№ 3358
media: Site-specific installation
location: Memorial Workshop of M.K. Anikushin, as part of the "Art of Living at Home" project by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
website "living with art"
Working with materials from the museum workshop, artist Anna Slobozhanina noticed that many of sculptor Mikhail Anikushin's contemporaries say that he was born under a lucky star, became a favorite of fate. His career took off at a very early age; a dream workshop was built for him to create the monument to Lenin. He enjoyed nationwide recognition, pursued his favorite profession, and received good fees for it. For example, in a closed competition for the monument to A.S. Pushkin (on the Square of Arts), the jury did not find any worthy projects, and all sculptors who wanted to participate were invited, including Anikushin. In the end, the competition, which involved masters, was won by a young, unknown sculptor. Mikhail Konstantinovich considered his victory in the competition a great stroke of luck. He also mentioned fortune when talking about the day of the monument's unveiling: he recounted how he almost fell off the poet's bronze shoulder, but was caught by Pushkin's saving hand, on which he had worked agonizingly long. The chain of luck continued: in the competition for the Chekhov monument, the jury once again did not see any worthy projects, and invited several sculptors, including Anikushin. Winning the competition, the sculptor immersed himself in the study of the writer's work and life for 30 years, trying to "get through to Anton Pavlovich's soul." As a result of meticulous and passionate research, Anikushin created hundreds of monument prototypes for the writer and several monuments.
"By the Name of the Star I Will Call You" is the title of an article in the newspaper "St. Petersburg Vedomosti," which states that planet No. 3358, discovered by astronomer Nikolai Chernykh in 1978, was named after sculptor Mikhail Anikushin. In her project, Anna Slobozhanina addresses the common thesis that the artist's luck in life is just as important as talent. To be noticed, recognized, and to stay in history is the dream of many, but fate unfolds in this way for only a few. The artist hides a fallen star in the clay pit of the museum workshop, creating an image of a easily caught dream from a non-sculptural material - paper.
Continuing this theme, Anna Slobozhanina unveils a canvas of the starry sky in the portrait gallery window of the museum, where people captured by Anikushin look at the sky and the light of stars falls on them, under which they were born. From the street, through the constellation-like gaps, one can see portraits of Pushkin, Gogol, Bekhterev, Cherkasov.
Another "Portrait of a Star" is lost in the living room on the wall, where a collection of paper documentation is displayed - sketches, notes, phrases, photographs - for an exhibition about Anikushin's fascination with the life and work of Chekhov.
2022
First location
Star falling into a clay pit
Material: metal frame, rice paper
Size: 2.5m x 1m
Second location
Installation in the portrait gallery.
A starry sky that changes
according to the light and time of day.
Material: VPH tent, transparent banner.
Size: 3.5m x 7.8m
Third location
Portrait of a star in the living room
Material: rice paper
Size: 32cm x 26cm
2023 © Anna Slobozhanina