olechko

Went down Andriyivsky and to Podil to see the galleries concentrated around there. Lot’s of fun and great art to see, as usual.  It seems that as much as the Ukrainians try their hand in conceptual and abstract art, our lot prefers the classical stuff:

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A great mind behind the Global Tree has mentioned my blog in her/his Kyiv, Ukraine posting. I am way over my head about their concept to promote environmental sustainability though color associations. I will repost the Kyiv bit here with the author’s permission:

Contemporary Ukrainian Culture and Art
Ukrainian Music
Ecological project “Torba - prirodi (Bag for the Nature)”

The last project mentioned by Global Tree above is run by a Ukrainian indie band Kryhitka Zahes, that I recently blogged about.  A girl sitting nest to me at  their recent concert in Lviv got one of those torba-s, and it looked really cool from close-up.

I painted a few little oil paintings:

Roma and the Penguins; David Pensive; oil on board, 15×15 cm 2008, nfs

As well as updated my Devoushka project set with some winter shots.

Under the curatorship of Alexandr Glyadelov, 23 documentary photographers produced their photos in an analogue technique for the project “Insight. Ukrainian Black & White Photography XXI c.” It will evolve into an exhibit, a book and series of gallery talks. Here are some fine examples of the work presented:

Viktor Suvorov. Kyiv, 2003

Eduard Stranadko. Poltava, Panyanskiy Boulevard, 2005

The photos will be on show here:

Lviv: 26 march 2008 - 13 april 2008 “Dzyga” Gallery

Kyiv: 04 march 2008 - 16 march 2008 “Dim Mykoly” Gallery

Photos from www.blackandwhite.org.ua

Center for Contemporary Art at NaUKMA currently holds a very interesting show by Ivan Bazak. The show comprises of pictures, several videos, painting and cardboard sculptures, all under the name of “Where is my home? Where are you at home?” and it’s about the Ukrainian community in Italy. Overall, the installation leaved us in a satisfied and contemplative mood. It’s European quality installation art, done by a Ukrainian, alas, living abroad.

Photo from What’s On

Last night together with MindtheGap and the other good friends Igor Melnychuk studio. Igor is a professor at the Kyiv Academy of Art, widely exhibited and sold all over Ukraine and abroad. His main interest is Hutzul culture, and the paintings tell that: mountains and bucolic huts on his landscapes, ethnically dressed hutzuls. He spends most of his summers in the Carpathians with his students on plain air and scavenging for local antiques.Brings in the business to the villagers who model sometimes for weeks for a painting. He defines his technique as impressionism: achieving maximum effect with minimum strokes. Here are some of his works (mostly they are in very large format):

Check out my new color drawings in ink pen & watercolor pencils:

Cryhitka Zahes, oil on board, 18×24 cm, 2008. Please send your bid by email if you want to purchase this painting.

Recently I saw a show by an indie band from Kyiv called Kryhitka Zahes (Cleine Zahes) at the Lyal’ka club in Lviv. There is girl with long bags who sings, two guitar players and a drummer who puts on particularly electrifying act. The band (singer in particular) has a European indie(pendent) artsy feel about it, in the way they dress and act on stage, like too many bands in the West do, and too few - here. They performed some old things you’d recognize from hearing them on a radio, and some new, a song about a car was very good. They’ve got a new bass player - as their original bassist has recently passed away.

The band’s got an environmental message they promote. A girl sitting next to me won a canvas grocery bag for answering some band-related trivia right. (btw, Ukrainians widely recycle their plastic bags too).

Check out their My Space profile for samples of their music and list of upcoming shows.

24.01.08 worked off the original doodle to paint this scene now in oil.

Looking for a fine dining experience, Yuri Uzzband and me came to Korona Vitovta - the best restaurant in Lutsk, standing right at the door of the Lubart castle.  It  all started well, the funnest part came with the bill. at the dinner.  We had one glass of wine each,  and the bill modestly displayed six of each ?! ‘Funny,” thought I and went asking about this number 6. “The foreigner (Yuri) asked for a “big” glass of wine,” explained Luda (our waitress).

By now you (who spent some time in Ukraine) all know  that Ukrainian menus like to trick you with items priced by grams, and then the waiters take the liberty at judging how many of those grams your wallet can handle.   Luda’s stab at this problem exceeded all expectations: 6×50=300 grams of wine. “Why didn’t you bring us the whole bottle in that “big” glass?” we asked, very annoyed. “You should have declined the glass when you saw it was 300 gram”. “Forgot my measuring cup at home,”  I defiantly thought. The worst part was that the wine in question was flat. Be on guard if you see too many kinds of wine by the glass in the menu. It could have been sitting open for months, like ours did.

Appalled at this Luda’s lame attempt to trick us, we demonstratively payed the $25 per glass, promising we’d tell every expat to avoid the place. So now you now.  Btw, with the quick poll via blackberry among his “high-flying” friends Yuri Uzzband concluded, that $25 per glass could  cost at only other place in the word - the Beverly Hills Hotel bar!

Since I am spending so much time in Lutsk, we went checking out the local pub scene. Incidentally, I came across Noven’s pictures that perfectly show the decor of Obolon pub, the locals lovingly call it “Korablik”. Btw, the photographer has much more nice stuff on his site here. If fact I like it so much, I may have to put out his illustrated profile later here.

The pub offers sumptuous interior, styled to look like a pirate hide out. A band of an accordion, a guitar and a contrabass either wanders around the pub or performs at the stage the typical local favorites. The kitchen serves typical Ukrainian hearty meaty fare. The address is Voli prospekt ? (ask the driver for further directions :0)

Maidain is the well-established older brother pub of Korablic. Its decor is equally exiting, done more in ethnic Ukranian colyba kind of style. All major indie musical acts that come to town perform in the pub’s 2nd hall.