Matryoshka

following initial successes in a wide variety of artistic disciplines in his home country russia, the caucusan alim pasht-han has constantly expanded his artistic activities by painting, video installations, porcelain sculptures and designs at giebichenstein castle in halle. feeling at home in both worlds of art and design, he has fortunately not yet decided which discipline he belongs to more; in his work as a designer, the influences of his enormous artistic talents cannot be denied, and fully account for the power of his designs.
alim pasht-han convincingly redefines the matryoshka, the topos of russian craftwork, by attaching functions to them such as containers, lamps, pot pourri, vases or lanterns; in so doing, he not only does away with the status of the matryoshka as a mere ornament, but furthermore enables each size to lead a life of its own without their larger or smaller comrades. pasht-han rarefies each size with a different surface; despite these surprising gold and platinum editions, ornamental painting, bas-reliefs and hole textures, reference to the classic matryoshka is never lost. it goes without saying that the matrjoschkas by alim pasht-han fit inside one another.
with the tureen sito, pasht-han explores the boundaries of the technical possibilities of porcelain: he manually makes permanent holes in a highly traditional tureen form to such an extent that, at the end of the process, the hole-to-porcelain ratio is 1:1. this deconstruction of the porcelain body has been a stylistic speciality in pasht-han's porcelain work since 2004, a recurrent theme in his entire porcelain designs.
alim pasht-han's bowls only reveal their real character at second or third glance: they are female masks, the faces of which appear to have been brutally thrust down onto the surface of the table; the mask interiors are refined with a variety of porcelain decorations.
in these irritating container sculptures, pasht-han the exceptionally gifted sculptor meets the imaginative designer with completely new perspectives. as with his other porcelain objects, the results are provokingly novel and highly aesthetic.
following alim pasht-han's convincing redefinition of the classic matryoshka shape as a box, potpourri or vase in porcelain, he now applies the matryoshka shape to an extensive (porcelain) lighting family. these floor, suspension, table and wall lamps with led technology are characterised by their wide variety of porcelain techniques and surfaces; in addition to classic glazing (in white, polished gold and platinum gloss), the almost forgotten lithophane technique with floral decorations has been revived, as well as pasht-han's trademark, of course, completely covering the item with holes.