Fluffy toy panda bears as part of the art installation “Panda mie” by Italian restaurant owner Giuseppe “Pino” Fichera sit over beers at his restaurant “Pino's” to raise awareness of the COVID-19 lockdown's business impact on gastronomy in Frankfurt, Germany, November 24, 2020. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

A large teddy bear, used to enforce social distancing, is pictured sitting at a cafe in Pristina on July 23, 2020, as Kosovo authorities announce new measures to fight against the resurgence of the COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Armend Nimani/AFP Photo)

A hot air balloon in the shape of children's comic Rupert Bear is seen tethered before a tethered flight at the Bristol International Balloon fiesta in south west England, Britain, August 10, 2018. (Photo by Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian)

A woman takes a selfie in front of a sculpture of a rooster that local media say bears resemblance to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, outside a shopping mall in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China December 30, 2016. (Photo by Jon Woo/Reuters)

Kim Kardashian goes shopping for gummy bears in sheer Gucci bra on October 9, 2017. She paired the risqué outfit with a waist-fitted midi length pencil skirt and clear lucite wedges from Kanye West’s fashion line. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

“This cheeky polar bear tried to hitch a lift off an unsuspecting driver by clambering into the back of his pick-up truck. The curious creature spent about half an hour inspecting the vehicle and its owner before casually trying to climb aboard. However, the truck must not have been up to scratch because the 7ft bear, weighing approximately 300lbs, promptly jumped back out and sauntered off”. – Barcroft Media. Photo: “Awright mate, any chance of a lift to the North Pole?” (Photo by Steven Kazlowski/Barcroft Media)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

In this undated handout photograph from the “Inside Out Project”, a poster bearing the image of a Pakistani girl whose parents, lawyers say, were killed in a drone strike, lies in a field at an undisclosed location in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. A group of artists in Pakistan are hoping to generate “empathy” among US drone operators by placing giant posters of children in the country's troubled tribal regions. (Photo by AFP Photo)