olechko

15×15 cm, oil on board, 2008, private collection
A few years ago I had an accident: fell down an escalator really bad, with passing out, ambulance, firefighters arriving, all that stuff. Of course ever since I developed a huge phobia about escalators, that is untill I arrived in Kyiv. The metro escalators here are monstrously long and super fast moving. My mom never minded and pushed me on one of these once all in tears but going down nevertheless. Since that I coutiously used the escalators, while stepping behind someone big and steardy looking (in case I decide to fall on them) and I still do this. But now I ride freely, make notes, take pcitures etc. That mom’s big push was a major break in the phobia and really helped in retrospecive.

Check out Masha Shubina’s devoushka paintings at Bereznytsky’s gallery.  Her braided backsides are really masterfully done. She made another cool devouska-related project a few years back - Dear Curator, check out the article.

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.

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

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):

Last night the RA gallery (Andriy and Nataliya) hosted a party with a show of IWCK recent artwork. This is our first semester at RA, and the group has never been so big and regular. Both, the gallery and students love the new setup. On the picture - the new instructor Aleksey Malykh with student pictures.

recently finished painting these two architectural landmarks:

2007, oil on canvas 50×30 cm. 18x 24 cm. Please send your bid by email if you want to purchase this painting.
I visited it on tour of Zakarpattya last winter. It’s an unforgettable place : the Carpathians are behind you, and this castle rises up above the plains on a man-made hill. Three castles one inside another really when you start exploring it… And the sweet wine that locals produce there is something else.

2007, oil on canvas, 30×50cm, private collection

Nov. 13, 7:30 pm

PinchukArtCentre presents the lecture of the Japanese art critic and curator Akiko Miki, who will talk about the last ten years’ development in Japanese contemporary art and the impact of Takashi Murakami’s works on the new generation of artists. Selected videos by Takashi Murakami and young Japanese artists will be represented during the presentation – including a.o Koki Tanaka, Zon Ito and Ryoko Aoki, Hiraki Sawa, Meiwa Denki and Aya Tanako.

From PinchukArtCentre Webstite

Illia Chichkan and Roda Design Lab opens a show called “Kitchen, as Art” on Thursday 15th, 7 pm, at the Arsenal (28, Sichnevogo Povstannya).

Had a great time at the book fair in Kyiv last weekend. Highly reccomend everyone going there again on 19 December (at the Ukrainian House). The publishers of note are Vydavnyctvo Starogo Leva, Granit, for the little ones who can not read yet- take Cachalot.  My frined Yuila brought us this one and it was so nice, I could not resist getting a few more. It’s a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon indoors; they offer a playground for the little ones.

The Ukrainian House - 1, Khreschatyk, Evropeiska ploshcha

I had the pleasure of surveying the five floors of the Ukrainski Dim today with the Art-Kyiv fair in it’s last day.

Out of advertised “five floors” I really just found two of notice. On the first floor there was some classic Ukrainian paintings from 50’s and 60’s, including Petrynenko…

My favoarite Kyiv RA gallery showed off its style by exhibiting just one artist in its main booth. The artsits’s style was a mix of drawing and painting - very moody and interesting.

The best Lviv establishment - the Green Sofa gallery has represented several artists, Olga Pylnyk among them sold particuarly well. She has had a smashing exhibit at the Green Sofa in Lviv and now came to charm the kievites.

A quirky Parsuna gallery, that puts out only puppets, showed its best at the fair. I genrally find puppets very eerie but these are so fanstatic; things like this were represented in the fair:

The White gallery, a new place on Andriyivsky Uzviz 34B (entrance though the archway), has showed Vladislav Shereshevsky, and that was great! I noted his stuff on this blogt before, now his humburger thing below is even more exiting.

One Ukrainian peculiarity fo this fair is that it was treated like a bazaar - a buyer chose a piece, paid for it, picked it up and walked with it home - no red dots (expecept for one well-respected gallery) by the sold items on the walls, that stay there till the end of the exhibit. So the show was updated every day with new pieces to substitute the sold ones.

My favorite of the show was Oxana Mas - a special project she uses her “secret” tecnique that make her canvas glossy and dashing looking - very prolific artist she is.

There were suprisigly many paintings of Venice landscapes -a bit cheesy to my taste, expect for many the atrists that did them (about four or five - each per floor, I swear) had expressed a secret disite to represent Ukraine in Venice biennale (there are better ways to express that desire).

And finally, I was surprised to see the big players Zeh, Kyiv fine art and Bereznitsky gallery not respresented there.