On July 31, 2015, in the halls of the Mikhailovsky Battery museum complex of the Military Historical Museum of Fortifications (Sevastopol, North Side, Gromova St., 35/1), the opening of the Third Interregional Academic Exhibition “AGAINST THE CURRENT” is planned.

The organizers of the project: the Russian Academy of Arts and the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts, the Creative Union of Russian Artists with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Government of the city of Sevastopol, the Military History Museum of Fortifications and the Sevastopol Regional Branch of the TSHR present a large-scale academic project in which representatives from 12 regions of Russia participate: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Saratov, Saransk, Samara, Togliatti, Izhevsk, Perm, Penza, Cheboksary, Ufa.

The project manager is the chairman of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts, full member and member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts, president of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia Konstantin Khudyakov.

The exhibition will be presented by project curators - corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Arts, vice-presidents of the Creative Union of Russian Artists, honored artists of Russia Ivan Kolesnikov and Sergey Denisov (Moscow).

The most important part of the project is the Red Gate / Against the Flow art encyclopedia (560 pages) with high-quality reproductions of the works of the participants of the academic project and research articles by leading art critics and art critics of Russia. The presentation of the publication will also be held as part of the opening of the exhibition in Sevastopol.

Karmeev Sergey. Scenery.

The Interregional Academic Exhibition-Competition "Red Gate / Against the Current" is a unique event in art culture. The large-scale project is designed for twenty years and is a kind of reflection of the modern fine art of continental Russia. The strategically important objective of the project is the study of the art process and the updating of artistic practices, which are based on the academic foundation, the priorities of plastic virtues and the indispensable innovation in the visual arts.

The conceptual basis of the project was the work of the great humanist and enlightener of the 17th century, the founder of European pedagogy Jan Amos Comenius, “The World of Sensual Things in Pictures”. Comenius believed that the upbringing in a person of a holistic sense of the world is the main task of pedagogy and enlightenment. The organizers of the project transfer this wonderful idea to the world of art and prove that when striving to study / create a holistic picture of the universe, it is important to highlight the objects that make up this world, which are equal in importance and equally interesting for artistic expression, to understand that the world is a single whole, where everything Elements are connected with each other by a multitude of unique qualities and concepts. That is why artists were invited by means of fine art to reflect themes-objects that have not lost their relevance to this day. These are 10 fundamental topics for the first half of the 21st century: Landscape, Thirst and Hunger, Hunter and Victim, Plants, Birds, Inhabitants of Rivers and Seas, Animals, Reptiles, Still Life, Creature (Something).

Kuznetsov Sergey. Canaries

The exhibition project presents the works of more than 100 artists - President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli, academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Arts Konstantin Khudyakov, Evgeny Romashko, Dmitry Belyukin, Konstantin Petrov, Ivan Kolesnikov and Sergey Denisov, Andrey Dubov; laureates of the Prize named after K.S. Petrov-Vodkin: Mikhail Zaikin, Sergey Karmeev, Anton Batishev, Alexei Avramchik; laureates of the I.E. Repin Prize: Vasily Shulzhenko, Rinat Voligamsi, Ilgizar Samakayev, Nikolai Karacharskov, Igor Pestov, Sergey Kuznetsov, Dmitry Anchukov; laureates of the N. I. Feshin Prize: Alexander Artamonov, Irik Musin, Stanislav Morozov, Leonid Semeyko, Gaziz Gubaidullin, Semen Agroskin, Alexander Grekov; Prize winner M.V. Nesterova Airat Teregulov, laureates of the Prizes of the President of the Russian Academy of Arts ZK Tsereteli: Elena Kovylina, Olga Tobreluts, Olga Peganova, Lyudmila Makhankova, Diana Machulina, Evgenia Maltseva; laureates of the Prize named after P.P. Chistyakova: Stanislav Taratukhin, Fedor Salikov, Gennady Dubrovin, Vera Karaseva and many others.

Maltseva Eugene. Metamorphoses.

The awards of the “Against the Current” academic competition were initiated by the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Collection of Actual Realism Foundation in order to support talented authors and perpetuate the memory of enlightening artists who have become symbols of the Russian cultural tradition. The President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli established his own prize.

It is worth noting that the “Against the Current” award fund consisted of different sources: sponsorship from the “Collection of Actual Realism” Foundation, the Zurab Tsereteli Foundation, the Konstantin Petrov-Vodkin Prize was funded by the Government of the Saratov Region, and the N. I. Feshin Prize - Government of the Republic of Tatarstan. And the prize winners were representatives of different cities - Saratov, Ufa, Samara, Tolyatti, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary, Moscow, St. Petersburg. All these talented artists represent different unions: the TSH of Russia, the Union of Russian Artists, the Moscow Union of Artists, and there are also “union-free” among them. All of these are positive facts that testify to the strengthening of interdepartmental ties and the professional support of artists, regardless of their union affiliation.

Musin Irik. Farewell. oil on canvas 2014 94x125

The events of the “Against the Current” exhibition project are aimed at strengthening inter-regional cultural ties, interaction between the Russian Academy of Arts, metropolitan and regional branches of creative unions of artists, and promoting creative initiatives in artistic practice.

In the near future, Sevastopol residents will evaluate the work of the project participants. The organizers are very grateful to the director of the museum, Yu.S. Terariyev, the staff of the Military History Museum of Fortifications and the curator of the exhibition in Sevastopol, D. B. Rezvan (chairman of the board of the Sevastopol Regional Branch of the TSHR) for their help in organizing and promoting academic projects in the museums of the Crimea and Sevastopol.

The exhibition in the halls of the Mikhailovsky Battery museum complex will be open to the public from July 31 to August 31, 2015. In September, it is planned to exhibit this exhibition in the Kerch Art Gallery.

Pestov Igor, SILENCE. 2014