Maslenitsa Print

Do you want to experience the magic and fun of the holiday? My composition of four small sculptures will tell you about the folk festival. Having started the Russian series with large and serious works, I wanted to finish it with something fun and well known. * Thinking and thinking over the images and my feelings I understood that Shrovetide is the right theme for me. As I wanted to represent the dynamics of this holiday and its folk character I decided to add another symbol. That symbol was a tumbler toy (Chumbley), a world-famous toy. I decided to use the tumbler mechanism in each of my works because of the dynamics and symbolism in the work. By immersing myself in my imaginative associations and conversations with friends, I realised that I wanted to see in this work. * The first and main character in this story is the accordionist! Of course, how could you do without him. The first guy in the village is the one who owns this musical instrument. All the girls and boys gather together as soon as they hear the accordion's sounds during a party. What's a party without music! I purposely made the accordion player not young. Being on the wave of his popularity, he cannot give up his carefree life of a lonely man. His accordion is like a magnet attracting girls and creating a holiday. The round dance goes round and round, the young lads lose their heads at Shrovetide. * Maslenitsa was widely celebrated in Europe. This reckless merriment probably made up for the hard life of peasants and allowed us to forget our domestic problems and indulge in merry-making, at least for a while. After a few trial jobs, I'd built up quite a company. * The work participated in the anniversary exhibition "Tryn-Trava" in Moscow. Be sure to watch the video with sound, it will allow you to see the work through my eyes. From my point of view I succeeded with the characters, that's how I saw this image of a kind, cheerful and long-awaited holiday.