Cedar lace: the Siberian master does not sell his works for any money (11 photos)

The fame of him and his unique works made from cedar shavings has long gone beyond the borders of the region: just a few years ago, on specialized resources - Internet forums and conferences - foreigners regularly begged to sell at least one piece.





The Japanese, for example, offered 17 thousand dollars for the Orlan, and they didn’t even see it in person - only via video link. But no, not a single sculpture of Bobkov went abroad, and now you can admire them at a permanent exhibition in the Kozhanovsky House of Culture.



A real man-made miracle - wooden sculptures by master Sergei Vasilyevich Bobkov

Where is this exhibition, where is this house?

The village of Kozhany is not at all a lost corner in the depths of Siberia, as one might think when looking at a map of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. No, everything is correct about the outback, but lost is definitely not about him. Back in the middle of the last century, the village first gained regional and then all-Union fame when a giant underground lake of mineral water was discovered near Kozhany.

However, old-timers have known about the healing properties of local springs for a long time - since the 19th century, but only after local agronomist Nikolai Taskin sent spring water for examination to Krasnoyarsk in the 1950s, it became clear - this is a real treasure. Experts conducted tests and found that the mineral water from the Kozhanovsky spring is rich in iron and is suitable for the treatment and prevention of many diseases. The then authorities of the region immediately raised the issue of building a sanatorium here, and in a short time a huge health resort appeared in the Balakhta region, which gave work to local residents.



First at the construction site, and then at the maintenance of the sanatorium, and taking into account the all-Union sights, it was planned to attract specialists of various kinds from all over the country. Unfortunately, it was not possible to complete the grandiose project; the collapse of the USSR prevented it. But more than 70 wells drilled by geological exploration expeditions throughout the 1990s provided Kozhany with a decent income: mineral water was transported hundreds of kilometers around.

Then, when the sanatorium began to change owners, it became more difficult: the pipelines supplying water to the bottling points were worn out, their use was prohibited due to sanitary standards, and no one wanted to invest money in replacing them. But then Sergei Bobkov appeared...



"Learn a Craft"

However, “appeared” is an artistic exaggeration. Sergei Vasilievich has lived in Kozhany since Soviet times. Once I came here from Krasnoyarsk to visit friends, and my soul became attached to the healing springs, to the clear and fast Zhura River, to the hospitable and talented local people. Any guest can be convinced that there are plenty of them here by walking around the village: most of the houses here are decorated with such a variety of carvings that one could almost consider the Kozhanovsky streets an open-air exhibition.



Well, Sergei Vasilyevich decided that he could make his own contribution to the decoration of the village that had become his home, and became a labor teacher at a local school. Fortunately, he knew how to do literally everything: the master says that since childhood he loved to make all sorts of unusual things with his hands, and without noticing it, he mastered an incredible number of crafts.

- I have repeatedly tried to count how many there are: carpentry of all kinds, including furniture making and wood carving, pottery and sculpture, wicker weaving... I even tried macrame. As a result, when counting, I lost track of about 70 crafts, and then I stopped counting,” Sergei Vasilyevich smiles.



Patent for miracles

It may seem that the master searched for his calling throughout his life, so that eventually, after many years of experience, he came to wooden lace. However, Sergei Bobkov himself claims that it was thanks to the huge number of mastered crafts that he got the idea, and most importantly, the opportunity to create in a completely new, his own direction.

- My technology is a synthesis of all technologies that have been developed for different creative professions. If I didn’t have the same macrame in my luggage, it’s unlikely that the sculptures you see would have turned out the same... alive, says their author.



Calling the technology of lace wooden sculpture “his” technology, Sergei Vasilyevich is not exaggerating at all. He completely independently developed it from scratch, once drawing attention to the texture and variety of shades of cedar shavings. Thin and plastic, it immediately begged to be turned into feathers and wool.

True, first the master had to invent a method to preserve the plasticity of the chips. Sergei Bobkov soaks the blank bars in water for several days, and then removes thin strips from them with a special cutter, which can already be worked with ordinary scissors, like paper. It seems simple, but when I myself tried to cut out one single feather from such a strip, it took me about 40 minutes: wood is still not paper, and if you turn the scissors incorrectly, you can tear out several of the finest fibers at once, hopelessly ruining the material.

Meanwhile, “Orlan,” for which the Japanese offered the above-mentioned considerable money, took more than 7,000 stripes! Is it any wonder that Sergei Vasilyevich spends several months (or even years!) to create a full-fledged sculpture, working 12-14 hours a day.



“Do not touch the exhibits with your hands!”

However, the preparation and processing of the chips themselves is not the only unique method of Sergei Bobkov, certified, by the way, by an official patent. Personally, the main thing seemed to me to be something else: an incredibly deep approach to designing a work. Let's start with the fact that the master first carefully studies the anatomy, physiology and behavior of the animal that he wants to depict.

- 30 years ago it would have been difficult: go and find the necessary textbook or atlas. To observe the natural behavior of an animal, you generally had to look for it in the forest for weeks. Today, everything is literally at hand, thanks to the Internet,” Sergei Vasilyevich shares his “secret.”

After a solid image has been formed in the artist’s imagination, the master draws a sketch on paper, then cuts out a three-dimensional figure from the same bars glued together, and only then “dresses” it in fur or feathers. So, I repeat, thin that they do not differ from the real thing either to the eye or to the touch. Except that the colors of his animals and birds are not similar, but believe me - everything else is so... alive that you can’t help but believe it: it turns out that beavers, sables, owls and eagles can be born in this color.

The head of the local House of Culture, Sergei Antipov, by the way, a student of Sergei Bobkov, jokes about this:

- We are thinking about allowing only spectators with their hands tied into the exhibition. Especially children: they certainly want to pet every animal. This desire of the audience is clearly visible in the master’s latest masterpiece, “Manula,” on which the master spent four and a half years.

Sergei Antipov, in front of me, removes a huge cat from a special box with internal fastenings, in which he returned from the next exhibition. The cedar "fur" on the back of the Pallas's head seems worn out, but I am immediately convinced that Sergei Bobkov's works are not so vulnerable. The author of the sculpture makes several passes with his hand, and the hairs return to their original position: the preparation of the material is of such high quality that it remains elastic for years, even after thousands of touches.



In order for the animal’s pose to be “alive,” the master spends a long time studying its anatomy, physiology and behavior./ Photo: Alexey Fedoreev

Buy cannot be photographed

The fame of Sergei Bobkov’s sculptures has spread so widely that today people travel hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers to Kozhany to look at the revived miracle. And almost every tourist asks to sell him something from the works, and wealthy people are not stingy with offers. And every time the artist refuses: he says that he creates them for the soul.

For years he dreamed of a special museum where they could be exhibited for public viewing, and the House of Culture allocated a small room for the exhibition. The solution was temporary: while the cedar “living corner” was huddled in one room, a permanent place was being prepared for Bobkov’s work in the same building. I just happened to visit the future museum at the final stage of its preparation.

Today, the only thing missing there is shelving for sculptures and educational and craft equipment: a workshop will also be opened here, where Sergei Vasilyevich will be able to teach everyone who wants to learn his secrets.

The official opening of the museum-workshop is scheduled for October 1 this year. By that time, several more works, which are now traveling from exhibition to exhibition, should return to Kozhany after “Manul”. And I decided to definitely return here on this day in order to at least photograph every single work of Sergei Bobkov as a souvenir. Since you can’t buy them and take them home...