Valera & Natasha Cherkashin
Mirages of the USSR. 1995-2000
Since their first American trip, The Cherkashins have created an important series about Moscow. It was entitled "Mirages of Empire". In these works Natasha & Valera presented photographs of grand Soviet buildings. After these buildings and memorials have lost ideological power, they didn't look aggressive any more. The colossal Soviet structures seem abandoned amidst children too young to remember the Soviet Union, and advertisements.
Materials: crumpled black & white silver gelatin print, bleach, watercolors, newspaper transfer, gold and Silver acrylic, paper frames, ink.
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Solo Exhibitions
"Mirages of Empires". The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg. 2002
"Mirages of Empires". The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg. 2002
Russia/America: Mirages of Empires. Chevy Chase Art Center, Washington DC, USA. 1998
Mirages of Empires. XV International Festival "Month of Photography in Bratislava", Slovakia. 2005
"Mirages of Empires". The entrance. The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg. 2002
Sport in Arts. Aphrodites of Russia. Municipal art Center, Athens, Greece. (Stella Art Gallery) 2004
Mirages of Empire. Russian American Cultural Center, New York. 2001
Mirages of Empire. Russian American Cultural Center, New York. 2001
IDEOLOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION AND CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION: THE ANTI-MODERN PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTALLATIONS OF VALERY AND NATASHA CHERKASHIN
Valera and Natasha Cherkashin continue to develop their series of artistic programs concerning the socialist epoch of word culture - and more. Their site-specific installations assimilate years of Soviet history, symbols, and values. What is borrowed from the past, they reuse for a new kind of visual expression for the 21st century. Their art is a mirror of the diverse fabric of Russian society today. It is a multidimensional collage that combines the past with the ever-changing present.
Modern art history from the 20th century helps us in understanding the complexities of today's photographic art. The Cherkashins do not work within the standard traditions of the history of photography. Like much of contemporary photography around the world, style or subject or medium cannot categorize their unconventional room-sized works. They are a new generation of artists who rekindle the innovative spirit of the European avant-garde early from the 20th century. However, their photographic art moves beyond formalism and the limitations of the medium of photography. They abandon such standards from the history of modern art...
Steve Yates
Curator of Photography
Senior Fulbright Scholar,
Museum of Fine Arts,
Museum of New Mexico,
Santa Fe