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.

“Residents in a small town littered with giant potholes may be ready to “crack” the art world – after turning their massively damaged roads into hilarious masterpieces. Fun-natured drivers from Scranton, Pennsylvania have been challenged by an arts group to turn the ugly craters in their neighborhood into pothole art”. – Caters News. Photo: Cereal bowl pothole. (Photo by Caters News)

A visitor passes behind the sculpture “Puma-Dentist” made with plastic, wax and original heads of a puma and a hind by Austrian artist Deborah Sengl during an exhibition at the art gallery Deschler in Berlin April 15, 2008. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

A man walks past a mural along a street in New Delhi on June 30, 2023. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Drag Race UK alumni, Cheddar Gorgeous in the window of a Primark store in Manchester to celebrate the opening of the Photo by Fujifilm x Primark concession in Manchester on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Fans are invited to visit the instore concession on the first floor in Primark on Market Street where Cheddar Gorgeous will be in a garment made up of over 1,000 Fujifilm INSTAX prints and designed by local fashion creator and artist, Mariusz Malon. (Photo by James Speakman/PA Wire)

Surrender by Jenkin Van Zyl, a surreal installation at Fact Liverpool on November 16, 2023 featuring film and sculptural works inside a large inflatable silver rat. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

A murales showing a Swiss guard kissing a colleague, by street artist Laika, is seen on the day of the annual Pride march, in Rome, Saturday, June 26, 2021. This year's march comes amid widespread concern in Europe about legislation in Hungary that will ban showing content about LGBT issues to children and a controversial Vatican communication to Italy, criticizing a law that would extend additional protections from discrimination to the LGBT community. (Photo by Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo)

People cool off in Crown Fountain in Millennium Park on August 12, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. As temperatures climb across the nation, nearly 200 million Americans are under some level of heat advisory. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)