Vasily Artamonov, Скульптуры в городе / Sculptures in town

screenprint from the video in the documentation

The picture above shows some of the sculptures made by Vasily Artamonov, displayed in front of his house in Rylsk, Kursk region, Russia.

It's just a small part of the over two hundred sculptures he created since around 1995. The largest part of his oeuvre has been relocated to various places in the public space in the Kursk region.

Like François Michaud in the 19th century decorated his village Masgot with sculptures or like in

our time a collective of conscripted soldiers embellished the Russian city of Teykovo with their creations, Artamonov has the desire to brighten up the public space with his fairy-tale characters, first of all on spots in his hometown Rylsk, but in line with that also on spots in the public space in other communities in the region of Kursk.

this picture and the next two by Yuri Fedorov 

Life and works

Born in a family with six other children in the small village of Bredy in the Chelyabinsk area in the southern Urals, Artamonov studied at a school for agricultural engineering. He got a job at a farm, married and got a son. However, after a couple of years he experienced this work as too routine.

He felt more attracted to a varied, creative type of work, so he tried growing roses. This was not succesfull and he moved to the Caucasus where he worked as a driver at a small farm owned by a brother.

After his military service he noticed that he longed for the Kursk region, the residential area of his father and grandparents in the west of Russia. So he decided to go there. On the way something happened that was decisive for his further life. He saw a sculpture of a huge dragon with children happily strolling around, laughing and feeling happy.

The scene triggered him and gave him the idea  to undertake something similar. Artamonov could move into the house on Pervomaiskaya Street in Rylsk, where his grandparents and his father, all deceased, had lived before.

Here, around 1995, he made his first creation, a huge dragon. This one was followed by two bears flanking a bench, and a dinosaur. All creations were displayed on the narrow space separating the house from the roadway.

Artamonov's creative project was based upon a philosophy stating that if a whole city has such sculptures, life will be better. Embellish Rylsk with fairy tale characters and the city will shine, it will be a city of happiness and dreams........!

He invited the local authorities to (financially) support such a project, but at that moment they hesitated to make a decision. So Artamonov had to combine his creative activities with various jobs, such as cook, agronomist, driver, plumber and handyman. Currently he works as a guard and driver at the House of Creativity in Rylsk.

But making sculptures was paramount. During his career  as a self-taught artist of over twenty years Artamonov focussed especially upon creating sculptures related to Russian fairy tales, which for him are a source of joy and patriotism.

When making a sculpture Artamonov first makes a body from sturdy metal elements he welds together and shapes into the desired model. This basis is covered with wire mesh, after which the creation is finished with cement and/or plaster, applied layer after layer.

Creating a sculpture on the average takes two weeks of painstaking work. He works in the warm season, from May till October; in the other months the weather is too cold to work with cement.

Artamonov's sculptures in the streets of Rylsk (screenprint)

As Artamonov's creative activities became rather well-known in and around Rylsk, his dream came true that his work would be displayed in public space in the region.

For example, one day the mayor of the town of Kurchatov, situated some 80 km east of Rylsk, personally visited Artamonov to inform if the town could buy some sculptures. This resulted in the purchase of twenty sculptures (incidentally for a modest fee), which now are displayed at a park in Kurchatov.

Other sculptures are displayed in playgrounds, parks and kindergartens in the community of Khomutovka (50 km north of Rylsk), Koersk, the capital of the region (some 125 km east of Rylsk), in the community of Koerstsjatov (80 km east of Rylsk)  and even in the city of Belgorod in a neighbouring region (some 200 km south-east of Rylsk)

Artamonov's sculptures in the streets of Rylsk (screenprint)

Vasily Artamonov is a modest man who does not care about wealth. A smiling child, enjoying his sculptures is his greatest reward. Convinced that his sculptures can contribute to a better life in the city, he relentlessly continues his creative activities.

Documentation

* Article by Yulia Matveeva (October 2017) in the website seyminfo.ru

* Another article by Yulia Matveeva (April 2017) on the same website

* Article by Marina Krapivnaya (August 2005) on the website of regional newspaper
Drug diva druga 

Video 

* Video by TV and Radio Company Seim (2'23", YouTube, published October 2017)

Vasily Artamonov

Sculptures in town

Pervomaiskya Street (workshop)

Rylsk, Kursk region, Russia

sculptures can be seen in town and in front of Artananov's house/workshop

Tatyana Pika, Украшенный интерьер в многоквартирном доме / Decorated interior in apartment building

picture from alysov.blogspot

Above pictured high rising apartment building in a suburb of Kiev, Ukraine, in recent years housed an extensive art environment. 

Located on the 13th floor, Tatyana Pika's artwork not only included her own apartment, but also the access area shared with the residents of the other flats on the floor.

In the early months of 2017 the creation was removed.

this picture and the next nine courtesy of Artemy Lebedev

Life and works

The internet hasn't much biographic information about Tatyana Pika. She was born in 1959 or 1960, studied economy and had a relation with a medical institute. 

It's not impossible that this medical institute was active in the field of alternative therapy, because it has been reported that Tatyana Pika was convinced that creative activities could help to overcome ailments, like she succeeded in curing herself of cancer. She may have been active as a people's healer.

first sight of the creation from the elevator

In the same way it is possible that she began transforming the communal area of the 13th floor into an art environment to rid the area of evil influences, used as it was as a meeting place for young drug addicts.

Anyway, around 2005 Tatyana began making her creation.

Basically the creation consisted of gypsum- and cement-plastered walls and ceilings, as well as floors with tiles and mosaic.The stucco was applied in such a thick layer that it could be modeled in the form of flowers, shells, birds and all kind of ornaments.

Also numerous decorations were added such as mirrors, shells, special stones from all parts of the world, but also dolls and other toys provided by children from the neighborhood.

Bunches of grapes and berries hang from the ceiling.

The color scheme of the walls was rather particular and impressive. It seems that it was directed upon stimulating hallucinogenic or spiritual experiences, which was further enhanced by the use of luminous paint that arose in the otherwise dark-haunted atmosphere.

The reports of people who visited the site often spoke of a psychedelic experience in the transition from the elevator to the site, one reality to another. People said this was so unexpected and fast that it simply gave a shock.

Pictured above is the decorated large tube intended to dispose of the household waste, a usual facility in eastern European residential complexes. A portrait of Christ is bricked up above the flap.

The decorations on the walls include a variety of human characters, such as children as in above picture, women, mythical heroes or Cossacks as in the picture below.

But there also are a lot of depictions of animals, such as eagles, wolves tigers, rabbits, crocodiles....

Tatyana also embellished her own apartment with an exuberant amount of decorations, comparable with those in the communal entrance. The video by Polina Polyakova in the documentation has images of the interior.

It would take Tatyana some five years to give her creation the ultimate appearance and scope she had in mind.

Apart from her own apartment, the 13th floor had three other apartments. Allegedly the neighbors didn't oppose the project, but it is not clear if they assisted in decorating the common access area.

In 2010 for the first time a video of Tatyana's creation was published on YouTube (see documentation).

Summary of the video

In this video Tatyana talks about her motivation to create the decorations ¹.

She says that in doing this she realized a childhood dream about our planet Earth, where people live according to the laws of love, justice and happiness, the most important law being the law of motherhood.

"People have to understand the main thing: who is the mother or all of us? When we come to understand that our planet is our Mother and the Sun is our Father, we will respect and appreciate our own mothers. Only then we will be able to make changes for the better. I started to assemble all these things.

Also, my own experience of dealing with people, my own outlook and my ailment I had to cure- all these things together I asked to answer people all the questions "Why is it happening to me?" answers I have found. We have all the knowledge available in books. But the point is: who really needs it? Everybody wants a better life - wealthy and successful.

But actually, very few people offered me their help or wanted to know how and why I did it. Nobody wanted to join me in my creative work. I had to buy all materials in the Nova linia² and carry heavy bags home ... I was ready to show how I make it. I wanted to realize their dream! But then some people just tried to destroy my work ... "

Tatyana also says it is highly important to analyze the laws of life for raising kids. To love children for parents means to work much on themselves. Fairy-tales for children learn them the laws of harmony. And this site makes this tale real – colourful, bright and happy. Good parents are first of all responsible parents.

Further developments

The site gradually gained more publicity and especially after it was presented in the popular Ukrainian television program Орел и решка (Eagle and tails) the number of curious visitors increased.

In the course of 2016 Tatyana Pika decided to leave her apartment and sell it. Regarding the underlying reasons nothing has come out in publications, but it is conceivable that she felt very disappointed about the indifferent reaction of people around her regarding her creation.

There are reports that she has left abroad

The apartment was sold indeed. The new owner decided to remove all decorations, which was implemented in the first months of 2017.

Documentation

* Article (2013) by Artemy Lebedev on his website, with a large series of photo's 

Videos
A selection of videos (more available on YouTube)
* Video by Polina Polyakova The world of Tatiana Pika (9'45", You Tube, published july 2010), with Tatiana talking about her creation and shots of the decorations in her apartment

*

*Video by Quotephoto, showing decorations in the common area (2'33", YouTube, January 2012)

Notes
¹ This summary could be  added thanks to Maria Pylypchuk from Ukraine
²  Nova Linia (New Line) is a network of supermarkets or building materials in Ukraine

Tatyana Pika

Decorated interior in apartment building
Radunskaya Street 26, 13th floor

Troieschyna, Kiev, Ukraine

decorations have been removed

Ninth anniversary of this blog

Bonjour aux promeneurs

Hello walkers

picture of a sculpture by Fernand Chatelain

(courtesy of Marcello 13, Flickr)

When on holiday in France in the late 1990s, by chance I visited Picassiette's mosaic decorated house in Chartres. I had never heard about such a type of artwork and I was very impressed and I started a search for similar creations, first those in France, later those in other European countries.

In 2008, I thought it was time to publish my findings on the internet. So on November 11, 2008, nine years ago, I published my first post in a weblog, named Outsider Environments Europe.

Today this blog exists for nine years and it now includes an inventory of over 400 art environments in a variety of countries in Europe

As in previous years I will relate here some data (as of November 10) about numbers and origin of visitors and about art environments that were most viewed.

Number of visitors

On November 10, 2016 the all time number of visitors was 583287. On November 10, 2017 it was  697157, an increase of 113870, or on the average 312 visitors a day. Over the period 2015-2016 the average was 346.

All time page-views by country

As in previous years here is the all time rank of top ten countries as regards page-views:

   1. United States 246640 (rank 2016 idem)
   2. Netherlands  70480 (rank 2016 idem)
   3. France 63440 (rank 2016 idem)
   4. Germany 52103 (rank 2016 idem)
   5. United Kingdom  45788 (rank 2016 idem)
   6. Ukraine 21140 (rank 2016 idem)
   7. Russia 19902 (rank 2016 idem)
   8. Spain 13897 (rank 2016 idem)
   9. Italy 11637 (rank 2016 idem)
 10. Poland 6244 (rank 2016 idem)

The top ten list includes the same countries as in 2016, even in the same order. To my satisfaction the interest from Russia and Eastern Europe is lasting.

Most viewed sites all time

These are the sites with the most all time views (as on November 10):

   1. Abbé Fouré, Sculpted rocks  6308 (rank 2016: 4)

   2. Bill and Elisabeth Charge, Shell garden  6032 (rank 2016: 1)

   3. Joseph Ferdinand Cheval, Palais Idéal  5441 (rank 2016: 2)

   4. Robert Garcet, Tour Eben-Ezer 5127 (rank 2016: 3)

   5. Jose Maria Garrido, Shell decorated interior  4607 (rank 2016: 6)

   6. Robert Tatin, Singular architecture  4392 (rank 2016: 5)

   7. Bodan Litnianski, Decorated garden 3987 (rank 2016: idem)

   8. Chomo, Préludian art 3699 (rank 2016: idem)

   9. Francisco Grajera, Decorated house 3440 (rank 2016: 11)

 10. Joseph Pujiula i Vila, Labyrinth 3284 (rank 2016: 8)

The second place for Bill and Elisabeth Charge just as in 2016 has to due with a one time event. End October 2016 the husband of a granddaughter of Bill and Elisabeth posted a message on the Watford Memories and History page on Facebook, asking -with a link to the relevant post in this blog- if anyone remembered the decorated garden. Thousands of people did remember the site and this resulted in over 5000 hits of the post in a few days time, which meanwhile has grown to over 6000.

For the rest, the top ten contains a slightly variable set of names, with Abbé Fouré, Facteur Cheval, Bodan Litnianski and Chomo from France, José Maria Garrido, Francisco Grajera and Joseph Pujiula from Spain, and Robert Garcet from Belgium. 

Erich Bödeker (Sculpture garden) from Germany (13 in 2016) is now on 11 and Karl Junker (Decorated interior), also from Germany,  left the top ten and is now at 12.

Willem van Genk (Arnhem bus station) from the Netherlands, in 2016 on 12, is now on 13. 

On 14 is Jean-Daniel Allanche (Decorated interior) from France. His decorated interior is new in this yearly review. My post about this art environment from end December 2015 was one of the first in the field that introduced his decorated interior on the internet. 

Stephen Wright  (House of dreams) from England is on 15 and Robert Vasseur Mosaic decorated house, garden) from France is on 16. Both already ranked high in former years.

On 17 is Julius Klingebiel (Decorated hospital room) from Germany. He is new in this yearly review. Reports about his decorated room in a closed hospital ward became public in the early months of 2015 and resulted in a lot of interest.

The other most viewed posts relate to Maria Rodriguez (Shell decorated garden, Spain, on 18), Raymond Isidore, also known as Picassiette (Mosaic decorated house, France, on 19) and Yves Floc'h (Kinetic art, France, on 20) 

Eastern Europe and Russia

The past two to three years I have focused my attention on searching art environments in Eastern Europe and Russia west of the Urals. which so far delivered 54 sites.

These are the sites with all time views above 1400 (as on November 9):
   
Eastern Europe
   Bogdan Ziętek, Interior with sculptures, Poland   2238   
   Václav Levý, Sculpted rocks, Czech Republic, 2166
   Stanislav Sartsevich, Sculpture garden, Ukraine, 2091
   Nicolas Golovan, Decorated house, Ukraine, 2005
   Boguslawa Iwaneskiego, Sculpture garden, Poland, 1587
   Felicja Curylova, Decorated house, Poland, 1577
   
Russia
   Alexander Ladogina, Singular architecture, 1973
   Alexander Emelyanov, Naive architecture, sculpture, 1840
   Pjotr Zhurilenko, Sculpture garden, 1606
   Sergey Kirillov, Decorated house, 1431
   Yevgeny Malakhin (=Bukashkin), Frescoe decorated walls,  1418

Creating art environments is not a kind of competition of course, so above listings are just meant to give an idea of the focus of the visitors who visit this blog.

Pages

This weblog includes a number of pages (a general introduction, a time line, referrals to books, expositions and museums). The all time most viewed pages are the index of sites by region/countries (some 10900 views) and the index of sites by name of artist (some 5500).

A new year of research begins. Let's see what new discoveries it will bring