Temnikova & Kasela gallery is proud to present a solo project by Tommy Cash, the contemporary Estonian polymath with a global outreach. Cash is known for his depiction of contemporary life through a lens of a generation born in the transitional period between the collapse of the USSR and its imaginary and the global triumph of neoliberal capitalism. As a creative of transdisciplinary nature, he operates on the broad horizon of visual culture - which covers art, design and fashion. In the context of the geopolitical crisis caused by Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine, Cash’s outlook on “the Global East” mutated cultural landscape turns out to be prophetic. The combination of the subjects of transcultural materialism, symbology and political crisis reflects in bold physical and digital objects.

The presentation centres around Nukerashka, the Cash-created blend of the nuclear mushroom cloud and a popular Soviet time cartoon character, Topple or Cheburashka. It was invented by Russian children’s writer Edouard Uspensky. Nukerashka can also be deconstructed as “nuke” (referring to the notorious obnoxious threats) and “rashka” (Russ(ia)ka), one of the prevalent denominators of contemporary Russia, circulating predominantly in youth culture. Cheburashka had been recently used by Russian state propaganda to promote the Sochi Winter Olympic games. Among many other peculiar facts about the original Cheburashka is the rights to reproduce its image were purchased by a Japanese animation studio, which continues to produce original content specifically for the local scene.

Tommy Cash has reached hundreds of millions of people worldwide with his distinctive visual style, absurdist imagery and depraved sense of humour. Still, there’s much more to him than shock, irony and comedy. Addressing the lost generation of intermission in history, he uncovers and makes visible the aesthetics of ideological hauntology. Tommy Cash’s joint exhibition with fashion designer Rick Owens “The Pure and The Damned” took place at KUMU Art Museum (2019); he participated in the Performance Night curated by Rick Owens at the Centre Pompidou (2019); he also recently collaborated with Maison Margiela.

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