My Stupid Childhood

This project is related to my childhood, which partly took place in the Soviet Union, and partly witnessed the destruction of the Empire. The system did not collapse overnight; we still encounter its heritage, if not in the material world, then definitely in the mental one.

It was the object world of my childhood that left the most profound mark in my mind. I was definitely traumatised by many objects of Soviet design and fashion, images from TV, slogans and appeals. Not everything was clear to me then, but a lot was worrying and frightening.

The birth trauma of the USSR consisted of the denial of the private, the personal, in favour of the public. The denial of the personality and total deficit took grotesque forms. Freedom introduced an explosion of the cult of consumption. In such circumstances, the colourful packaging of the 'Snickers' bar was stronger than any nuclear bomb.

These tyres are made of ceramics and are coloured with glaze, engobes and copper oxide. This work has two meanings.

First is the reference to my childhood that was spent in the Soviet Union, which used all of the state's resources to service the great idea of state power, not the comfortable lives of its citizens. Millions of kids spent their afternoons at playgrounds made out of poorly painted used tyres. These tyres had to be utilized or taken to the dumps, but instead they adorned every playground.

Forever Tyres

The second reference is to the fact that used car tyres became a symbol of the fight for freedom. Each time that people take to the streets, the protesters use tyres to build barricades and burn them in case of need. This work was supposed to be presented as a performance: the ceramic tyres were to be exhibited at a city square, doused with gasoline and set on fire. After some time the fire would be put out or would go out naturally, but the ceramic tyres would remain, since fire can do nothing to them, just like the desire to be free cannot be destroyed.

This 'rug' is made out of earthenware crosses covered with a multicoloured glaze. The connection between past and future is often lost. The time is speeding up and the quiet and meditative past is quickly becoming non-existent.

Stitching with earthenware crosses is the latest part of my research into national art and its interpretation in the modern world. There is also an obvious contrast.

A fabric, an embroidery, a rug - all of these things are soft. My rug is not meant to be a place for lying down. The time of comfort is gradually coming to an end. It is a target on my rug. At the same time it is also the target and the chain mail.

The time of soft rugs is over

Evil Empire. 2016. Watercolour on paper. 57x40

The time of soft rugs is over. Ceramics, glaze. 60x60

Forever Tyres. Ceramics, glaze. 150~250x65x75

Sneakers: 2015. Tempera on canvas. 45x30

Half an hour, silence. 2016. Watercolour on paper. 57x40

multimedia project