The Solomon’s Song of Songs is represented in two editions, in the Italian and English languages. The Italian version was created in 2013, while English — in 2014. The books contain blocks of illustrations created by the well-known Grodno graphic artist, Yuri Yakovenko, in the rare, for modernity, technique of etching (the easel graphic of gravure printing). The artist illustrated the book, which is included into the list of world heritage of literature, with thematic love plots characteristic for the Solomon’s Song of Songs.The books are published in the Italian city of San Benedetto del Tronto by the private publishing house, Stamperiad’Arte Stella. Their circulation of just 130 copies, are all signed by the author of the illustrations. These books have not only handmade etchings, but each copy is bound manually and represents a rarity. The books have leather binding, the paper for books was specially produced by an ancient Italian factory, Fermi and crosslinking of the books is done manually on printing machines in which galley proofs are also assembled by hand by the masters.
Editions are shown in under glass. Besides etchings of the additional author’s exhibition, copies of the book are exhibited for the general public on the walls of the exhibition hall.
A unique folder of poems — EVAngelia — by the Greek poet, Christos Giannakis, is also represented at the exposition. These verses in five languages (Greek, Russian, German, English and Chinese) are devoted to the wife of the poet, Eve Giannakis, who for many long years, fought against oncology. Poetic texts are illustrated by Yuri Yakovenko’s, works which portray symbolical perception of divine beauty of the female body, and also its perishable nature — the fight between life and death, beauty and withering.
The unusual exhibition is added by a series of still-lifes — Unfinished Sonnet — where the artist tries to reveal the poetic component of nature.
Yuri Yakovenko lives and works in Grodno. The artist was born in 1965 in Primorsky Krai. He graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts’ Graphics Department and is a member of the Belarusian Union of Artists, an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts and a member of the international club Graphic House (Sweden). In 2010, he was conferred the rank Honorary Citizen of Grodno. He has 35 awards of international and national competitions and is the participant of numerous international open-air exhibitions.
