Alexander Cherkov

Alexander Cherkov was born in 1953 and grew up in Kharkov, Ukraine. There he studied, worked, and raised his family. Cherkov's artistic career began in the field of restoration of works of art, in the field of advertising and theater. In 1994 he immigrated to Israel with his wife Sarah and their seven children.

Alexander Cherkov, 1995, Ramat Gan

Throughout his life, Alexander Cherkov experimented with art in a variety of media and techniques. The most prominent themes in his works throughout his artistic career, are themes from the Bible and topics that ask about human essence and the place of man in relation to the universe. His works of art in sculpture and painting are mostly figurative, but not only. He especially likes to deal with anatomical structure and human proportions, especially portraits.

As an artist, Alexander Cherkov is interested in philosophical issues about the essence of art. It delves into the relationship of man's status as a creator, and the symbiotic relationships that exist between art and people. It talks about a person's aspiration to do and create things that aspire to be called art. That is, his desires to acquire a degree of performance and perception of an artist.

Development as an artist

Most of Cherkov's early sculpture in wood carving techniques. His first artistic images were born by the method of subtracting material. The guideline of the artistic style of his early works is expressed in elegant, delicate and very flowing lines. Over the years the images have taken a direction towards the abstraction trend. The sculptures are more convex and concave, the masses become thinner as the motility and flow increase. The culmination of this trend can be identified in a series of sterling silver sculptures whose themes were inspired by biblical sources, and attempt to create a deep connection with the Jewish tradition, which he created in the second half of the 90s to the early 2000s. Over the years, Cherkov has been cultivating clay sculpture skills and this creative technique has become a favorite and central in his life.

The practice of teaching practical art also proved to be a dominant interest in Cherkov. In 2004, he established a private studio in Givatayim to study drawing, painting and sculpture, and already in that year the number of students studying with him per week reached 150 people. Over the years, hundreds of students passed under his tutelage, which contributed to the development of original methods for teaching plastic arts.

Today, the artist divides his time between studying groups in a workshop in Givatayim, an artistic endeavor that includes hundreds of works in the media of sculpture, painting, drawing and video, and spending time with his wife, their seven children and eight grandchildren. In fact, the studio became a continuation of the house for all members of the Cherkov family.

quotes

"Among the participants in my workshop, there are quite a few artists who themselves teach students, to whom they pass on their personal experience. In conversations with them I noticed that perception - can not be taught. It develops along with the artist moving along his creative path. As part of taking responsibility in teaching others, must Be very careful with the students' initial creativity. In order not to "step on" the student and not "trample" his creative independence, the teacher must remain "behind" his apprentice, not to be covered by his authority his purpose. "

- Alexander Cherkov, 2019

Cherkov sees art as a way to develop perception through synchronous and balanced activity of the two lobes of the brain, thus enhancing the creator's ability to experience the world and himself in a benevolent and authentic way. In the workshops he conducts, he imparts to his students the basics of drawing, sculpture and painting through theoretical and practical learning that encourages personal expression and creative independence.

"And I answer - love!
If you like it,
This is actually the most important condition -
That you love what you do. "

Alexander Cherkov

"Art, one way or another, has an impact on each of us. When we talk about beloved artists, composers or writers, we mean people who have impressed us with their works, who have had a formative impact.
There have been a lot of people like that in my life! And a desire was born to create a series of portraits of relief sculptures of personalities who particularly influenced the formation of a worldview. I selected 5 artists - Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Claude Monet, 5 sculptures - Michelangelo, Rodin, Degas, Archipenko and Kapur, 5 composers - Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, 5 writers Shakespeare, Pushkin, Andersen, Dostoevsky and Salinger, as well as 5 filmmakers - Chaplin, Disney, Fellini, Kurosawa and Tarkovsky. It was hard work - choosing the names that were most dear to me.
I want to emphasize that the list obtained is not the best ranking, in my opinion, of the personalities, but simply the names of people, outstanding artists, the wonderful representatives of humanity, to whom I feel a deep gratitude. "

- Alexander Cherkov, 2019

Alexander Cherkov's works are in the Angel Gallery in Tel Aviv, in the main branch of Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, in the Asago Artists' Village in Japan, in the Kwai Pong Yin Art Gallery in Hong Kong and in private collections in Ukraine, UK, USA, Canada, Israel, France, South Africa, Russia and Switzerland.

Books for purchase

In 2003, Cherkov published his first guidebook, "The Head - Sculpting a Man's Head: Step by Step". In 2014 he published the second edition of a guidebook in head sculpture, and published another section that talks about differences in the structure of the human head in sculpture, according to age and sex, as a sequel to the first part.

In 2018, Alexander Cherkov published his book about an introduction to the world of visual arts in digital format "sculpture, painting, drawing and more".

Cherkov's art

During his life, Alexander Cherkov experimented with artistic creation in a variety of media and techniques. The most prominent themes in his works throughout his artistic career are themes from the Bible and themes that ask about human essence and man's place in relation to the universe.