What were your theme for painting at that time?

There were 6 of us aspiring to become painters in the camp. Ivanovski made a portrait of Lenin, in front of us. He painted as the Russian paints: good. Then he turned to me and said: Kid, if you can make a portrait like this one you can work here in the painting workshop. And everyone had to pass the same exam. I watched him while painting. Three days in a row I spent in the workshop watching him working other orders. And I said to myself: I can do this! And I did it. And Ivanovski loved it even more then his own painting. That’s how I started. In Karaganda-Spask I only made reproductions from Russian painters like Levitanov, Șișkin, Perov. Those reproductions were in high demand. Painting saved me from the hard work of the Gulag. 

Fragment from the dialogue between Ervant Nicogosian and journalist Bianca Burța Cerna