Bob Basset

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Bob Basset studio was founded as a workshop by brothers Serhii and Oleg Petrov in Kharkiv in 1989 and named after their basset hound Bob. The workshop produced leather accessories, souvenir knives and sheaths. The studio began publishing their work in LiveJournal in 2004.

The first foreign publications about Bob Basset appeared in the British Bizarre Magazine and in the blog Boing Boing.[7] Canadian sci- fi writer Cory Doctorow, co-founder of the blog BoingBoing became interested in Bob Basset's mask on eBay. Doctorow shared his finding with fans and sci-fi writer William Gibson, who called this mask "Probably the single best steampunk object I've seen".[4]

2007

Bob Basset's leather paws shoes appeared in The New York Times Fashion Magazine. Since 2007, the studio's products have been regularly presented at Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days and the Ukrainian Fashion Week, where Bob Basset cooperated with Ukrainian brands sasha.kanevski and Valery Kovalska and other designers.

2009

Four of Bob Basset's masks were purchased for the film Parallel Lines by Ridley Scott's RSA Film company.[8]

2010

Vogue International published 12 pages of stylistic fantasies by Panos Yiapanis with masks by Bob Basset.[6] Studio's leather masks became the central element of men's Spring/Summer 2011 collection by Givenchy, shown at the Paris Fashion Week. Later, those masks were used in Givenchy's promotional posters.[9] Zac Baird, the keyboardist, collaborating with Korn, wore a horse mask by Bob Basset on tour.[4]

2012

Bob Basset took part in European exhibitions Futur Anterieur (Paris)[10] and The Great Steampunk Exhibition (London).

2013

A member of Slipknot Sid Wilson purchased one of Bob Basset's masks and wore it as a part of his show image. Masks can be seen in Slipknot’s “The Devil in I”[11] and “Killpop”[12] music videos. Later Wilson starred in Avril Lavigne's "Rock N Roll" music video,[13] wearing Bob Basset mask as well. Another of Bob Basset's masks appeared in the musical film "Metallica: Through the Never".[14] Bob Basset took part in "Futur anterieur" exhibition in New York and in “Steampunk Art” exhibitions in Seoul and Beijing.[15]

2014

After protesters clashed with police at the Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in Kyiv and many reporters received beatings, the studio’s cofounder Serhii Petrov responded by crafting the leather “Mask of Maidan.”

Bob Basset's masks were used for the promotional campaign of TNT's "The Last Ship".[16] Bob Basset created Mask of Maidan, which was dedicated to the journalists, who suffered during the confrontation at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv, Ukraine. The mask was auctioned, and all funds were used to support "Hromadske" public channel.[17][18] Bob Basset presented "Mashrabiya" collection at Ukrainian Fashion Week.[19] In the same year the mask from this collection has been used in the photo shoot of Elizabeth Banks for Flaunt Magazine.[20] Bob Basset created the mask for motorcycle concept “Sturmvögel”, created by Ukrainian ICM (Iron Custom Motorcycles) company.[21] Bob Basset took part in "Futur anterieur" exhibition in Hong Kong.

2015

Bob Basset presented his masks and art-performance "Behind the mask" at Gogolfest. Bob Basset presented "ΣΑΛΩΜΗΣ" collection at Ukrainian Fashion Week.[22] The studio made a mask of "Stalker" for Plarium's “Total Domination” MMO game.

2016

Bob Basset produced the second mask for ICM. The mask will be used for the new speed record project “Lake Bonneviile”.[23] Vogue.com included Bob Basset as one of the 9 elements of Ukrainian fashion revolution.[24] Bob Basset's mask was used in Otep's "Generation Doom" music video.[25]

2017

In January Bob Basset presents preview of its first solo exhibition "Entity" in "parfum büro" gallery.[26] Later, in March "Entity" was shown in "Bereznitsky Aesthetics" gallery. Items for "Entity" was gathered from private collections all over the world.[27] First collaboration of Italian brand Balossa and Bob Basset was presented at Lviv Fashion Week.[28] In May Bob Basset's artworks was shown in Kharkiv for the first time. Exhibition was part of Museum Night in YermilovCentre.[29]

2018

The co-founder of the Bob Basset art studio Sergii Petrov and street artist Gamlet Zinkovsky – are displaying their artworks in Lima, Peru, from February 10 to March 3. The artists arrived in Peru’s capital at the invitation of a local artist Conrad Florez and they arranged a NEGRO exhibition together with him and another Peruvian artist Andrea Barreda. Currently, the art center Monumental Callao is showing six masks by Sergii Petrov and 23 drawings by Gamlet, while the Peruvians presented three of their paintings.[30]. The Lithuanian electrofashion duo Beissoul & Einius presented a new video for the track "Rooftop", created in collaboration with the Bob Basset. They had already collaborated in the framework of the Photography of Visitors with Dmitry Komissarenko, published in the magazine DESIGN SCENE earlier[31].

On September 4, the art studio together with the artist Hamlet Zinkovsky presented the "Objects" at the Yermilov Contemporary Art Center, the first full-fledged joint exhibition in their home city Kharkiv[32]. Bob Basset presented 19 leather masks and a steampunk dog[33]. There was also presented a joint video work of the art studio and Hamlet, and several experiments for the audience. Bob Basset made an art object out of five old full-length mirrors: they had etched amalgam in a place where people usually see their own faces, and masks behind this hole. Looking at such mirror, the visitor could see his own reflection, where instead of the face there was one of Bob Basset's masks[34]. At the end of the tour, visitors were offered an art dash: the ability to shoot or not to shoot at art objects. In total, "Items" gathered more than 1,000 visitors on opening day and more than 15,000 throughout the entire exhibit. According to the director of "YermilovCenter" Natalia Ivanova, the exhibition became the most visited in all those years that she heads the center and the most visited exhibition of the year in Kharkiv[35]. On November 23, "Items" were shown at the "Jump" gallery in Poltava[36].

In November, Bob Basset and shoe brand Ganor Dominic made a collaborational project[37].

2019

The "Items" exhibition was partially presented at Ukrainian Fashion Week[38]. For the first time, the exhibition featured the ironic installation of Bob Basset's "Calvary" with eggs clothed in miniatures of the iconic art studios' leather masks. Previously, it was shown as a photo project only. "Calvary" first public appearance was dedicated to the world record egg phenomenon.

Bob Basset designers work with leather, artificial sapphire, valuable woods, brass, copper, steel. But the favorite material is leather.

Studio's designers are constantly experimenting, looking for new technologies that would allow them to realize the most daring ideas. They are actively trying new materials (synthetic sapphire, sturgeon's leather) and combining them with the common leather, wood, bone, metal. At the same time, the studio is engaged in restoration of old techniques of leatherwork: ancient technology of manufacturing high-strength leather armor known as “cuir bouilli” (boiled leather), volume stamping, etc.

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