"I've been collecting clowns a long time ago." Gradually I formed a decent collection of theater porcelain. I did not collect everything, but rather selectively. The fact is that, from my point of view, in all porcelain manufactories a large percentage of kitsch, that is tasteless things, designed for people with different tastes. Some people do not care whether the statuette is artistically executed, whether it looks charming or not. Just buy something colorful. For me it's a principle: the image of the character should like me and deliver joy. If I talk about clowns, they are the personification of what a comedic actor does. It is no accident for one of my programs "Smehopanorama" I chose a clown as an emblem. This clown is of Italian origin. I bought it in Germany in the early 90's. He, I would say, is magical: if you look at it from different angles, it seems that his eyes, mood, facial expression change. I like that he holds the book, as if trying to comprehend both life and his work, and teach us something. He is already "disabled": often falling off the shelf - a person will pass by and touch his shoulder with his leg. He was glued many times, that is, "operated", like me.
The far right is the same clown of"Smehopanoramy", a symbol of the program, which has been on the air for 24 years. In the middle is a clown from the Italian comedy del arte (the famous Italian folk theater of the XV-XVII centuries with the participation of actors in masks). And the third in this company is training the mouse. Photo: Elena MilchanovskaThe concept of "clown" is capacious, has different meanings. It happens, it sounds scornful: "Well, you, clown!", That is, a man creates something awkward. And it happens on the contrary, they can say: "He was a great clown!", Referring to some great circus artist who gave people joy for many years. Or they say: "Great clownery", when the clown's comedy number reaches an artistic interpretation of life and even philosophical sounding and so it affects people, that they discover something of value for themselves or change their opinion about this or that phenomenon. Such clowning can even push a person to do a good deed, do something good. Here are the clowns and stand in my office, at home, in the office and in other spaces and not only decorate my life, but also help to comprehend. Of course, in clownery - different colors: comedy, lyric and even romantic, sentimental, tragic. But mysticism and other horror films are attributed to the clown as a counterpoint, as an artistic antithesis. But this is already in other genres of art and literature. For example, Stephen King in the book "It" the main negative character is a clown.
And this is the collector Eugene Petrosyan. Photo: Eugene Petrosyan In his direct art, clowns bring joy to people. And my figurines are the personification of those happy, happy moments in life and on stage. I look at them and remember the pages of my life, because each statuette belongs to a certain period. But to give me clowns is difficult and not necessary. I have to choose them myself, so that everyone was nice to me.
Evgeny Petrosyan with his collectionPhoto:Gennady KalashnikOur Russian humor is very bright, original, one of the most outstanding in the world. There have been wonderful clowns in Russia. I was lucky, I knew many of them, and had the honor of being friends with some of them. For example, I met Oleg Popov and shared experiences as colleagues in the humorous workshop. Once, we even performed a short humorous comedy with him at the Blue Light. Personalized porcelain clown figurines were made in Soviet times, but not many. On my shelves, there are figurines of Oleg Popov, Karandash (real name Mikhail Rumyantsev. — Antenna's note), Boris Vyatkin, Yuri Nikulin. There are also literary characters — heroes of Gogol, Chekhov, folklore heroes, and so on, so on.
