St Petersburg University artists represented Russia at the ART ASIA 2018 festival in Seoul

Master's degree students Ilya Bannikov and Ardak Mukanova and bachelor's degree students Anita Turadzhanova and Anastasia Shmakova, as well as Irina Tsymbal, Director of the academic programme "Painting", took part in the largest Asian art exhibition. It is noteworthy that they happened to be the only participants from Russia. This trip was sponsored by the Directorate of the Russia - Republic of Korea Dialogue forum. Its Russian Coordinating Committee is headed by Nikolay Kropachev, the rector of St Petersburg University.

"At the festival, we met Professor Kwon Daehun from the College of Fine Arts of Seoul National University. Last June, he had visited St Petersburg University to unveil the monument to Pak Kyongni. He became acquainted with the works of our students and staff, and was interested in our being invited to the exhibition," said Irina Tsymbal. "I do hope we will be able to strengthen cooperation with our Korean colleagues."

Within the framework of the exhibition, the St Petersburg University team presented two genres of painting: graphic designers Ilya and Ardak brought their abstract works; while painters Anita and Anastasia presented still lifes and landscape compositions devoted to St Petersburg. All the works have aroused great interest among our international colleagues and connoisseurs of art: St Petersburg University's stand was often photographed by reporters. "In any case, we were definitely not like anyone else there," the painters noted.

Irina Tsymbal spoke about the traditions of Russian academic art at the Art Universiade's educational session. "Unlike national schools, East Asian realistic art is not so deeply rooted as it is in Russia. Therefore, the work of Russian artists is traditionally popular there. Students, especially from China, are eager to study in Russia, and our artists and teachers are regularly invited to organise master classes at Asian universities,” said the Director of the academic programme "Painting".

"Due to its uniqueness, abstract art belonging to the European tradition also attracts people of the Orient," Ilya Bannikov thinks. "Unlike Europeans, who can turn to the achievements of the school of psychoanalysis, Asian artists cannot fully interact with the unconscious in their practice. Their art is based on traditional subjects, and they began to experiment only a short time ago," he added.

According to Irina Tsymbal, her students gained much practical experience during the ART ASIA exhibition, and it is valuable for any artist. Participation in any international project means a large amount of preparatory work, so the students and their teacher had to have special permits issued for the export of paintings. They also transported them, and assembled and dismantled the stands. They had to do everything all by themselves. The largest canvas, for example, was two metres high. It had to be pulled on a stretcher. "A funny thing happened: it turned out that there was no screwdriver in the exhibition gallery, and we desperately needed one to assemble the paintings. I had to turn for help to our international colleagues working at other stands, and the colleagues from Thailand gave a helping hand," said Irina Tsymbal.

A trip to Seoul offered the St Petersburg University artists the opportunity to discover Korean art. Our painters visited the palace and temple complexes, where they became acquainted with the artistic heritage of Korea, while the designers chose modern and contemporary art galleries, as well as the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.