Little Agatha, 2017

Gregory Orekhov  

Mirror-polished stainless steel. The work turns somersault.

In 2017, the sculpture “Agatha” was created from polished stainless steel, dedicated to the sculptor’s daughter and made in the form of a tumbler Nevalyashka - a toy familiar to everyone who grew up in the USSR. The tumbler, a symbol of childhood and human perseverance, has a unique design: its spherical body hides a weighting agent, thanks to which the doll, despite all attempts to knock it over, always returns to a vertical position.

Nevalyashka is one of the icons of Soviet design. But the toy, which has been associated around the world with the USSR for many years, was actually invented in the East. The first tumbler appeared in Russia about 200 years ago: most likely, its prototype, the daruma doll, was brought from Japan by merchants. The daruma figurine represented the hermit monk Bodhidharma, who spent nine years motionless in meditation, due to which his arms and legs atrophied. For such devotion to faith, the Japanese began to revere the monk, and over time he became a kind of deity, bringing happiness and fulfilling New Year's wishes.

“In Orekhov’s sculpture, the mode of reflection and retraction operates, and in a situation of dynamics, real or implied (return movement of the toy).
The tumbler draws the outside world into itself, the geometry of its surfaces is tuned to this - from bulges to funnels. But, with any movement, the moment of reflection is triggered already in the repulsion mode: the external is refracted, flows off the polished surface, and falls from it. At the same time, the independence of the form is emphasized: elastic, capable of standing up for itself.” – A.D. Borovsky.

Thus, the sculpture "Agatha" carries a multifaceted meaning: from the personal history of the sculptor and honoring his daughter to deep cultural and historical associations.