Even the pastoral calm of the timeworn themes of landscape painting can look daringly different in the right setting.
"Isn't it a paradox," writes Senior Peterhof Research Fellow I Prudnikov, "that today the very traditional, realist art of young Petersburg artist Igor Khramov looks original. Surrounded by countless numbers of art experiments, his creations can even be called innovative."
And indeed, the exhibition of landscapes by Igor Khramov now on display at the UNESCO Center is so old-fashioned it's almost shocking.
In the post-Soviet world of modernist, political, and avant-garde art, Khramov's gentle, bucolic scenes of the Russian countryside stand out as, well, art that doesn't necessarily stand out. With his palette of subtle, natural colors and a dreamy, almost impressionistic interpretation of the land around him, Khramov shows that he is an able, if not exactly daring, artist.
"The paintings were done in the Novgorod Region, where my wife's parents live," said the soft-spoken Khramov at the exhibition's opening last week.
Dressed in a smart, grey double-breasted suit, the 32-year-old artist looked more like an investment banker than the creator of oil landscape paintings with names such as "Dusk," "Little Corner in an Old Park," and "Sunny Day."
Khramov's paintings capture a timeless rural Russia, a place where no one knows or cares how many roubles a dollar can buy. A sun-streaked wooded copse, a deserted dirt road at sunset, a pile of wood stacked by a shed: Khramov's images call to mind the past through observing the present.
Although he now devotes his professional life to observing and capturing the beauty of the outdoors, Khramov once worked in a position one might call antithetical to his true calling.
In 1986, he worked as an interior designer on the finishing stages of the St Petersburg Engineering Construction Institute.
"I became a specialist in park architecture, but then designed interiors for industrial spaces," says the artist.
So when did he start painting? "Oh, since before I can remember -- since I was this big," he answers with a broad smile, stooping to hold his hand at knee level.
While the paintings in the exhibition can be fairly described as pleasing, comfortable and competent, the venue for the exhibition must be categorized as spectacular.
The interior of the UNESCO building, located at 28 Tchaikovskovo Ulitsa, is an exhilarating melange of classical decor, with ornately carved marble bannisters, stained glass, enormous ceiling murals, gilded molding, finely polished wood, wrought iron, and cherubs, cherubs, cherubs peeking out from every wall, corner and fireplace.
Home in the late 19th century to the German Baron Alexander Ferdinandovich Klich, the building retained some of its splendor through the Soviet years as the Communist Party headquarters for the Dzerzhinsky District. The St Petersburg UNESCO office is proud of the building's baronial heritage, and it is clear from the interior that care is being taken to keep the building in shape.
UNESCO itself is a branch of the United Nations devoted to promoting science, higher education and culture throughout the world.
The organization provides grants and other types of support for a wide range activities related to this aim, including promotional events and free exhibition space for not-yet-famous artists such as Igor Khramov.
The exhibition's opening was nothing short of a Happening, with numerous St Petersburg artists and patrons of art mingling with UNESCO representatives in front of television and video cameras.
Six young musicians from the Mussorgsky Musical College presented a short concert of traditional Russian balalaika and guitar music, and then continued in an impromptu performance once the guests had gathered around the refreshment table, a performance that was in itself worth the trek through the stinging gusts of snow to reach the center.