By Julia Radovich
Roma Bantik’s work is a journey of transformation, both in the materials he uses and in his approach to life. From his childhood in the industrial Urals to his artistic evolution in France, Bantik explores the interplay of creation and destruction through his sculptures, often made from repurposed metal. His art, which reimagines discarded objects – like military equipment and engines – reflects a deep personal connection to history, the environment, and the potential for change. In this interview, Roma opens up about his artistic process, the transformation of industrial materials into pieces of beauty, and how his unique experiences continue to shape his work and his worldview.
Your work feels deeply personal. What drives or inspires you to create art?
𓀀𓀁𓀂𓀃𓀄𓀅𓀆𓀇𓀈𓀉𓀊𓀋𓀌𓀍𓀎𓀏𓀐𓀑𓀒𓀓𓀔𓀕𓀖𓀗𓀘𓀙𓀚𓀛𓀜𓀝𓀞𓀟𓀠𓀡𓀢𓀣𓀤𓀥𓀦𓀧𓀨𓀩𓀪𓀫𓀬𓀭𓀮𓀯𓀰𓀱𓀲𓀱𓀲
Could you tell us a bit about yourself? How would you describe your childhood growing up in the Urals? Were there any experiences or influences from that time that you feel have shaped your creativity?
my childhood was spent in the Urals. in the metallurgical and industrial region, in the small closed town Lesnoy.
once when i was a child, when we were walking with my dad, i saw a burnt-out car. on every next walk, i asked my dad to go the same way – to look at it again, to notice the changes that had taken place.
a pile of metal could have rusted or disappeared, leaving behind only small fragments in the form of screws, splinters or oil stains on the asphalt.
i was able to revisit these stories from my childhood when i started using engines and motors for my works, not only from civilian machinery, but also from military equipment.
Ural is an important and dear place for me.
during World War II, my great-grandmother was evacuated here from Crimea. here in the Urals, she was hired as a foundry worker at a metallurgical plant.
i learned this story from my grandmother after istarted working with metal casting.
What life experiences have inspired you to find the beauty and potential in industrial materials and the process of recycling?
before 2020 i didn’t appreciate the heritage of the place i was born in, my main materials were canvases and paints. this is quite common material in the artistic environment.
after reflecting on the amount of resources used in the process of producing paintings, i was able to see from the outside the parasitic nature of the relationship between artists and the planet. at least the fact that animals are used to make brushes. yes, there are synthetic brushes, but once used, they are often no longer recyclable. and that’s if you don’t take into account the resources needed to produce canvases and paints. i asked myself the question – “is it possible to continue creating paintings without using brushes, paint and canvases?”.
soon, one spring morning i saw a man in my kitchen window in Ekaterinburg who was measuring his steps in the garden.
he said he wanted to make flowerbeds and plant ferns in them. i offered to help him. we did it in a few days, and at some point we were curious about what each of us was doing before he built the flowerbeds. he turned out to be the director of a metallurgical foundry and invited me to go there to perhaps find an answer to the question of whether it was possible to continue creating art without canvases and paints.
How do you like to spend your free time? Are there any hobbies or interests outside of art that spark your creativity or inspire your work?
my favorite thing to do is to walk in fields, mountains or forests. i am currently based in Strasbourg, a small city on the France-Germanyborder in the Alsace region.
one of my favorite things to do is to arrive at the train station with my bike, get on the first train on the schedule, and then ride a few stations to get out of the city and explore a new place.
morning is very important to me. i consider it my free time. for almost 1.5 years now, i have been waking up around 5:55, not logging into messengers, taking a bath, mopping the floor, breathing, doing physical practices and meditating. this lasts for about 2 hours, and generally everything else starts after that.
How do you navigate the interplay between creation and destruction in your artistic practice? How did your experience working in an industrial workshop shape your view of art’s relationship with technology, industry, and modern life?
the process of transformation accompanies us throughout our lives.
we are born and we die.
i am a small part of this natural process and in my artistic practice, i create situations in which the material is freed from the functions dictated to it by man. broken metal engines and motors are heated to a high temperature, melt and become “nothing”. objectless objects.
the material is reset to its original settings.
the material breaks out of the boundaries set for it by human.
as a part of nature, it is important for me to continue creating my objects using the material that already exists.
the mechanisms and techniques created from the earth’s natural resources have fallen into my hands as a production inheritance from past generations. from this point of view, i am inspired by the question: can i remove something before i add something, or can i use and appreciate what is already there?
Do you have a personal ritual or process that helps you enter a creative state?
at the beginning of february 2022, i finished a series of works from a tank engine. the series was prepared as a reflection on the transformation of something warlike into something peaceful. at the end of february, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army began. this was one of the most powerful shocks for me and changed my life. since then, my ritual began with daily walks through the streets of cities and countries with objects from the series made from re-melted military equipment.
wherever i go when i leave the walls of my house, one of my works is always with me. a supermarket, a train station, a construction site, a library.
in addition, some of these objects have a specific bell ringing. people everywhere show interest, asking why i carry this metal object with me. we have dialogues. i document them, and every year on february 24, i publish a book. half of the proceeds from the sale of the book go to children’s funds in Ukraine. there is a lot of tragedy in this ritual, but i believe that even in dark times it is important to continue and keep the light on.
What led you to pursue art as a career, and were there any challenges or doubts that shaped your early journey? How has your work evolved over the years, and what key moments or experiences have shaped this evolution?
the videocassette with cartoons that my parents used to play for me on the second half of it contained videos of the band depeche mode, filmed by anton corbijn. and my dad also had a large collection of cd’s with music from all over the world.
i saw them every day, later, when my friends and iwere playing in our hardcore punk band, i created logos and illustrations for our music compositions. and when i finished architecture academy, i created covers for different music bands.
so my journey as a visual artist started with a passion for music.
all along the way, i feel the support of my parents. iam very grateful to them for always feeling, inspiring and supporting my hobbies. otherwise, i always follow the strategy of doing what i do easiest and best and looking for the simplest solutions in every situation.
the key moments in my life were:
1. leaving my parents’ home at the age of 17 to the capital of the Ural – Ekaterinburg. where i entered the faculty of industrial design and started living in a student dormitory.
2. a request to my parents, not to send me any more money after graduating from the academy.
3. meeting the founders of the foundry
4. emigration to France
How do you view collaboration within the art community, or with other disciplines, and how has it influenced your work?
the opportunity to do something collaborative is always an occasion for me to share my own approach and skills with a partner, to enrich this approach with the partner’s approach and eventually to create something third.
throughout my creative journey, i have been able to create collaborative projects with authors and brands that i have long been a fan of.
the first of my favorite projects was made together with the international design studio CROSBY. digital installation in art space 2046.
the second one was made for the Ukrainian brand TTSWTRS.
digital installation and a collection of metal objects.
the third one was made for Krasnodar musician ПАЙТА.
music cover and visual concept.
the fourth was made for the French jewelry brand 8-8-8 (OUIT-OUIT-OUIT).
a joint collection of objects.
Which of your works is particularly close to your heart, and why?
the project that is dearest to my heart is the A190B2 exhibition. it is currently on a European tour.
the objects of the exhibition are made of re-melted military equipment. A190 is the name of the shell feeding system of Russian ships of our days. B2 is the name of a soviet tank engine.
according to the main idea and metaphor, it is obvious to write about criticism of wars in our world, where the amount of suffering and violence is unlikely to become less from such criticism (but criticism is still needed, of course).
for me it is more important to translate the metaphor of transformation to the original state, the original point.
the uncomfortable past of the material – life as a functional military object.
the material’s present – life as itself, an objectless object that gathers the associations of the people around it – whale, wings, archangels, bell….
the future of the material is not written because it can again be melted into anything. but the engraving on the back with the serial number of the military weapon keeps the memory of what can be very destructive.
N.B. Roma has a unique way of expressing himself, often using only lower case letters (as dutch typography), so we’ve kept his style of punctuation, spelling and symbols in his first response.
Artworks created using a BMW engine
An art exposition at the Ural Metallurgical Foundry
A photo project with Evgenia Filatova
