Valera Cherkashin (August 23, 1948) and Natasha Cherkashin (April 19, 1958), known as Valera & Natasha Cherkashin, are contemporary artists who have been working as a duo since 1988. They work with photography, create happenings, installations, and video art.
Valera Cherkashin was born in Kharkov, Ukraine on August 23, 1948. Natasha Cherkashin was born in Damascus, Syria on April 19, 1958. They are married and have been working together since 1988. In the early 1990s, they made performances in the Moscow metro station "Revolutionary Square," such as “Underground Privatization”, "Underground Subbotnik", "People's love of art for the people" and “Underground Wedding”. In 1992 they established a conceptual “Cherkashin Metropolitan Museum”.
Since 1994, the Cherkashins have traveled a lot and created a number of international projects: “German Atlantis” at Olympia stadium in Berlin in 1996; "Goodbye Favorite European Portraits: hello euro" in the swimming pool of the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. in 1999. Since 2005, the Cherkashins have been working on an international project “Global Underground” which will include art works about metros of 33 countries.
1998 - Empires: Russia Past & Present. Together with Steve Yates and Bill Wright. The Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX.1999 - Goodbye Favorite European Portraits: hello Euro. World Bank Headquarters Atrium Pool, Washington.2000 - From USSR to Russia. International Center of Photography, Shadai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.2000 - Mirages of Empires. PhotoEspana 2000, Caja Madrid, Madrid, Spain. (Catalog)2001 - Mirages of Empire. Russian American Cultural Center, New York, 2001; The State Russian Museum. St. Petersburg, 2002. (Catalog)2005 - XV International Festival "Month of Photography in Bratislava", Slovakia.2005 - *Futurism & Nostalgia. Great Neck Arts Center, New York2005 - *New York Real and Unreal. Union of Photo Artists, Moscow.2006 - Night with a Pioneer Leader, Glaz Gallery, Moscow House of Photography, Moscow.2007 - Metro New York--Moscow. Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York.2007 - The End of the Epoch. Project Museum of the USSR. Andrey Sakharov Museum & Public Center. Moscow. (Catalog)2008 - Jubilee exhibition. Union of Photo Artists. Moscow.2008 - New York. Premonition. Museum of Modern Art, Rostov on Don, Russia. (Catalog)2008 - Metro in art and Art in Metro. Exhibition in Moscow Museum of Modern Art. (Catalog)2008 - Global Underground, Gallery Blue Square, Paris, 2008; Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, 2008.2009 - Exhibition in Barbarian-Art Gallery, Zurich (Catalog)2009 - Moscow - Bilbao. Transfer. Center for Contemporary art Winzavod and Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Together with Ima Montoya. Moscow (Catalog)Valera & Natasha Cherkashin's work is held in the following permanent public collections:
The Art Institute of Chicago; (1994, 1998), USAThe Museum of Fine Art Santa Fe, NMThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CAMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston (2003, 2005), MAPhiladelphia Museum of Art, PAHouston Museum of Fine Arts (1998, 2005),TXSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CAFrederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MNThe Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJNewseum, Washington, D.C.Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, TXThe US Library of Congress, Washington D.C.The New York Public Library, NYThe World Bank Headquarters, Washington D.C.Museum am Checkpoint Charlie, BerlinInternational Center of Photography, TokyoMotorola Company, MoscowFoundation of Culture of RussiaKolodzei Art Foundation], NJMuseum of Contemporary Art, Rostov-na-Don