On 16 April 2005 the Youth Center was host to the final Master Class of this season within the framework of the program entitled Topical Art in Petrograd, Leningrad, Petersburg. 20th - 21st Centuries. Andrei Lyublinsky and Maria Zaborovskaya presented their project called Trash-man. Keep your country tidy, which is a practical study of a well-known symbol of mass culture.

At a presentation which preceded the Master Class, a collection of images of “the little man throwing away trash” was shown.

As the designers explained, it was a memorable day because they finally have put their collection into shape. It consists of more than 300 images which can be divided into 24 rubrics. In their opinion it is terribly interesting to study how this symbol can be altered to suit the wishes of designers or customers. In today’s world there is a fantastic range of such images. We meet them on signs in parks, on trash bins and in the packaging of food products. Their collection has “little men” which come from a variety of countries, from Japan to Germany and Italy. When you first look at them, they appear to be similar. But if you look more closely, then you notice that each designer who has dealt with the given question adds something of his own to this image, something native and inimitable. Thus we find symbols in which the little man is throwing out a swastika or is depicted in the form of a rabbit.

During the course of the master class the artists invited the students to give expression to their own design fantasies. Andrei Lyublinsky and Maria Zaborovskaya gave each student a stencil with a set of details which are characteristic for "Trash - man." They were asked to develop a unique image using a detail only once. At the conclusion of the evening, the artists held a competition. Souvenir prizes were given out for the most unusual logotypes.

The tradition of holding a competition at the end of a Master Class was born on 19 March 2005 during the meeting with Marina Koldobskaya in the State Hermitage’s Youth Center and presentation of her work Agitfarfor-2 together with the Master Class entitled How to Spoil the China.bskaya in the State Hermitage’s Youth Center and presentation of her work A The results of student work at that class – plates decorated with drawings made using markers - are still on display in the Assembly Hall of the Youth Center.

Andrei Lyublinsky, Maria Zaborovskaya

Master Class in the Youth Center

"Trash - man"

Rewarding the winners

Studying the collection which was presented

Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum
All rights reserved. Image Usage Policy.
About the Site