Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrey Psyche.
Hi Andrey, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I was born in a town called Magnitogorsk, Russia which was mostly known for its steel mill factory, but I later found out it was also where many great artists spawned from. From an early age, I was always drawn to being independent.
I would walk myself to school.
I didn’t need supervision to make sure I got my tasks done. I would even walk to the store to get my dad’s friend’s beer when I was 6. Growing up in Russia wasn’t easy but it wasn’t hard since I had nothing else to compare it to.
Luckily, one day, my dad stopped by a Russian counsel on his way from work and entered us into the green and lottery.
Years went by and they all forgot about it. Then, when I was just over 10 years old, we got a letter saying we were selected to go to America and start a new life. It was a huge shell shock to my brother and me, but what else could we do. The four of us arrived in Washington in late 2001, right after the twin towers attack. It was a scary idea to fly back then but we made it over alright.
Quickly, I was thrown into the American culture. Learning the language, eating the food, making friends, and ultimately trying to find my place in this new world. I was getting along just fine, and aside from a few years of agony in middle school, and my dad leaving back to Russia because he couldn’t handle the pressure of a different environment, everything went according to plan.
I fulfilled my daily expectations, studied the sciences, and was on my way to becoming an M.D. During college, I did nothing but drown myself in schoolwork while trying to maintain some sort of social life. At that time, I had attained alot of knowledge and thought pretty highly of myself; which expressed itself poorly with strangers and friends and got me into many sticky situations.
I never struggled with the intellectual side of life, but the social aspect baffled me greatly for the longest time. As I completed my studies, skipping over all the drama with my failed romantic relationships, I found myself at a crossroads in life. I decided to work with a doctor and get a taste of what I may be getting myself into.
As time unfolded, and I was rising up in the ranks, I began to question my place in this world, and how I can actually help serve humanity. Slowly, I began to realize medicine wasn’t the best option at all and was in fact a part of the disease we suffer from in our society.
I began to research a wider scope of reality to come to the conclusion that I have been loving a fantasy my whole life. A moment came where I took a stand and screamed at the heavens, “I don’t know what, but I’m gonna do something about this. ”
In a moment, I shut the door on my goals and realized that family was one of the most important things we have in life. So I came back home and started helping my mom with her custom manufacturing business. I learned how to use power tools, CNC routers, program tool paths, 3d design, web development, and everything else that went into running a business.
It was splendid. For the first time in forever, it wasn’t just about knowing something, it was about understanding it and creating something tangible. As I learned the skills of the trade, I took a huge look at myself and took responsibility for my life, and my experiences.
I meditated daily, took my health into my own hands and ate healthily, focused on my body, purified my thoughts, explored Buddhism, Hinduism, alchemy, and any other mystic literature I could find which could point me toward a clearer picture of consciousness and what it means to be human.
My practices coalesced after a year of dedication, and I had the first moment of clarity. As I was making a granite plaque for a customer, I recall the spindle of the router slower a halt, and I had a whole-body experience of having total control of my entire experience. I was the creator of my universe.
So naturally, I decided to experiment with this new hypothesis and prove to myself the power that I have discovered. After reading a little bit about the double-slit experiment, first performed by Thomas Young in 1801 which suggested that “the observer” is intricately involved in the way matter is shaped in our reality, I decided to take this concept and apply it to my own life.
This was the beginning of my creative journey. I asked myself what would be the best way to capture the laws of physics in action while incorporating a little piece of myself to see if I do in fact make a difference. The answer was paint! I would dip my hands into buckets of paint and fling different colors onto a canvas and inspect my results.
I would hold intentions, or feelings in my heart, and express them as clearly as I could with movement as paint dripped off my fingers, so that when I had the final product, I could investigate my handiwork.
The results came in quite quickly after I decided to shoot macro photography of my paintings and investigate the fine positions of random paint splatter and their relationships. One of the first shots I took was an eerily similar image to a drawing a did a couple of years back.
So I kept at it. Painting after painting, photo after photo, the art started to accumulate faster and faster. I knew there was something to it, but I was still at the edge of what I was looking for, until one day, I got swept into a writing frenzy.
My first painting turned out to be 32 macro images and each one captivated me to new highs after a few short months, became my first book “Expedition of the Psyche” which I later republished as the “demand edition” because I had time to polish it. It turned out to be a sort of philosophy/poetry that encapsulated many of the truths that this process has taken me through. Understandings of love, life, emotion, intention, and the complexity of human relationships, are all inscribed and translated from a few lines of paint.
I went from judging art as a complete waste of time, to being covered in paint everywhere I went. Art seemed to be the answer to all of my questions. It was as if the process of pairing or writing something took the soul through the same refinement process and, in the end, the ultimate piece of art that you created was yourself.
I wanted to shout this from every rooftop. I tried to incorporate it into every conversation, I recorded close to a hundred hours of interviews on a good number of podcasts, I tried coaching people but for some reason, it was never landing the way I thought it would.
It didn’t stop there. I realized visual art was very obscure to most people, and alot of people don’t read. I was having a hard time sharing my message which became very overwhelming. I was having major doubts and carrying alot of weight in my heart when the universe decided to bring me a gift in the form of an old and broken 6-string acoustic guitar.
I was hooked. The way I was able to capture and release my emotions with it was nothing like I have ever experienced. I would go to work, come back home, and sit for 12 hours just playing this magical instrument, releasing everything that was inside of me. Quickly, I began to perform and write my own songs.
Eventually writing a second book “The Space Between The Crescent Shadows” which encapsulated hundreds of poems that I plan to edit into songs one day. Currently, I have around 30 songs published, with at least 10 that I still really enjoy playing and to listen to. With music as my companion, I wanted to set my aims higher. I realized that people don’t want to hear the truth. It is abrasive.
The only way to deliver something to society was through a language they could adapt as their own. To write a story that reflects their own life and guides them through the act of expression. I found a quote by Fredrick Douglas that really resonated with me and shaped the following 4 years of my life, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
I’m sure you can infer that I became a teacher. K-12 substitute in the same school district that I attended as an adolescent to be precise. I think it’s a human condition to always want more. Satisfaction seems to be just on the other side of whatever it is we are striving toward at that moment, and it always moves.
I’m no different, thus, I wanted to create on a bigger scale. I thought what better way to create something beautiful than be in the presence of the future generation and give them the love and guidance that they deserve. It took a couple of months to get acquainted with a new environment, but I was off to the races in no time. I thought I was going in there to teach them, what I didn’t expect was that these kids would teach me so much more about myself.
Every day was a battle but every day was absolutely rewarding. I was challenged robe my best self for the kids and to be an absolute servant to their individual needs. It also uncovered the ugly truth that most teachers don’t have the capacity to do that with their students which is why so many of us come into adulthood utterly unprepared.
During that whole time, so much change and growth took place that I could never sufficiently thank everyone that played a role in my development, even if they made me cry sometimes. Middle school is rough for everyone.
But in the end, I know I made some impact and inspired some kids to live up to their dreams.
Since then, all I could do is continue to develop my skills, put myself in front of people, share my life and experiences with them, love them, and keep being a supportive light in the dark and treacherous waters that we call life, waiting to be called into the next chapter of my life.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Of course not, a life in the arts is always a bumpy road. Just getting to a place of being where I felt like I had something to contribute to society was a long road but I got there eventually.
Early on, I was bullied in middle school and high school which made me feel ostracized from my community. I had trouble connecting with people or even voicing my opinion from the fear of being ridiculed. My dad left when I needed a male figure most than when my mom remarried, my stepdad died when I was just getting out of high school.
Learning a new way to express myself and refining myself is never easy as well as all the exercises I did to keep my discipline sharp took a toll eventually. I worked with Buddhist principles of letting go of attachment and desire, fasting for days, my longest one was 10 days. Isolating myself from my friends and family so that I could grow past an obsolete version of myself and then relearn how to get back into society.
Going through countless strict dietary regimes, quit all of my vices like nicotine and alcohol, as well as practiced celibacy for almost a decade. The entirety of my 20s was spent laying to rest the beliefs that created a life I didn’t want and reestablishing new ones that fostered my growth and a useful presence for the community around me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At this point, I draw, paint, sculpt, tattoo, act, model, dance, sing, play multiple instruments, perform, write my own songs and compose my own music, write poetry, graphic design for creative and business purposes, a fashion designer with my own line of yoga and festival apparel, videography, animation, photography, and probably a bunch of other stuff I’m forgetting right now.
I’m most proud of a couple of songs I published. One is “Cupid and Psyché.” That song and the music video Qe created will always be a favorite of mine. The circumstance under which they were created, and the woman that inspired them, were absolutely magical.
I’m also very proud of my second book “Space Between The Crescent shadows” which captured so much emotion and growth while I was undergoing my metamorphosis as a person. It has brought much pleasure and catharsis to all of its readers.
I thought that I was supposed to do everything when it comes to being creative and because of it, I learned so many skills along the way only to find out that most people specialize in one thing and outsource or collaborate with other artists.
I can wear many hats, do it well, and be an incredibly useful addition to any team. Also, I am driven by one thing and one thing only… to serve life with unwavering love.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
There was a time that I would spend more effort on getting information from external sources to help me move forward, but for a long time now my heart has been the source of everything I need.
Some books that I found useful were “the way of the superior man” by David Dieda. The four agreements: Lectures by Alan Waats, Ram Daas, as well as Llewellyn Vaughan Lee have been influential to me.
Alot of it was music and musicians that truly inspired me like Gregory Alan Isakov, Birdy, the community of musicians and artists I met in Seattle, and everyday life. Also, my mom is a saint, I owe everything to her.
Pricing:
- Expedition of the Psyche book 20$
- Space between the Crescent Shadows book 20$
- My general hourly for most things is 120$
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: Theworldofpsyche.com
- Instagram: @Andrey.psyche
- Facebook: Andreypsychecreates
- Youtube: Almightypsyche
- SoundCloud: Almightypsyche
Image Credits
Mike Hintz and Bela Dornon
