Overcoming is a unique visual art project that combines creative efforts of young artists from Russia and Japan. The curator of the project is Semyon Mikhailovsky, Rector of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
More than 120 works of young artists from Japanese and Russian art schools will be displayed for the first time as a part of large-scaled social-cultural project “Takeda. Pain and Will” aimed to support development of palliative care and new technologies in medicine.
The exhibition will feature about 70 art pieces provided by Japanese students from two prominent universities—the Musashino Art University and the Tama Art University. Paintings, graphic art and calligraphy, videos and installations by Japanese artists will be presented on the first floor of the Manege in Saint Petersburg.
Art works created by students of the St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repin (St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts) will be shown on the second floor. Most of these works will be displayed on artist’s easels. The idea of organizers was to create atmosphere of learning workrooms in the Manege Halls to remind visitors that this exhibition presents new generation of artists.
As viewers enter the show, they will have to pave their way around immense wooden letters that spell out the name of the exhibition. These are an allusion to the work of Japanese artist Kayoko Watanabe who has devised a system of wooden lettering based on traditional Japanese construction techniques that join pieces without nails.