cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of www.galagallery.org
|
For the third time the organizer of cultural
outside Christmas party in the center of
St. Petersburg (Russia).
During 25 days in December and January
more than 800,000 people visited winter fair,
tasted holiday treats, competed in outside
Russian folk winter games, and participated in
traditional charitable auction for paintings.
The photograph is courtesy of www.spbcarnival.ru
|
Gogol. Each painting represented the letter of Russian alphabet and was made by celebrities in
collaboration with professional artists. Among the celebrates that participated for the auction there
were: the governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matviyenko, rock singer Sergei Shnurov, opera singer
Anna Netrebko, actress Liza Boyarskaya, and even former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The paintings were based on Nikolai Gogol's story "The Night Before Christmas", and were made on
overcoat cloth (as a reminder of another Gogol’s short story about a bureaucrat and the cat fur-lined
overcoat he used to buy).
The painting, presented during St.Petersburg auctions are in great demand among the audience. Last
year, for example Valentina Matviyenko's painting “Mishka” was sold for about $360,000.
Money from 2008 auction was donated to a local hospital, the restoration of a church and a cancer unit
in the city.
All photographs are courtesy of www.spbcarnival.ru
Liza Boyarskaya is painting "KARETA"
|
Vladimir Putin is painting "UZOR"
|
Valentina Matviyenko and her painting "MISHKA"