About the Artist
A few words on how my path took shape and what guides my work today.
My name is Roman Golovachev-Bessonov, and I work under the name ROGB ART. Painting has been part of my entire adult life. It is a way of making sense of what I see, remember, and feel.
I live and work in Portugal. I previously lived in Montenegro, Russia, and Mongolia, and I was born in the USSR, in the city of Novosibirsk. Each of these places has left its own light within me and, in its own way, influenced my work.
I have loved drawing since childhood, and all my notebooks at school and university were filled with my sketches. At school, I created entire posters for New Year celebrations and illustrated wall newspapers. Later, I gradually moved away from drawing, but an inner need eventually brought me back and made me start again — this time with new life experience and ideas. Year after year, my work began to develop its own visual language and gradually found its way into private collections. Today, my paintings are held in collections in Russia and Europe, while I continue to work in my studio in Lisbon.
What my work is about
Space is important in my work, as is the way light, weather, and memory change our perception of a place. I want to create more than just a mood, something many artists are able to convey through their paintings. I want my works not to reveal themselves immediately, but to hold the viewer’s gaze, making them stop and think, and then return to them again — perhaps with different thoughts and ideas.
Where it begins
Each painting begins with an idea and my state of mind. It can be triggered by a recent journey, a sound, food, a smell, the wind, or sometimes simply an image that I cannot get out of my head. I do not like repeating the same idea or becoming absorbed in its countless variations. For me, that means stopping and walking in place. One emotion — one new painting. And it will never be repeated.
My works are the energy I draw from within myself and transfer onto the canvas.
— Roman Golovachev-Bessonov
From Siberia to the Atlantic
The geography of my creative path is not a strict chronology, but a story of the places where I was born, grew up, and learned about life — a story of light and impressions that shaped my visual language.
Novosibirsk
Western Siberia, Russia
I was born here, but did not live here for long. Together with my parents, I moved to Eastern Siberia. Later, my parents returned to Novosibirsk, and I would sometimes come to visit them.
Irkutsk
Eastern Siberia, Russia
These were the years when I grew up: university, work. Long, endlessly freezing winters — for almost half the year, there were only two colours outside the window: grey and white. But Lake Baikal was nearby — a unique place with an extraordinary purity and energy. And despite the cold, it is very sunny here, with an abundance of light.
Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia
A time of vivid contrasts: constant wind, the dust of the Gobi Desert, high skies, and endless steppes. This is where I started school, and the years I spent in Mongolia have remained in my memory forever.
Montenegro
The Balkans
Here, the palette and rhythm changed. This is a country of mountains and the Adriatic Sea, tall people and vivid emotions, snow and palm trees, wind and heat.
Lisbon
Portugal
This is where my studio is. This is my new home. Here, the air is the best, the climate is mild, and there is sunshine and warmth. Here, I feel comfortable, safe, and at peace.
Materials and method
I work almost exclusively with acrylic on canvas. It dries quickly and allows me to preserve the first feeling without weighing the work down with unnecessary revisions.
The tools depend on the painting. Sometimes I work with brushes and a palette knife; at other times, with my hands, cotton thread, fabric, dry grasses, and other natural materials. I want the surface to be felt not only with the eye, but almost physically.
When I feel that I can no longer improve a painting, I stop. It is an inner signal. That’s it, stop. From that point on, the painting will live on its own.
