Influenced by comic books, Salvador Dali and Mark Rothko, a Russian-born Jewish artist embraces his contradictions

JL;DR SUMMARY Yury Kharchenko, a Russian-born Jewish artist based in Berlin, explores his complex identity as a contemporary Jew through his paintings that combine pop culture references with taboo allusions to the Holocaust. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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