A performer blows fire during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown, Binondo, Manila, Philippines, January 25, 2020. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

Adult film actress/director Joanna Angel and her husband, adult film actor Small Hands, attend the 2018 Adult Video News Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 27, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A model presents a creation at a metro station during a show opening the Moscow Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia on October 22, 2019. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)

People visit an installation by the American sculptor, Carole Feuerman, during the exhibition of her hyperrealistic sculptures at Pier 17 in the trendy neighbourhood of Seaport in New York City on June 1, 2024. (Photo by Milo Hess/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Netherlands and England fans arrive at the city ahead of a semi final match between Netherlands and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

Students prepare a floral decorative design “Rangoli” during the celebrations to mark the annual harvest festival of 'Onam' at a school, in Chennai on September 10, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

A recent undated handout picture released by the Guinness World Records on September 9, 2014, shows 49-year-old trick golf artist Karsten Maas, from Denmark, who secured his place in the 2015 Guinness World Records book for creating the world’s longest usable golf club. It measures 4.37, (14ft 5in) in length and has been used to drive a ball a distance of 165.46m (542ft 10.16in). The 60th anniversary edition of the Guinness World Records book will reflect on six decades of record-breaking, whilst also featuring the latest additions to the oddball hall of fame. (Photo by Ranald Mackechnie/AFP Photo/Guinness World Records)

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.