Toys, 2023

The Toys series is a follow-up to Aidyn Zeinalov’s Swim & Dream exhibition. It comprises bronze versions of characters from popular Soviet animated cartoons such as Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the singing Lion Cub (2023). In all of these pieces, Zeinalov uses colors liberally, making the viewer believe it is a plastic or rubber toy they see rather than the bronze cast it is. Besides painting his sculptures, Zeinalov uses another unconventional approach, enduing some of the pieces with the ability to move, which is quite uncharacteristic of sculpture, normally associated with gravity and stillness. The toys seem to fall apart, breaking into pieces like a sliced apple. The viewers are free to decide whether they want to put the pieces back together or further distort the sculpture by moving them around. Sculptures of old toys are not the only ones that undergo this kind of transformation; Misha, the Russian Bear mascot of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, which famously flew away from the stadium during the Games closing ceremony, is also featured in the series.