Wonderful wooden statues
Mysteries are always man-made, and our apathy is usually the key to achievement. It appears that one human cannot significantly alter the look of the city, transforming it into a true open-air gallery. Everything turns out to be feasible, and everyone in the field is a warrior. More specifically, the artist, and not in the countryside, but in Simferopol, Crimea. Igor Dzheknavarov is a master artisan who, in just 6 years, has made hundreds of wooden statues that have become a fixture on downtown streets.
Igor Dzheknavarov did not market himself for a looooong period, and people of Simferopol started wondering who was the creator of an increasing number of new statues that started to appear with remarkable frequency in various parts of the city. After all, the press did not stand by and wait for the artisan to appear: it turned out that the man has no formal schooling, that he learnt to cook at a catering school, and that he believes that cooking is the pinnacle of artistic ability. The self-taught artist joked, ”If you understand how to cook potatoes, you can do anything.” He first considered working with wood 10 years ago, and he has devoted all of his spare time to it since then.
Igor underlines that the trees themselves motivate him to make statues: the trunk’s distinctive bend and the patterns of the limbs indicate which figure will emerge this time. The Simferopol artist draws a strong comparison between his artwork and Michelangelo’s marble work. A skilled Ukrainian instantaneously recognises who this or that tree stump will evolve into, just as a brilliant artist can predict what will emerge from a stone (a sculpture of Pieta or David, for instance) if all unnecessary material is removed. Igor Dzheknavarov acknowledges that he didn’t keep track of the number of statues he’d already put. He usually works for minimum a day on every piece, but huge works can take up to 2 weeks. Igor Dzheknavarov’s statues can be seen not only in Simferopol, but all-around Crimea, with some even in Donetsk, St. Petersburg, and Donetsk.
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Source: Kulturologia
