olha pryymak

15×15 cm, oil on board, 2008, private collection
… selling potatoes and pickles – the typical Ukrainian winter fare. She had the look of dignity and dreaminess in her eyes that can only be compared to that of the Unknown Woman by Kramskoi. The trick must be in the hat.

Speaking of traditional realist painting (which I sure hope to develop s I have more time to spend on each piece), a great young American painter Jeremy Lipking seem to carry on the traditional Russian realist painting with great success.

We’ve met up last night at my place with LittleMissMoi and MindtheGap to size up the apartment for the upcoming exhibit and think of the best way to arrange the works on the walls.

oil on canvas board; 18×24 cm, 2008, private collection

This lady along with many others commute up to Kyiv to sell what her garden produced during the summer for some extra cash. Usually this produce is the freshest and best quality in the market, but one needs to spend more time finding the right “babushka” with the necessary stuff. The kiosks that I’ve been dwelling on recently are an easier target to find (and paint, xo).

Great news, beautiful MindtheGap and LittleMissMoi are taking in their hands the organization of my exhibit at the end of March! Updates are coming soon.

Another interesting artist Alika Cooper is putting out figurative paintings of mobile homes and American devoshkas.

Did I talk enough here about Yuri Solomko? He represented Ukraine at Venice biennale and is most famous for his paintings on maps. Yet have to go see what he came up with for the decoration of the new Hyatt hotel in Kyiv. I hear he put out by himself hundreds of paintings to decorate each and every room in the hotel.

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

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):

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, 30x50cm, 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).