Chinese people and their long culture very much.

RED MAN: If you weren't an artist, what would you do?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Firstly, it's hard for me to imagine that I'm not an artist. I think I will become a writer and travel.

RED MAN: What do you want to say to people who like your work?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: I love all of you.

RED MAN: What advice do you have for young cartoon artists who respect you and take you as an example? What would you say to your respected colleagues? What would you say to readers who like your work? What would you say to readers who don't understand humor? Besides, what advice do you give yourself? What advice do you give me?

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Young artists, keep yourself and don't listen to anyone's advice. Go your way. I love, thank, and respect all of my colleagues. To readers who enjoy my works, I will always be grateful and love you. Readers who don't understand humor, look at those who understand humor, laugh with them, don't imitate them, laugh at yourself. I hope to have more love for people and keep moving forward. I wish the Red Man longevity and good health, so that he can bring people as much joy as possible.

RED MAN: Without a doubt, you have succeeded. I know you are happy with what you have done.

Lastly, thank you for your trust and support in our interview!

KAZANEVSKY VLADIMIR: Thank you to the influencers for their love of comic art and manga artists. If there were no people like the Red Man, humanity would be much poorer spiritually.