Valera and Natasha Cherkashin

Valera and Natasha Cherkashin are artists who have been exploring the cultures of the USSR, Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Japan, China, France, Italy and Mongolia since 1988. They have held more than 130 individual exhibits and more than 200 actions. Their work has been the subject of 70 television programs including CNN, Deutsche Welle, Russian TV. Their work has been the subject of over 250 publications, including Washington Post, Art+Auction, Art Forum, Stern Magazine.

After the Cherkashins paid their last respects to the Soviet Epoch and buried it, they began work with the new Epoch in Russia - the epoch of capitalism. They founded the Cherkashin Metropolitan Museum. Then they privatized the government sculpture found in the Moscow metro station, Revolutionary Square. They arranged a public wedding ceremony with a real woman of our time, and the revolutionary worker from the 1930s, found in the historic, three-dimensional bronze sculptures. The Cherkashins discovered the most secretive voting methods in the world. They also found the way to succeed in the fight against inflation in the USSR. Valera Cherkashin presented an official tea party with Russian vodka in honor of his wife's birthday at the Russian Kremlin in Moscow and United States Capitol Building in Washington DC. The Cherkashins discovered the artistic solution for the issue of Northern Territories in Japan and signed a Peace agreement with the Japanese people. They sold their photographic work to major museums throughout the United States and laundered money inside the World Bank Headquarters for over half a year. Now after these historic achievements with their art, the Cherkashins decide to begin to bring together the greatest metro stations from around the world, to merge thirty-three subways into one Global Underground.

2012 - Personal exhibitions at Festivals of photography at Houston, Buenos Aires and Krasnodar.

2011 - Award from Friends of the United Nations for original global art work.

2011 - Project "Global Transportation" in Dubai. Catalog. Began work of the project "Vibrations".

2010 - Began work on the project "Apocalypse"

2009 - Exhibition "Moscow - Bilbao. Transfer" at Winzavod Center for Contemporary Arts. Moscow.

Began work on project "Monuments".

2008 - Exhibition "Global Underground" in Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Catalog. Project "Evolution of Chaos".

2007 - Work on the project "Global Underground", trips to Stockholm, China, Paris.

2006 - Participation in Art Moscow Fair; ARCO Fair, Madrid; Vienna's Fair, Austria, Vienna.

2005 - Began work on "Global Underground" project.

2005 - Participation in the XV International Festival "Month of Photography in Bratislava", Slovakia. (Moscow MOMA).

2004 - Participation in the cultural program for Olympics in Greece, Athens. (Stella Art Gallery).

2003 - Were given an award as "Creative Photo Artists" from Creative Magazine and The Moscow Union of Journalists.

2002 - Grant from the Soros Foundation for the participation in "Intersection", Mongolia.

2002 - Exhibition "Mirages of Empires" in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Catalog.

2001 - Permanent exposition "Good-bye Favorite European Portraits" in the World Bank Headquarters.

2000 - Participation in the International Photo Festival PhotoEspana 2000, Caja Madrid, Madrid, Spain. Catalog.

2000 - "Rapprochement of Japan and Russia", Hokkaido; "Solving the problem of Wonders of the World", Niagara Falls.

1999 - An underwater installation "Good-bye Favorite European Portraits: Hello Euro" was held in atrium pool, World Bank Headquarters, Washing ton, DC. The Washington Post publication.

1999 - The Cherkashins have started to work with digital production with the assistance of MFA Photography and Related Media Department of the School of Visual Arts, located in New York City.

1999 - A four-month grant from Japan Foundation to live and work in Japan.

1999 - "Art as a tool for diplomacy" - an artistic solution in Japan on the issue of Northern Territories

1996 - Worked on project "Atlantis of the World". The underwater exhibition "German Atlantis" was held in the swimming pool of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Deutche Welle TV program.

1997 - Began work on the theme of "Favorite Portraits of People in the World".

1995 - Began work on the theme of "Mirages of Empires".

1994 - Began work on the theme of "Travel as Art".

1993 - Awarded grant from the Foundation of Social Innovations, USA, "New Leaders of Russia".

1992 - Developed the conceptual museum "Cherkashin Metropolitan Museum". CNN program "State in the Art".

1982 - The first exhibition in Moscow.

1978 - The first exhibition in Kharkov together with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Klim.

1962 - First art happenings

Valera Cherkashin

1948 - Born in Kharkov, Ukraine

1963 - The first conceptual actions

1978 - First personal exhibition in Kharkov together with Boris Mikhailov and Klim.

1978 - 80-Worked with the creative group by the name of Sterligov's Group in Leningrad

1980 - Moved to Moscow

1984 - Became a member of Moscow Union of Graphic Artists

1990 - Became a member of the USSR Union of Artists.

2003 - Became a member of the Union of Photo Artists of Russia.

Natasha Cherkashin

1958 - Born in Damascus, Syria

1980 - Graduated from the Moscow State Teacher's Training University

1994 - Became a member of the International Federation of Artists

The previous projects of the Cherkashins were sponsored by following organizations:

World Bank, City Bank, European Union, Japan Foundation, Air France, Stern Magazine, AGFA Film, Deutsche Welle TV International, Caja Madrid, Kunstverein Rosenheim, Dianne Beal Contemporary Art, Soros Foundation, Capital Summit Laminations, Irving Art Center, Dallas, TX; Ferrari-Maserati of Long Island, NY, Swiss International Air lines, Embassy of Sweden in Moscow, Switzerland Tourism. Sweedbank, Beeline, Adobe System, Inc., Embassy of Spain in Moscow, Metro Bilbao, Municipality of Erandio, Winzavod Center for contemporary Art, Instituto Servantes, BBK Spain, Dubai Road & Transportation Authority.

IRIS Foundation, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, ROSIZO State Center for Museums & Exhibitions of the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation