Igor Vasiliev. Cartoon Symbolism

The Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art invites you to an exhibition by Igor Vasiliev, where cartoon characters will greet you with wide smiles and bring you pure childlike joy.

The sole purpose of Igor Vasiliev’s works, as he himself admits, is to delight people and evoke positive emotions through encounters with nature tamed by art. For two decades now, these sculptures have delighted children and adults alike as they spend leisure time at amusement parks or entertainment centers in northern St. Petersburg. A few years ago, the artist took up his brush and began creating painted versions of his characters, placing them in their natural environments — the vastness of the savannah and birch groves.

Vasiliev calls his style romantic cartoon symbolism. It shouldn’t be confused with Moscow romantic conceptualism, although these movements share one common trait: the permeability of worlds. In romantic styles, the artist’s artistic freedom blends the real and the fantastic. And so, right in the exhibition hall, the viewer embraces an elegant cobra or scratches the ear of an armadillo stretching its snout toward him. Large plastic sculptures are tactile and seem to communicate with each other!

Each character here has its own distinct personality. As for symbolism, of course, we are dealing with specific types. These animals are, in many ways, portraits of their contemporaries. There’s the crocodile with a sly squint, strolling along the Nile with a pipe, the cheerfully grinning Svintus, and the Owl, who’s no longer surprised by anything.

It’s worth mentioning that all of Vasiliev’s characters, though they may look like cartoons, are original and completely unlike anything seen in the world of widescreen 3D cinema. Igor Vasiliev’s world, despite its many exotic inhabitants, is very cozy and familiar. The artist deliberately avoids quoting famous images, striving to bring life (animate) to his own characters.

Thus, Igor Vasiliev’s exhibition becomes a space of "total animation," where viewers are free to observe and be amazed, interact with the sculptures, and perhaps even discover something cartoonish within themselves. It’s worth remembering that the word "animation" comes from the Latin anima, meaning "soul."