Moscow artist Andrei Cherkasov has devoted over 20 years to porcelain. The creative journey from decorative Gzhel cobalt painting has led the master to his present amazing, grotesque and realistic manner.

The techniques in which the artist creates his work are unparalleled in contemporary art.

The porcelain wonders of Andrei Cherkasov can be viewed endlessly. Miniature urban mansions, temples, huts, hundreds of varied city dwellers and characters, make up unique compositions of urban life.

City. Winter

The forest

Market

Lunch

The master, in the finest painterly technique, paints his work with underglaze enamel. He creates unique recipes for colours that can withstand a final firing of 1200 degrees in the kiln.

It is impossible to remain indifferent to how witty and authentic the artist is in the fine detail of his miniature cities. If it's a monument on the square, there are tiny pigeons dwelling beside it; if it's a granny selling at the market, there's a tiny bucket of potatoes and jars of jam next to her.

The numerous porcelain inhabitants of the magical city are partly moulded, partly painted, but invariably each with their own character.

Looking at the artist's characters never leaves you wanting to take a closer look at their faces, catch the mood, peek through the windows of the houses, "enter" inside after the owner.

The faces of the city

Singer

In the garden

And it didn't start out easy.

At one time, to be able to create porcelain characters, the artist had to work as a storekeeper for a local business, which provided him with a workshop and kiln...

It is today, among collectors, that the definition of "Cherkassy Porcelain".

Says the master:

• I came to porcelain miniatures by chance, colleagues suggested it. I started working in the traditional Gzhel style, with decorative strokes. But the next rooster I painted a landscape and realised it was much more interesting to me. Then came caskets in the form of houses, on which the landscape became firmly established.
• I was originally a muralist. But in the 90s the state order ran out, and there were no private ones in those days. The last thing I did was reliefs for the swimming pool at the Baltia sanatorium in Jurmala. It was a pity it didn't last long.
• I do underglaze painting, directly on the tiles. It is a complicated technique and a higher firing temperature. Few colours can withstand it - most burn out as if they never existed. Cobalt blue is the time-honoured standard, other colours are capricious
• If there are no distractions, 2-3 figures a day can be painted. But still, on average, one per day.
• I never repeat the work. This, of course, creates certain difficulties. After firing, you arrange the figures and think: no, I won't give this one to anyone. And this one? All right, I can at least part with him.
• I don't work in series, I make objects and characters individually, depending on my inspiration. Then I make a composition out of them.
• I like to play with shapes and colours, to create the illusion of space, sometimes in defiance of the actual volumes. That said, it's not enough for me, I'd also add different kinds of art, for example, adding text to the exhibition.

A pig and a potato

Music lesson

Salon

Pair

The artist's work was presented:

Tushino Exhibition Hall, Moscow 1997, 2015;

London, Mall Galleries, 1998;

The Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin - "The Old Town" in the series "The Kremlins of Russia", 1999-2000;

"ArtSalon at the Manege, Moscow, 2000;

Museum of the History of Moscow and its branch, The Old English Yard, 2001 and 2005;

Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum 2008. (personal) and Elaginoostrovsky Museum-Reserve;

Tsaritsyno Estate Museum 2009;

Pushkin Museum, exhibition "Through the Prism of the Jubilee", summer 2004, and "The Ballad of the Wiper", 2013;

Kolomna Kremlin Museum-Reserve, Kolomna 2015-2015;

The Road of 1,000 Li, Moscow 2017;

Museum-reserve Kolomenskoye, Moscow 2018;

The collections have been shown on TV in stories on RTR, REN-TV, Stolitsa and Kultura channels, in Boris Dvorkin's film "The Road of 1000 Li", and in video stories by Ilya Izyum.

Andrei Cherkasov also has an amazing lyric, and his stories about himself and his life are fascinating because of how colourfully they are written.

The master's works can be seen in the Museum of Moscow History, the Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin, and the Museum of Porcelain, Lacquer and Painting in Plyos. Ples. Many of the characters are in private collections in Russia and abroad.

Photos are taken from open sources on the Internet.

With love and respect, Tatiana Kalinina 

Instagram @tatakalinyshka