The virtual bridge "Chyskhaan + Ko = Keepers of the World Cold" is the project inspired by Ulyana Vinokurova, Honorary Professor of the Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts. The project was conceived as online platform for contacts of peoples who have created eco-spiritual cultures of co-evolution in cold territories, development of long-term strategies of collective vitality, art and education, joy of solidarity, saving the health of people and the planet in the face of the challenges of COVID-19 and global climate change.
The tasks of the global project include restoring continuity and constructing characters of Cold and Winter among different nations as symbols of viability, sources of the values of Good and Peace; strengthening spiritual, informational and environmental security through the revival of the deep memory mechanisms of the human mission on Earth, its planetary integrity and codependency of people; the turn of neo-mythical images of Cold and Winter, created for the tourism business and holiday culture, towards the creation of a community of Keepers of the World Cold; personalization of creators of cultures of cold territories, cultural and civilization codes of Beauty at low temperatures, collective memory of the future; giving conscious passionary stimulus in the Arctic as the upper chakras of the Earth, setting goals for the inhabitants of cold territories as guarantors of the health of people and the planet and creating a common educational, creative and scientific platform.
The exposition of "The Power and Beauty of Cold" includes paintings on the themes of philosophy and ecology of Cold. The project involves 120 works by 50 artists - representatives of different parts of Russia and four other countries of the world: The United States of America, France, Kazakhstan and Nepal. Some of the presented works are in the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). In general, the project "The Power and Beauty of Cold" is an important reminder by means of Fine Arts of the spiritual connection of the peoples of the world and responsibility of mankind for the preservation of the environment.
The participant of the exhibition from France, painter Toby Wright, has been worrying about the ecology of the North and ice melting for many years. In 2015 he visited the Arctic region as a participant of scientific expedition. The exhibition features several of his landscapes painted from life during that trip.
In Indianapolis of the USA snow does not fall as often, so it impresses local artists as a rare occurrence - such a study is presented at the exhibition by the American impressionist Roy Boswell. The eternal ice that adorns the peaks of the Himalayas is captured in watercolor sketches by Manoj Tamang, who is one of the ten best painters of Nepal according to the International Association of Watercolorists.
The works on the theme of the Power and Beauty of Cold were sent to the exhibition by artists from Moscow, Gorno-Altaysk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Lesozavodsk and other cities of Russia. And of course, the theme of the North and Cold has been greatly developed in the works of Yakut artists.
The exhibition includes works of such recognized masters of painting and graphics as Maria Rakhleeva, Tuyaara Shaposhnikova, Natalya Nikolaeva, Ekaterina Shaposhnikova, Julustan Boytunov, Mikhail Starostin, Marianna Lukina, Yuriy Spiridonov, Innokenty Koryakin, Gavriil Petrov and Semen Lukansi. Works of young artists and students of the Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts are also presented.
The exhibition presents works in all genres: landscapes, portraits, still lifes and thematic paintings, reflecting a wide range of reflections of contemporary artists about nature, different states of Cold, dozens of shades of snow, about a man and his thoughts, feelings, mood and spirit of the North.
A landscape is a symbol of life, native land. Through it, the artists convey the psychological state of a lyrical hero, the general mood of the moment. Artists turn to the language of symbols, reflecting on Cold as a mystically animated phenomenon. The archetypal symbols reflect their thoughts about spiritual strength of the inhabitants of the North, the national idea of preserving Cold, and stability of the values that underlie the ecological well-being of the world.
A large part of the exhibition consists of paintings and graphic works of the portrait genre. At the same time, they are not mainly the portraits of some known people, but rather generalized images of the inhabitants of the Northern territories. The exhibition is complemented by sections of sculpture and decorative – applied art.
With all originality of each idea and the variety of presented at the exhibition techniques of painting, graphic, sculpture and decorative - applied art - from the classical language of realistic painting to the conventional techniques of modernist art, all the works are united by the desire to see a collective typical image of Cold, consisting of sensations, ideas and memories.
The project "The Power and Beauty of Cold" brought together the efforts of artists from five countries. Their creative work is a worthy contribution to the contemporary artistic culture of the world. The thematic exhibition, which is primarily based on the idea of humanism, shows how urgent the problems of the ecology of the North are nowadays.
The international exhibition "The Power and Beauty of Cold" is large-scaled both in concept and its realization.