MUSHROOM PERSON WON SOBAKA.RU AWARDS

On June 14, the 19th TOP 50 FAMOUS PEOPLE OF ST. PETERSBURG Awards established by Sobaka Magazine took place. 9 winners in 9 categories were awarded. One of the winners in the Art category was Fedor Hiroshige. The artist took the precious prize together with Anna Barinova and the team of Anna Nova Gallery.

In a dedicated issue of Sobaka Magazine, the magazine team together with Hiroshige arranged a pop-up happening with the works from Fox Fire Gallery project. It took place in the Chinese Garden of Friendship at Liteyny Prospect (St. Petersburg, Russia) at the Wall of Nine Dragons. This was where the artist told about his artistic practice and the story of how his creative career started.

“In the basement of Boreas Gallery, I met artists from Parazit Group, and this meeting was literally life-changing. My first works had the name of REPA Group on them, and for a while my colleagues kept calling me that, like ‘Hello, REPA Group!’ Then, together with multimedia artist Vova Lilo we created U Group (in Russian, this U looked like a ‘Driver on Training’ car sign). Typical works by REPA Group would feature sophisticated collages made of popcorn, stuffed and plastic toys, TV sets and Barbie dolls, whereas U Group was all about looking for a face. This was how we stayed with pyrography.

In 2014, artist Kerim Ragimov, one of the members of our association, initiated the first exhibition by Parazit called SAVING VENICE in Marina Gisich Gallery and curated this project about inevitable flooding. I had some works displayed there - they were pyrography works featuring mushroom people who were building Rice Terraces around Venice. This was the first series to be signed by Fedor Hiroshige. The night before the exhibition opening, I dreamed of Andō Hiroshige - he offered me some advice and shared his name.

Click here for a full interview.

July 10, 2024