R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS: An interview with Iv Solyaev and Elena Lazutina
Agent of the Crimson Knot and the Law of Invisible Debts, 2025, mp4. R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS series by Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev (TwelveBrunches).
R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS is the personal project of artists Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev, under the label TwelveBrunches. A world born from randomness, pieced together like a theatre of absurdity. A parody of our own reality — where everything feels like a freak show, a joke, a performance. Absurd times.
“It seems as though everything has finally gone mad — what was once unimaginable becomes possible and descends further into chaos,” say the artists.
Lazutina and Solyaev, partners in art and in life, describe R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS not as a manifesto, but as a document of this absurdity—“its curious logic, its random connections, its breakdowns. Because if you watch long enough, chaos begins to form a pattern. Or perhaps, a joke.”
A game, maybe a screenplay? An epic? Call it what you want — it's an AI-powered masterpiece, infused with one of the most precious human components: time. Time to develop a concept, to let it unfold, to think. In R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS, each character exists within a meticulously crafted universe. Their stories, detailed in the description of each token, reveal unexpected interconnections — like fragments of a larger narrative waiting to be discovered.
I would like to learn about your roles in the R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS project and how long you have been working on it.
ELENA: We've been working on this project for a few months, juggling roles as best as we can. If we were to split responsibilities, I handle the visuals, while Ivan takes care of the sound, story, and technical aspects.
IVAN: Yes, about a couple of months, though the process hasn’t been linear — the project waited for its moment. This story resonated with a shared feeling we had, so I was eager to jump in and immerse myself in it.
How long have you been together and working together overall?
ELENA: We've been together for about 14 years. I say "about" because I’m terrible at remembering dates. But I can say for sure that, for the first 10 years, our creative paths ran parallel. We supported each other in personal projects, but our first real collaboration happened in 2022.
IVAN: Does everyone here realize we’re husband and wife? It feels like we’ve been creating together for a long time, even before we had "projects" in the formal sense, haha. But yes, our first official collaboration was in 2022. After the madness of 2021 and the incredible highs of that space, I wanted to pull Elena into this world. TwelveBrunches was our experiment, our way of overcoming the fear of the blank canvas. Since then, we've aimed to create a series or at least a few joint pieces each year.
Tell us a little about your professional and creative experience.
ELENA: I’ve been working in graphic design and illustration since I was 17, picking up skills, tools, and influences along the way. If you were to visualize my experience, think of Miyazaki’s moving castle — some parts rusted, some running on magic, something attached here, something fallen off there. But it keeps going, creaking and moving forward.
IVAN: That’s a long story. I’ve been involved in digital art in all its forms for about 20 years. My main strength is probably in building large teams and systems for creative projects. But in recent years, I took a step back to focus more on my own art. The rise of AI tools, which allow for organizing teams and workflows in new ways, has been particularly fascinating to me — it opens up immense creative freedom and possibilities that simply didn’t exist for individual artists before.
Lady Flaming Memory and the Law of Erased Histories, 2025, mp4. R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS series by Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev (TwelveBrunches).
You both have very different aesthetic sensibilities, yet R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS feels dark, feminine, vintage, and undeniably stylish.
ELENA: Yes, I love that this world feels like it belongs 50/50 to both of us—or maybe even 100% each. We wanted to create something with a distinct atmosphere and aesthetic, and I think we found a perfect middle ground.
IVAN: Exactly. We’re very different, but that difference completes us. In every detail, we contribute what’s missing, filling in gaps for each other. The project reflects this duality well. It may seem dark, but if you trust it, you’ll find something warm, whimsical, and even comforting beneath the surface.
I understand this isn’t your first collaboration and that you created TwelveBrunches as a kind of label for your joint projects. Do you always find an aesthetic balance?
ELENA: There’s a difference between personal taste and the ability to appreciate a broad range of aesthetics. I’m not sure how to explain it, but we have a strong understanding when it comes to judging beauty.
IVAN: TwelveBrunches doesn’t mean we always work together on projects. It’s more of a shared space that accommodates any of our creative whims. But when a project needs both of us, we fully commit. The balance comes from trust — I never doubt Elena’s taste, and I support any choice she makes.
The Dog of Evening Light and the Law of Warm Windows, , 2025, mp4. R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS series by Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev (TwelveBrunches).
Regarding R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS, what came first — the plot or the imagery?
ELENA: It started as a visual offshoot of my experiments. I became obsessed with these characters and created so many that they couldn’t just be left as they were. That’s when Ivan stepped in. He has this ability to build worlds — almost like a god, haha. He ensures that nothing exists in a vacuum or comes across as forced symbolism. He gives things life, makes them feel natural. In the end, it was Ivan who wrapped everything in meaning and gave it a soft structure.
Was there a specific moment or event that sparked this project?
ELENA: It might sound cliché, but it was like a "ding!" in my head the moment the first characters were born. That feeling is hard to describe, but I always trust my emotions, and I wanted others to feel something similar when engaging with this world.
IVAN: Not really. But over the past year, with everything happening in AI and the emergence of new tools, it finally felt like the right time. We reached a point where our "can" and "want" aligned.
What techniques did you use?
IVAN: Technically, this project falls under AI-generated art. Without going too deep, we use almost every AI tool currently available on the open market. But if I had to highlight one, ComfyUI is the king. The control and structure it allows in a project like this still amazes me.
The Invisible Hand and the Law of Predetermined Movement, 2025, mp4. R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS series by Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev (TwelveBrunches).
How did you choose the color palette for this series?
ELENA: It’s a rather rough, almost clashing combination, but I’ve always loved its intensity. Maybe because it feels a bit rebellious? Who knows.
Does collaboration always go smoothly, or do you sometimes clash over creative decisions?
ELENA: Oh, it’s not always smooth. Ivan and I have very different working styles—I get distracted easily, bring chaos into tasks, and struggle with emotions. And since we’ve been together for so many years, it’s hard to separate work from life completely. But we always manage to understand each other in the end.
IVAN: The biggest challenge is always finding the energy and time to do everything we want. Creative disagreements are rare compared to the daily battle of making things happen. Honestly, I can’t recall any major arguments over ideas.
I’m curious — what or who inspires you in your artistic world? Films, music, books… everything counts.
ELENA: For me, inspiration isn’t tied to specific artists or genres, but to the search for something new. I have an insatiable thirst for fresh emotions. That’s why, beyond films or music, I look for inspiration in indie games, music videos, documentaries, short films, and even commercials.
IVAN: I’ve never really thought about it. I don’t know if anything has ever "inspired" me in the traditional sense. Creativity, to me, is about seeing something in its entirety—it either happens, and I feel it with every cell, or it doesn’t. And when it does, I have no choice but to express it. Carrying it inside me would be unbearable.
The Veiled One and the Law of Unspoken Words, 2025, mp4. R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS series by Elena Lazutina and Iv Solyaev (TwelveBrunches).
R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS is incredibly intriguing. I find myself reading everything about the characters and can't help but wonder — do you see further developments for this project, or is it a complete chapter? Have you told the story you wanted to tell with it?
ELENA: I wouldn't be lying if I said that Randomopolis intrigues me just as much. This chapter may be finished, but the world has been created along with its inhabitants and even its laws. I don't feel like we've told everything we could; on the contrary, I think we've created a favorable environment for endless stories and formats. I'm not ready to say goodbye to these guys.
IVAN: Personally, I have big plans for this world. 🖤
Curious? To get to know all R▲ND✜M⦿P☻LIS characters and their story better, check out the exhibition page on objkt.one.
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