Supported by Stichting Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst And Lloyd Hotel & Culturele Ambassade Amsterdam
A BOOK ON PORCELAIN.
Visual artist Oxana Malevanik was inspired by her own child memories and traumas, and the idea of the family dinner service.
Imagine it would have not the usual illustrations of flowers on it, but scenes of someone's own childhood and upbringing. With this in mind, she developed a service of which each part contains five images and a text.
She made a comic book not on paper, but on porcelain. In her previous book "That's not funny!" she devised her own style for the drawings. During the psychologist's treatment of her psychological traumas, she had to make primitive and quick sketches for every traumatic or hilarious experience in her life. These drawings had to clearly reflect what emotions these situations made her feel. She used this style of drawing for Stripservice. Small events from her childhood or jokes, which keep coming back to the memory. Usually these are the situations that are embedded in our memory because those experiences and feelings are new to a child. She discovered that her stories and memories are very similar to those of her friends and acquaintances around the world. So these are starting points and turning points in the process of maturing. For each story she made 5 drawings with a few sentences for each drawing, which describe the crucial event of the picture. She compiled her services from used chinaware from the Amsterdam Lloyd hotel, which with his special history and extremely creative atmosphere offers a great platform for many artists. It is also a very special place to meet creative people from all countries and to exchange experiences.
All sets together must form a large service, a book. She has now 6 sets - 6 stories. The idea is that its will be 12 sets or even more to complete the book on porcelain.
On Thursday 12 April 2018 there was a public viewing of the Stripservice in the Salon, Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, in the presence of the artist, who was talking about her project.
“Modern science psychology is rapidly destroying many dogmas and theories about the difference of people on the basis of culture and national characteristics of people. We are all united by the psychological development of the personality, based on the interaction of logical thinking and feelings. I came to Holland from Russia, learned Dutch and suddenly realized that my child traumas hampered me both in the profession and in social life. So I went to a Dutch psychologist who asked me to draw the simplest sketches for each trauma. It worked, I stopped crying and began to draw and write stories about my childhood. Having read my stories to people from different cultures, I realized that our childhood memories are the key to mutual understanding, the erasure of mental boundaries and cultural differences, because we all begin our journey from the knowledge of the world and ourselves. My choice for the hotel porcelain for my stories in the project is also not accidental. The hotel is a place of short meetings and interactions of people from all possible corners of the earth. And dinner, served on my plates, perhaps even for a moment will smooth out the sensation of a foreign country and make the traveller return to childhood and smile.” , Oxana Malevanik.
Stripservice is supported by the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam.
To order a service, to get more detailed information about the project, you can here: oxanamalevanik@gmail.com or tel: +31652329069.
CATALOG
THE FUR COLLAR.
French Edition.
20 June 2020
THE FUR COLLAR.
furcollar.pdf
Page 1. Plate Ø32 cm.
When I was 6 years old I started to make needlework. This meant that I made new things out of old junk. One day I sewed a crocodile out of the old green underpants of my brother. Everywhere I went, I carried my crocodile with me.
Page 2. Plate Ø26 cm.
Than it became winter and I decided to sew a fur coat for my little crocodile. In my mother’s closet I found a piece of mink fur. In the fur, I cut out two holes for the front legs and sewed two buttons on it so the coat could be closed.
Page 3. Plate Ø21,5 cm.
When my brother saw my new creation, he was very frightened and started to shout that this piece of fur was meant for the collar of my mother’s new coat.
Page 4. Plate Ø18,5 cm.
Well, I thought that I had to turn my little fur coat into a collar. So I took my mother’s new coat and sewed my crocodile’s coat – together with the crocodile still in it - as a new collar on my mother’s coat.
Page 5. Cup Ø10 cm.
My mom appreciated my work, at least she laughed very much.
MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY.
mymothersbirthday.pdf
Page 1. Plate Ø32 cm.
I remember one of my mother’s birthdays. I was about 10 years old. My father was sitting with his friend on the couch in the living room: “Anna! Bring the vodka glasses from the kitchen please, let’s drink to your birthday!”, shouted he.
Page 2. Plate Ø26 cm.
The vodka glasses were kept deep in the wall cupboard my father had made out of a large floor dresser, - he just hung it on the wall, so it became a wall cabinet. My mother placed a stool under it, so as to have a good look inside for the vodka glasses.
Page 3. Plate Ø21,5 cm.
While she was looking inside the cabinet, it collapsed off the wall and its full weight fell slap bang onto the back of her head.
Page 4. Plate Ø18,5 cm.
The next morning Mum got out of bed with a huge black eye. She had an important meeting at work and everyone knew she had been celebrating her birthday with her husband the previous night.
Page 5. Cup Ø10 cm.
This incident almost led to my parents getting divorced.
CREAM CAKE.
creamcake.pdf
Page 1. Plate Ø32 cm.
One day I was walking home from school with my chubby friend Tanya and on the way we both had to stop at the bakery. I went for the bread and Tanya ran to the Banquet Bakery Department. When we came out, I was holding a loaf of bread and she was carrying a huge cream cake.
- Are you celebrating something, Tanya?
- Oh, no, my mother and I eat a whole cake every night!
Page 2. Plate Ø26 cm.
That night I decided to have a serious talk with my parents and to give them a piece of my mind!
Page 3. Plate Ø21,5 cm.
Oh, no! I don’t want your stupid chicken! I want a cream cake every day!
Page 4. Plate Ø18,5 cm.
Since then, I have been eating a huge cream cake every night… in my dreams.
Page 5. Cup Ø10 cm.
Since then I've had real sweet dreams.
FLOATING PRINCESS.
floatingprincess.pdf
Page 1. Plate Ø32 cm.
My Daddy liked to give presents to everyone all the time. Once upon a time my first music teacher received a gift from my father: a pen. Inside a transparent tube, a little doll in a black bathing suit floated in a provocative pose, with her hands behind her head. When you turned the pen upside down, the bathing suit disappeared, leaving her completely naked.
- Please, accept this modest gift, dear Elena Andreevna!
Page 2. Plate Ø26 cm.
I do not know if my music teacher liked this gift, but when we got home and told our mother about the beautiful pen our father had given to the music teacher, she turned pale.
- Oh, mummy, it was such a lovely gift! A pen with a floating Princess!
Page 3. Plate Ø21,5 cm.
My mother gave our father a real dressing down that night.
- What the hell have you done!? Now she will think you’re sex maniac!
Page 4. Plate Ø18,5 cm.
The next time our music teacher received from our father a book about the history of rare civilizations.
Page 5. Cup Ø10 cm.
My brother and I could not understand what was wrong with the pen for a long time.
PLAYTIME.
playtime.pdf
Page 1. Plate Ø32 cm.
Every summer all the children of our court turned into warriors of the game called Cossacks - Brigands. The idea of the game was that the team of Cossacks should hide their banner from the bandits.
Page 2. Plate Ø26 cm.
And this meant that I had to run all the summer from the bandits.
Typically, the brigands were older boys, ussually they quickly caught small Cossacks and instantly shook out of them all the secrets and place of storage of the team's flag. But sometimes they came across very courageous opponents, whom they, after being carried away by the game, really tortured.
Page 3. Plate Ø21,5 cm.
Once I was tied to a tree and twisted my hands behind my back. I was spiked by the scruff of the neck.
Page 4. Plate Ø18,5 cm.
One boy was hanged, for real, on a tree. There was blood and bruises and many many tears.
Page 5. Cup Ø10 cm.
After the incident with the hanged Cossack of seven years old, who was rescued by passers-by, our parents banned us this fascinating game.
