Artist Spotlight: Ruslan Khasanov
Celebrating typography, illustration, and movement.
Ruslan Khasanov’s dreamy, abstract artwork, from typography to illustration and video, evokes the organic movements of liquid and smoke. His bold compositions burst with color and give us the feeling we’re in a lab or perhaps orbiting somewhere in outer space. We asked Ruslan to tell us more about the evolution of his style, the ideas that inspire him, and what he’s telling us through his art.
Image source: Behance.
Hi Ruslan, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your creative background?
My work is driven by the motto “Beauty is everywhere,” which I express in music videos, typography, and illustrations. The ability to express strong emotions through visual art, experimentation, and improvisation plays a central role in my creative process.
At the heart of my work is the desire to show synergy between art, science, and design — that these disciplines are not separated by academism but can be organized in work with a mutual reinforcement.
How would you describe your style?
My work is characterized mainly by very bright colors and abstract and random forms – something in them reminds us about space, about microorganisms.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Inspiration comes from different sources – music, movies, dance, people. But mostly I find my inspiration in nature, the microscopic world, and space.
What music do you listen to while working?
Jazz.
We’ve been talking about Multilocalism on the blog. How do you see this impacting the visual arts, including your own work?
The idea of Multilocalism is very close to me. I just learned the term and understood that it describes exactly what I feel. Being bound to one place, city, and country is definitely a relic of the past. I feel like a stranger in my country, and I don’t know where I would feel at home. Maybe it’s several countries. In New York, where I’ve never been, I know more people with whom I could hang out than in Ekaterinburg, where I’ve lived for 14 years.
New places, nature, new pleasant acquaintances with people of other cultures — all of this is very inspiring. It is important to try new things and feed your eyes with the beauty of the whole world.
Image source: Behance.
What’s been your biggest challenge to overcome as a designer and illustrator?
Hard to say. I just do creativity to avoid boredom.
What’s been your favorite project to date?
One of my favorite projects is my “Think” poster for IBM.
Image source: Behance.
What do you like most about working with Adobe Stock?
It is a very pleasant experience. Until recently, I had never worked with stock images before, but I found in Adobe Stock a lot of really great stuff. On any of my requests I received a huge number of quality photos. And the more I looked through the photos, the more ideas I had. I spent several hours just looking at photos.
Which artists and designers do you think we should all be following?
Recently I discovered the amazing artist Felipe Pantone. Wow, he is very cool.
Those artists and designers I’ve been following for a long time and whose work I admire include Alex Trochut, Ari Weinkle, Levi van Veluw, David McLeod, and AUJIK.
Image source: Behance.
Our thanks to Ruslan for the insights into his creative process and inspirations. On the horizon, Ruslan tells us he’s on the lookout for new visual ideas. For more of Ruslan’s work, and to watch as his style continues to evolve, follow him on Behance, Instagram,, and Vimeo.