Typewriter interview with Roman Muradov

10 questions for the artist about lying on the floor, lineage, cats & kettles, and more...

Sep 29, 2026

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In my work I have a lot of tables and chairs. Make of that what you will...

Hey y’all,

Roman Muradov is an award-winning Armenian artist and author living in London. His latest graphic novel All the Living sold out immediately and is being reprinted in November. Last year he illustrated Gianni Rodari’s children’s book, Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto. We conducted this typewriter interview via the magic of international mail. (For a plain-text version with links and extra notes, see the P.S. below.)

What's the most important piece of furniture you own? Tell us about it. I love my little tatami mat. There's something so satisfying about lying on the floor, and the tatami makes it socially acceptable. What a great invention... cover all floors with them, now. * radiator + matcha (I was into it before you / beanbag to make up for the tatami's shortness (99% of the time occupied by a cat)

"What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes?" (C. Jung) As a child, I had an extraordinary capacity for solitude, although I did very little with that solitude, almost nothing. I would lie on the floor for hours, thinking of stories, but I never bothered to write anything down, let alone share it. At some point, my parents forced me to befriend some local children, and every day we'd go on the swings, and I would improvise a story, and they would listen, and laugh at the right moments.

Then childhood ended, and I lost my first audience. I've often thought that all my artistic life has been an attempt to get back on the swings and get lost in this effortless kind of fantasy. Ideally with a small but dedicated audience who don't mind all the digressions and asides.

Do you see yourself as part of an artistic lineage? Who would you place in your creative family tree? It's not up to me to place myself in any lineage, but these are the clearest and strongest influences on my work. * * marcel Duchamp (detachment & humor) * Hans/jean + Sophie Arp (lightness & omission) * anita Brookner (misery & syntax) * Saul steinberg (drawing as a language) * at least right now

I can name a million more. (Ok, not a million. At this point, I've had so many influences, interests, phases, and pursuits that I can barely decipher my own family tree (that's a good thing, btw)

What's your relationship to music? Do you sing or play an instrument? What song do you never get tired of? My taste in music has shifted a million times, but one thing I can never tire of is The Fall. Mark E. Smith's lyrics are permanently lodged in my head, where they evolve and change over time. Otherwise, I mostly like fairly minimalist stuff. I've been playing around in Ableton and would love to spend more

time with it and put together some music of sorts. Melodies, snippets of lyrics, and rhythms pop into my head all the time, and it's been a lifelong frustration to have no outlet for them. That said,

I often think of my comics in musical terms, the rhythm, the visual motifs, recurring patterns, pacing, structure, line quality, all that has a certain sound. I absolutely cannot listen to any music when I write, but when I draw, it can often feel so thoroughly connected to the soundtrack, that certain stories and songs become forever entwined...

Some other perennial(-ish) favorites (as of summer 2026): - can - wire - cluster - auktyon - zvuki mu - yoshihide otomo - eiko ishibashi - alvin lucier - inoyamaland - yasuake shimizu - Ivor cutler - Yoshio ojima - morton feldman

I "smoke" a cigarette pencil in the studio. Do you perform any silly rituals when you're working? I don't smoke myself but a lot of my characters do, it's a good way to mark the passage of time in comics. When I cycle, I sometimes 'rev up' the nonexistent throttle for motivation, and/or twiddle the brakes in the manner of the whammy bar on the guitar, in to to the feedback in my earbuds.

I put on a Miyazaki-style apron when I cook, and that definitely puts me in the right zone. Should probably get an art apron, too...

What do you do for exercise? Do you detect any mental, spiritual, or creative benefits? Lately, I've been lifting heavy things, and it's been hugely beneficial. On my own, I can muster very little motivation for exercise, so I have to pay a stern man to force me into it on a weekly basis. I also walk a great deal. One day, it will begin to count as exercise.

Also, I call my kettle bell "Kettie," it makes the object a bit less daunting. (Cat keeps Kettie warm while I ignore both.)

Do you have any hobbies? Do you collect anything? If you knew how much I get paid for my graphic novels, you'd consider it a hobby. Otherwise, not really, but I do write down amusing names from film credits, brochures, anything. Here are some of my favorites: - Todd Salat - Disney O'Rourke - Rich Clot - Pedro Scooby - Chad Novella PS. If you're one of these, sorry...

John Waters says he has "youth spies" that keep him up-to-date on culture. Do you have any youth spies? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Even as a young man, I'd go out of my way to be irrelevant and out of touch. I think I was born middle-aged, and now I finally look the way I feel, and I will NOT waste this opportunity. Occasionally, I might hear about something, often against my will, and then I might recycle it in my work, stripping it of its context, and reducing it to symbols & signs.

But who knows, maybe when I'm sixty-seven, I'll start paying attention, and find acceptance among the very happening hep people of youth today...

Describe a perfect day where you live. Don't think I've ever had a perfect day, anywhere, and I don't imagine I ever will. Otherwise, I very much exemplify Flaubert's dictum: Wake up, preferably without a Migraine. Take the same walk you take every day, followed by some combination of read, write, draw, eat, sleep, repeat, regret retire, die. (I am eagerly awaiting my posthumous appreciation.)

For some reason, it took me several cards to realize I could draw the grey blobs first, and write after... I'm not much of a planner, it seems.

Do you have any advice for people who want to be more creative? PLEASE DON'T THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH "CREATIVITY" IN THIS WORLD... In earnest, here are some scattered thoughts: - read and reread everything, observe & analyze, dissect, and pick things that have nothing in common with each other. The more diverse your intake, the more original is your output. - NEVER start with an idea or something you want to express, let the concept

find itself in the processs, because the process is the thing. The artwork is only a byproduct. - Today it's easier than ever to find a thing you like and perfect it with tutorials and algorithmically-fed pipelines. There's no shortage of motivational fluff about self-expression, and I believe it's more important than ever to consciously turn away from the clear path that makes most sense, and allow yourself to be lost.

BONUS QUESTION: What's with all the cats & kettles? I like cats and I like kettles.

Thanks to Roman for being the 31st participant in this series of typewriter interviews.

Get his books and check out his newsletter, DADA issues.

Shout-out to paid subscribers who buy me the time to do all the email coordinating, typing, snail-mailing, scanning, transcribing, and editing that goes into these. You can make more happen with a click of a button:

xoxo,

Austin

P.S. Here’s a bonus note from Roman:

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