Dear Friends,

I am taking a break from my gardening to wish you all a great summer full of challenging art! The sun is finally out - at least sporadically - and my resin sculpture is from this weekend onwards displayed in the Broomhill Sculpture Park for a year.

Above is an image of the work. The sculpture represents a gate topped with a large head of Cheburashka, a very famous children’s character of an animated film series from the sixties; it is the Russian equivalent to the Japanese Pokemon or the American Mickey Mouse. Cheburashka is a small and friendly animal, unknown to science but easily recognisable by its oversized round ears. Thanks to its great popularity, it was chosen as the official mascot of the Russian Olympic Team. The gate is here a reference to the Japanese traditional Torii. Commonly found at the entrance of Shito shrines, it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. My proposal is a reflection on our contemporary understanding of and relationship to the sacred - it might even be perceived as an absurd attempt of re-sanctification of our everyday life. In a profane society, our ersatz of the sacred are often unearthed from the lost paradise of innocent childhood.

Let me now invite you to experience the sculpture in its beautiful location in Devon and please don’t forget to vote for Cheburashka by following the link: http://www.broomhillart.co.uk/national-sculpture-prize/2011-finalists.html.

The Russophones amongst you are also warmly recommended to read about my work this month in The World, a newly launched Russian magazine. The six coloured double pages will give you a good overview of my recent practice and an introduction to my writing. For more information: http://theworldmagazine.ru/. The magazine is currently on sale at Respublika, Moscow and in all the Ginza Project restaurants.

In May, my bronze sculpture Woman Stamping Water was successfully auctioned at the Chance for Life annual fundraising event in support of Russian orphanages. For more information about the charity and its work, please visit the website: http://chanceforlife.co.uk/about.html.

Finally, I will be again this summer in residence at the Cite Internationale des Arts de Paris to work on a new series of drawing. So do not hesitate to pop by my studio (studio 2027) for coffee if you happen to be strolling along the Seine this July.

Warmest wishes,
Sveta