Cartoons by Andrey Bilzho, the icon of Russian laughter culture

Once Petrovich drew from the head of Andrei Bilzho on a piece of paper to become an icon of Russian laughter culture for so-called the "wild" 1990s. Bilzho, a certified psychiatrist, embedded Petrovich in the armor of homo soveticus behavior patterns, supplied him with the deadly spear of straightforwardness on the verge of idiocy and sent to the new rapacious world of oligarchic capital. He himself thus began to lead the eccentric chronicle by picturing the exploits of his Don Quixote and posting them daily on the pages of nation-wide newspapers "Kommersant" and, later, "Izvestia".

Over two decades of observations Dr. Bilzho released several albums of Petrovich’s being, opened a network of restaurants a la sovetique in Russia, Czech Republic, Italy, where in Venice a monument to his drawn hero is mounted. We met with Dr. Bilzho in the interiors of the Museum of Modern Art, those meanwhile were filled with large, colorful paintings, plasma screens with animation and designer bras – pieces of his exhibition. Much of the retrospective shows unknown fine, insubstantial works of the master. They made that favorable environment for the birth, life, struggle and folly deeds that Petrovich is famous with.

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