Artist Statement

The sculpture represents a gate topped with a large head of Cheburashka, a very famous Russian children’s character which is the main character of an animated film series from the sixties.

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 sculpture 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.