"My work falls into two periods which differ strikingly. The first was my labor-camp period; the second began after my release.

In the camp I found myself as an artist immediately and was perhaps even more of a whole than I am now. There my art was utterly free. I worked as a nightwatchman in a woodwork shop and spent my nights painting. I received my bread ration. Nobody controlled me and nobody took an interest in me.

For several years after my release I was unable to rediscover myself. I could no longer work as I had in camp, since that had been a certain period of my life which was now over. As an artist I am bery closely bound up with life. I don't just paint for the sake of it, I don't just paint something abstract. Painting, for me, means experiencing reality. Of course, this reality undergoes a transformation and appears differently on canvas".

Boris Sveshnikov