Fluffy artists. That's the only way to call cats of the unique and worldwide-known Kuklachev's Cat Theater. At the end of 2021, Veronica Ershova and I spent a week in the company of Dmitry Kuklachev, photographing the most charismatic members of his troupe.
Kuklachev's Cat Theater was formed in 1990 and for now, it's the only cat theater in the world. In 1995, during the Paris tour, the theater was awarded Golden World Cup and got the title of "The most original theater in the world". In 2006, the International Association at the United Nations awarded the theater with the "Golden Phenomenon" prize, and the Association of Broadway Theaters recognized the theater's performance "Cats and the Artist" as the best play of the year.
Photographers: Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova
Cat trainer: Dmitry Kuklachev
More info: alexanderkhokhlov.com | Instagram | twitter.com | Facebook | behance.net
#1
I work as a professional photographer focused mostly on pet photography and fine art. With my wife Veronica we work as a creative duo, she produces a lot of my shoots and performs as a photographer as well.
I came across photography in 2008. I tried a lot of genres and finally realized that portrait photography is my true passion. After that, I began my experiments with portraits and art, and in 2012/2013 I created the art series that became viral and helped me to boost my further career. You can check it here.
I also shared pictures from my other projects on Bored Panda. You can check them out by clicking here, here, here, here and here.
I still love working on art images, and I have a lot of projects to do in the near future.
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#2
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#3
We got an invitation from Dmitry Kuklachev, who leads the theater at the moment to do the artists' theatrical portfolio and we found that interesting. To do a portfolio for the one and only cat theater in the world - that's a great opportunity to participate in.
For a week we photographed around 40 furry artists. It seems like a lot until you find out there are more than a hundred cats who live and work in the theater. So we still have a chance to come back for more expressions!
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#4
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#5
Veronica and I had a lot of experience photographing dogs before this shoot. But it's absolutely different to work with cats. They are not quite emotional, they can't sit still for a long time, they do not fix their eyes to the camera, and smacking, squeaking and attractive noises are often just useless. But we had to show the personality and character of each animal - that was the main challenge and the most fascinating part. The only way to make cats relaxed and calm was by playing with them. As Dmitry Kuklachev says, a cat cannot be taught anything on purpose - only during a play, a cat demonstrates its talent and abilities.
Dmitry is a real professional and a wizard of his craft. A man who knows the cat's psychology perfectly. He is able to bring the animal to the right pose with one movement, he knows how to motivate, to make a cat throw the right look to the camera. A lot of his fluffy artists are celebrities themselves, as they not only play in the theater but also star in commercials.
We do love cats. And dogs. And horses. All animals! It's impossible to do a good animal portrait if you don't like your heroes. All of them are great and unique and we absolutely love them.
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#6
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#7
After the shoot, we got an invitation from the theater to visit a new performance and visited it with the whole family. That was fascinating. To my shame, I had never been in Kuklachev's theater before, although in Moscow this theater is already a legendary and must-see place for children.
Despite the fact that the performance is quite long (about 2 hours) and there is not a single word in it, we were not bored for a second. Everything is very dynamic, and the tricks the furry performers do are both funny and mesmerizing. For anyone visiting Moscow with children, I highly recommend this theater as a place to visit.
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#8
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#9
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#10
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#11
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#12
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#13
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#14
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#15
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#16
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#17
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
#18
Furry Artists Prepare For A Performance
from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/34gcVJ8
via Boredpanda
