Simon Cherkasski‘s artwork offers metal sculptures that evoke Mother Nature, the general life of ordinary people, Old World scenes, and cultural scenes from around the world.  He is one of the Featured Artists at the Hotworks Show in Boca Raton on Saturday, November 6 and Sunday, November, 7, 2021.  Admission is FREE. While some artists are easy to classify in terms of subjects or styles, what we love about Simon’s artistry is that he is continually evolving and brings us along on his journey.  The Rickie Report shares some sneak peeks, videos, and an interview with the artist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Click   Here  To  See  Simon  working

 

 

 

TRR:  Were you always creative?

SC:

I was artistic and stubborn from day one! Although my love was for Ancient history and my dream was to become to be an archeologist, drawing and painting was big part of my life and made up most of my classes. During Middle School, I took local classes from Eliad, a local artist. My father, a mechanic and welder, made metal arrangements and figurines as a side hobby, so creativity was a large part of my family life.  My school advisor encouraged me, so I took the exams to enter one of the best art schools at the time, in Haifa. I was willing to commute 1.5 hours a day to attend the Professional Art School of ORT Hana Senesh.

 

 

TRR: What kind of art medium did you initially work in ?

SC:

I painted with oils in the beginning and continued to push myself to try other mediums as well, including pottery, China ink, wood carving, and more.  My favorite was creating etched gravures.

 

 

 

 

TRR: What made you decide to try metal work?

SC:

In 2006, my primary creative medium was synthetic fabric collages, which I learned from Smadar Livne. I suffered a tragic electrical fire in  my studio which destroyed nearly 5 years of my work. As with most artists, I had no insurance.  I had been working on collection for prestigious solo show and all of my fabric collages had been stored in the studio. After that, I found mentally challenging to keep painting. The tragedy triggered my swing of media. For distraction, I started working with metal and was grateful when a friend who was a historic copper roof contractor offered me some leftovers from his job site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRR:  Your style is distinctive !  What inspires you to try new sculptures?

SC:

I just can’t stop creating and exploring.  New ideas are typically born as I work on a project and I can’t wait to finish current work to start a new one!  Anything probably can trigger a new design to appear in my mind, only one thing I never do is to copy anyone else – this is taboo for me.  Honestly I have no need to grab other people’s ideas – I hope to live long enough to finish half of mine.

 

 

 

 

TRR: You have a depth of knowledge that speaks to your creativity.  Tell us more about being an illustrator, graphic designer, art director, radio jingle writer, and program director.

SC:

I would have never survived a static occupation, even with the promise of a bright future because I was always looking for innovational ways to feed my creative hunger. Graphic design is a form of art both visually and subconsciously. While it is commercial, it is still art. I worked as illustrator, graphic designer and eventually Art Director at a weekly newspaper (with about 200 pages every week). But as everything became routine, I eventually left for a radio job and enjoyed years of Jingle writing and program directing, securing myself a piece of all the visual advertisement go through my design studio at the time.

 

 

 

 

TRR:  What kinds of books do you enjoy reading?

SC:

I usually read about 3 books a week in Hebrew, Russian and English. I enjoy the Classics like Emil Zola and Victor Hugo as well as memoirs and history.  Science Fiction continues to be a favorite in my heart, because of unlimited fantasy and creativity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRR: Tell us more about your inventive cooking!

SC:

My father was an amazing cook (my mother was good, too) and he constantly experimented with dishes, sharing with family and friends, same way as I do now. Cooking is art in itself. Mixing and matching a spice bouquet is no different from color matching in a way. I love to trigger my taste buds and take pleasure in eating good food. It can be as simple as a baked potato with a feta or farmer cheese filling, to marinating lamb for 4 days with wine and roasted greens. I do have a special place in my heart for filled French/ Greek/Balkan (both sweet and savory puff pastry – guilty as charged).

 

 

 

 

 

TRR: Do you prefer any one type of metal or stone to work with ?

SC:

I love copper for its natural amazing and surprising color shades and flexibility. I am intrigued with the idea that it’s a core natural mineral from nature. Stones are my second love and I love them all, naturally pretty and different. Marble and granite have less of my admiration because they have been used so much commercially and they can be monotonous in small sizes. Give me limestones or flagstone which are colorful and unique in their patterns.  I can spend hours in local landscape yards to hand pick each piece.

 

 

 

TRR: Tell us more about your classes

SC:

There has been a demand for classes for some time, but I still struggle with liability insurance issues because I work with an open flame and smoldering metal. I am focusing on offering online classes on my YouTube channel, which is in the process of completion.

 

TRR:  Each creation is one-of-a-kind.  Do you offer commissions?

SC:

I am always open to creating a special piece of artwork for a client.  My creativity thrives on their enthusiasm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about Simon’s artistry:

Email:  artist@cherkasski.com

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/cherkasskiartist

Youtube:  https://youtu.be/ibGacaSaZBo
  https://youtu.be/Mnq-izBKcCY

 

 

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