Leonid Tishkov, 1953 | Private Moon

Russian artist Leonid Tishkov was born into a school teacher's family in the Ural Mountains region of Russia and now lives and works in Moscow.

He has participated in numerous important group exhibitions including Berlin-Moscow 1950-2000, Berlin, Martin Gropius Bau 2002, Eye on Europe, 1960 to Now - MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, NY 2006, Fabric of the Myth, Compton Verney Gallery, UK 2007, Singapore Biennale 2008 and Moscow Biennale 2009.

Solo exhibitions include Nasher Museum of Duke University , Durham 1993, Museo de Arte Contemporeneo de Caracas Sofia Imber, Venezuela 1995, Block Museum, Northwestern University, Evanston 1996, Fargfabriken, Center for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, Sweden 1998, Center for Contemporary Art Uajzdowski castle, Warsaw 2007, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan 2009, Moscow Museum of Modern Art 2010.

"Private Moon" is a visual poem, telling a story about a man who found the Moon and stayed with her for the rest of his life.

In the upper world, in the attic of his house, he saw the Moon which had fallen from the sky. At first she was hiding from the sun in a dark, damp tunnel and was constantly frightened by the passing trains. Then she came to the house of the man.

Wrapping the moon in a thick blanket, he gives her autumn apples and drinks tea with her. When she finally recovers he puts her on a boat and carries her across a dark river to a high bank, where moon pine-trees grow.

He descends to the lower world wearing the clothes of his deceased father and then returns, illuminating the way with his private moon.

Transcending the borders between worlds via narrow bridges, sinking into sleep, taking care of the heavenly body, man turns into a mythological being living in the real world like in a fairy-tale.