Ilya Tsarev is a Russian artist, writer and musician. In his work he uses the pseudonym acidether.  

Ilya Tsarev was born on March 14, 1987 in Omsk, in the family of Tatiana and Sergey Tsarev. Since childhood he was a versatile child, was engaged in various sports: swimming, soccer, tennis, where he achieved certain successes, received awards and sports discharges. 

After studying at school he entered Omsk Aviation College named after N.E. Zhukovsky, specializing in "automatic control systems" (ACS), after which he entered the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies "Omsk State Pedagogical University". 

Despite the predilection for the humanities, in the first years of independent life had to work in technical specialties, first as an adjuster at the plant OmPO "Irtysh", then in the field of telecommunications and telephone marketing. However, the craving for self-education saturated the inquisitive mind with new ideas and discoveries, and at the end of 2010 Ilya moved to St. Petersburg for more impressive earnings and self-realization, where in time and settled his creative laboratory. He began to try his hand at prose, during a short trip to Smolensk he wrote his first book "Lessons of Freedom" in co-authorship with Vladimir Kolontsov, which was published the same year. At the same time, Ilya expands his creative pursuits, becoming fascinated by the philosophy of anti-natalism, Dadaism, avant-garde, surrealism, industrial, marginal poetry and prose, collecting his musical collection of "strange records". However, despite his love for art, he had to try himself in different roles, having changed many jobs and specialties: sales manager, furniture assembler, technician, adjuster, telemarketer, assistant bankruptcy trustee, etc. Currently works in a law firm. 

Prose and literary experiences 

From an early age, Ilya loved to read, especially this hobby captured him after moving to St. Petersburg, where he actively began to communicate and get acquainted with artists, theater artists, musicians, scientists and writers. All this led to a variety of subjects and ideas that he wanted to realize and share with others. Above all with his friends. He begins to write his first essays, poems and stories. Not satisfied with the small form of his works he moves for a while to Smolensk to visit his friend Vladimir Kolontsov, where he co-authors his first book "Lessons of Freedom". Having finished this work he moves back to St. Petersburg, where he continues to write stories and novels, occasionally participating in literary competitions. For a long time, in his spare time, he writes an autobiographical novel "Josef". The novel was quite "raw", "immature and not worthwhile", although it demonstrates the author's extensive encyclopedic erudition in matters of literature, philosophy and music. It is available for reading on social networks and thematic literary sites. 

Having finished this work, Ilya does not stop and continues to write. One after another stories come out: Gorge, Hike, in the shadow and others. 

Over time, Ilya becomes more and more fond of poetry and writes a large poem called "The Land of the Stupid", which was later included in a collection of works with the same name. It is published in 2022 in a small edition. 

Art Brut and Outsider Art 

Since 2016, Ilya has been painting. In the same year he creates his first paintings, which refer to the versatility and versatility of his creativity. In his art, Ilya is not afraid of experimentation, quotability and echoes with iconic outsider artists, in connection with which he often creates a discussion field around his works. He draws passionately, creating increasingly complex and detailed works, while not hiding the fact that he has no superficial understanding of art brut and outsider art, but in his artworks he exclusively depicts inner experiences inspired by fantasy, plots of esoteric literature and existential prose of the 20th century. In his own words, he has "always tried to shed the burden of culture, which only hinders true, sincere expression in art." 

Since 2019, he has been supported by the ANO Outsideville. The works are in the collections of INYE, "Outsideville", as well as in private collections in museums in Germany, England, France. 

Psychedelic band and acidether 

Since childhood Ilya has been actively interested in sound, discovering the huge and amazing world of experimental music, gathering a musical collection of "weird music", which is getting bigger every day. He studies playing piano, flute, saxophone, and synthesizer. 

In 2019 gathers from friends a musical group The Psychedelic Band, and after a year records his first album, periodically performing in small clubs, at exhibitions and themed events. At the moment Psychedelic Band has 8 full-fledged avant-garde-experimental albums. 

In parallel with the activities in Psychedelic Band, Ilya develops his solo project acidether, creating surreal worlds in his music, combining incongruous elements of the sound universe, hoping to get some form of life, thus expanding the space of modern avant-garde, pulling dada out of the dark closet of experimental music. Actively working in this direction Ilya creates a whole series of albums, collaborating with different musicians from Russia, Germany, France and Argentina. At the moment acidether has 30 full-length albums. Acidether's music has recently been frequently featured on the airwaves of FM Crisol 92.3 mhz on the program OTHER STIMULOS. Los Polvorines, Argentina