VIA CHSSKHA “Sandblasters” is the self proclaimed union of outsider Krasnoyarsk artists Vladimir Kravchenko, Arseny Chuksin, Andrey Shmaliy, and Nikita Che. Sitting out in the middle of Siberia, Russia, the group of twenty-somethings have sandblasted out a signal all the way over to us in good ol USA. For however abysmal we claim social media to be, we wouldn’t have connected with these guys otherwise. So thank god for that. Blending mystical ephemera with corporate iconography, the artists collective world function as a form of personal and artistic escapism. The Sandblasters make their world through painting in mixed media, upcycling, ceramics, and natural found materials. Trying to communicate with them hasn’t been the easiest, since they’re attempting to evade the army draft, but we have attempted to translate a short interview here for your reading pleasure. We plan to follow up with a longer form video with them soon.

In 2022, two then auto mechanics, Vladimir and Arseny, met while working in a repair shop. They became friends, and during their smoke breaks would imagine their future creative pursuits. Soon, an older colleague, Andrey, joined their conversations. One day, the mechanics decided it was time for a change. They began experimenting with creative car paint jobs, skillfully handling the airbrush. Clients were thrilled, and the future artists finally realized that art had become their calling. Shortly after, Nikita and Slava joined the shop, quickly becoming part of the group and helping paint the cars. The mechanics gradually spent less time repairing vehicles, devoting themselves entirely to their newfound passion. Unable to tolerate the “slackers” any longer, management fired all five of them. Rejected, they formed their own art collective. And so, VIA CHSSKHA “The Sandblasters” was born.

It’s the intention of this page to raise awareness to the Sandblasters, who are truly outsider artists. We hope we can fly them out here for a real showing, installing work in the EXIT garage in order to reclaim it in all its auto shop glory.

**“Smoke Break” — VIA CHSSKHA “The Sandblasters,” 2025**
The exhibition transports viewers into the atmosphere of an auto repair shop—a place of origin and energy where the art collective of former mechanics first emerged. The works reflect their world: everyday scenes intertwined with imagination.The “smoke break” space itself WAS carefully reconstructed—serving as the cradle of these self-declared outsiders.

‘Our artistic language is sandblasting, and we aim to "sandblast" our opponents’

Please introduce yourselves. Who are you individually and as a collective?

Individually:

Arseniy Private — artist, graphic designer, songwriter and musical performer in the band "plavmagazin".
Vladimir Kravchenko — artist, lawyer, bassist.
Slava Podobed — artist, studying at a medical university.
Andrey AZBNK — artist, father.
Vitya ipad kid — artist, illustrator, one of the creators of the brand "ofshore".
Nikita Platonow — artist, songwriter and drummer in the band "plavmagazin".

Together we represent the art collective VIA CHSSHA "Sandblasters". We are a group of young artists who, apart from blood ties, are united by a shared perspective on art. Our artistic language is sandblasting, and we aim to "sandblast" our opponents.

How did you start making art together? How did you meet?

We share the same father — Andrey AZBNK, but have different mothers. It's a pretty crazy story: in our teens, we found each other and started making art. We worked in auto repair shops, sandblasting cars and other metal objects. Later, we took on more serious art activities. In the summer of 2021, Arseniy Private and Vladimir Kravchenko, who are brothers, took part in a street festival where they created a collaborative piece, later documented on a website (bubentomori.hotglue.me). The name "Sandblasters" appeared around the same time, since we had been working with sandblasting shortly before. Later, we found our father, Andrey AZBNK, online — and from there, things just naturally took off.

Do you have a shared creative process? Why do you create together?

I don't know if you can call it a shared process, but one way or another, because of our blood ties, our themes overlap. We're always in touch, and we share a common vision. We've painted several works together, for example, for the exhibition "Daddy". I compare this process to recording rap features on SoundCloud: the canvas is the beat, and the rest, I think, is self-explanatory.

Your collective manifesto has a real direction connection with EXIT . You say: "we exist here". What does this mean to you guys?

Our work doesn't quite fit into the format of the contemporary Russian art market. We've even ended up on some "lists of banned artists," but we're not alone in that. We're, like, true, and the opps are not true. There are a huge number of artists around who make work just to sell it— like mannequins in a store. There's nothing wrong with that, but when it becomes the only goal, that's shitty. Our manifesto is not fixed. "We exist here" is more of a statement of our presence.

Does your communication have a specific intention?

To create our own fully realized world and become very rich.

Thoughts on art in the age of the internet?

Most of the artists in our collective grew up in the internet era, and everything related to art was largely taken from there. All our references come from the internet, and everything we produce is closely connected to it. The tension is more that there is more art now than ever before, and in this chaos, it's very easy to lose your unique perspective: one swipe, and you feel like you've disappeared.

You guys are fucking mystics

We come from a country that is largely steeped in mysticism, with a history that is constantly changing, where Christianity and paganism are mixed, and where there are many psychics. So yes, we feel like part of that mysticism.

Do you have recurring symbols and motifs?

Yes, there are many. It reminds me of the Old Masters, where, for example, the color blue symbolized God, or when hidden meanings understood by contemporaries were embedded in still lifes. Over time, symbols and borrowed elements from pop and internet culture have acquired their own meanings, following the same principle as the Old Masters. But what exactly they mean is a secret.

Do you ever "steal" from each other?

We steal — yes, but unconsciously. We have common elements, and that's because we have a common "father".

Where can we see more of your work?

Общий инстаграм

Арсений Прiвате
инстаграм / телеграм

Владимир Кравченко
инстаграм / телеграм

Андрей Азбуниак
инстаграм / телеграм

никита че
инстаграм / телеграм

Слава Подобед
инстаграм / телеграм

'We smoke cigarettes and sandblast, we fucking grind.’

SLAVA PODOBED

Born in 2000. Lives and works in Krasnoyarsk.Since 2022, he has been working in the genre of unique graphics (pencil, ink, oil pastel, construction chalk, liners, markers), as well as painting and mixed media. His main themes include the distorted human body in lifeless space, minimalist naïve still lifes, and compositions. Through figurative portraits, the artist explores destruction, metamorphosis, transcendental experience, and feelings of fear and absurdity. His subjects often include corpses, people broken by illness, and “dead nature.” In his work, he reinterprets traditions of slasher aesthetics, neo-noir, necrorealism, and Californian abstract expressionism (Richard Diebenkorn). His visual language has been influenced by working in a morgue and studying at a medical academy. He works across expressionism, abstraction, primitivism, and naïve art.

“In my work, I try to create a sense of dampness, dirt, incompleteness, and absurdity. Drawing is always an exploration and a struggle—for me, both with myself and with the material.”