#33_1-8

8
No.33 MAY 31, 2018
TIMEO U T
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
“Philosophical treatment of space, time, and being”
“AN ENCOUNTER”
Ostroh Academy’s art gallery hosts an exhibit
of the well-known Ukrainian-born American
sculptor Mirtala Kardynolovska-Pylypenko
By Oleksii KOSTIUCHENKO, Ostroh
Photos by the author
“INDIVIDUALIZATION”
Born in Ukraine, Mirtala has been living
and working in the US since 1947 by
decree of fate. She graduated from the
Boston Museum’s Art School and Tufts
University, also in Boston. Mirtala’s
sculptures are not just artworks but a profound
philosophical and original vision of the world.
She showed her talent not only in sculpture and
art photography, but also in poetry – her poetic
collections “Verses,” “Rainbow Bridge,” “Road
to Oneself” have been published in various
languages. Mirtala received acclaim in the US
and Europe in the 1970s-1980s. Since the early
1990s, her works have been known in Ukraine,
where the artist held a series of solo exhibits and
presentations.
The sculptures she gifted to Ukraine in the
1990s are kept at Ukraine House. This year the
Kyiv-Dakar-Paris publishers have launched
quite an interesting project, “The Pylypenko
Family’s Artistic and Scholarly Legacy: from Soviet
Totalitarianism to US Democracy,” dedicated
to her family, including Mirtala’s father Serhii
Pylypenko, a well-known Ukrainian writer
and civic activist, founder of the Pluh League of
Peasant Writers, and her sister Assya Humesky
(Humetska), Professor of Slavic Languages and
Literatures at the University of Michigan. Her
sculptures will travel across Ukraine together
with the publication project.
“It is symbolic that this presentation tour
began at Ostroh Academy, for Mirtala is a true
friend of the university. As our museum’s
standing exposition contains a collection of
Mirtala Pylypenko’s sculptures, it is really a
big feast for us. The exhibit displays an interesting
profile of her oeuvre. It is 25 works of
various years and series, in which the author
takes, by her tradition and in her style, a philosophic
approach to the treatment of space,
time, and being. For every visitor, it is an opportunity
to relax and abstract away from the
outside world and commonplace problems. Her
works make us think, perceive, and feel,” said
Anastasia Kheleniuk, director of Ostroh Academy’s
Museum of History.
According to art critic Mykola Bendiuk, each
work has its own subtext laid down by the sculptor.
Yet they can be interpreted in different
ways, for this makes it possible to do contemporary
art.
“In addition to instilling a certain philosophical
thought into every sculpture, Mirtala
writes poems to them. Superimposing visitors’
reflections on the artist’s thought is a most interesting
process. One can look at each work for
quite a long time – first you think what it means
and then you read what the artist wanted to express,”
Bendiuk said.
By Hanna PAROVATKINA
Photos by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
Let us recall that the Wall, which was more
than 200 meters long, took 13 years to
erect in the Baikove Cemetery, only for it
to be concreted over by the order of the
Communist leadership in 1982, and stay
unrestored for over 30 years! At the opening
ceremony, one of the authors of the Wall,
Volodymyr Melnychenko, was joined by Kyiv
City State Administration officials and
organizers of the Kyiv Art Week as they
launched restoration work on one of the capital’s
most significant memorials...
The Kyiv Art Week, which this year was held
from May 18 through 27, is an international festival
of art which is being held for the third year
in a row. The event involved: exhibitions in
12 artistic spaces of the capital, including the
leading museums; discussions and lectures; film
screenings and musical parties; and also a fiveday-long
artwork fair. However, the best-known
contemporary art festival to be held in the capital
tries, first of all, to create a better future of art
rather than lament past glories. It is no wonder,
then, that it has even managed to turn a past defeat
into a future victory. The “Funnel of Time”
exhibition, curated by Viktoria Burlaka, Andrii
Sydorenko, and Viacheslav Tuzov, sent a clear
signal on the “futurological” direction of the Kyiv
Art Week. Launched in the framework of the festival
at the Ukrainian Institute of Contemporary
Art Problems, the exposition included works by
young Ukrainian artists. The only participant
who is likely well-known among contemporary art
aficionados was Anton Lohov. Specially for the
project, he created a large-scale installation.
By inviting young people to reflect “on the
time and on themselves,” curators of the “Funnel
of Time” effectively offered each artist the
Never forgotten...
The Kyiv Art Week 2018
opened with a restored
fragment of the Memory Wall
complete freedom to create what they desire in
the manner they prefer.
Something like a majority of “young people”
had opted for “manual labor.” Instead of videos,
they stubbornly created paintings. Installations
and artistic photos occupied the honorable second
position among their interests. Videos, however...
(Yes, Sydorenko himself is a famous
artist, and primarily a painter.) Still, the fact remains
the fact. Also, contemporary painting is,
indeed, coming back into fashion in the West.
The second significant difference was that
humor, irony, and self-irony became for artists
an important means of self-exploration and comprehension
of the Universe around us. For instance,
Anna Lehenka’s installation, which reflected
her contention that “life is reminiscent
of the film Groundhog Day,” contained a desk
with a computer, papers, etc. For a press-papier,
it had... a dildo. Another work worth mentioning
is History.fin by Oleksandra Dotsok. “A crystal
Soviet vase is a symbol of that period of our
history. The first vase is a molded copy of a crystal
vase. Each subsequent one is a copy of the
previous one. These vases are a direct illustration
of the transfer of information
from one source to another. Each subsequent
copy loses details of the previous
one and acquires new ones,” the artist
explained.
Meanwhile, my observations of what
our young artists consider to be a model
for imitation are somewhat disappointing.
This is because it is much too predictable.
I say so after looking at “spatial”
experiments with the help of mirrors
(“like Olafur Eliasson does”) featured
in some works on display, or plaster
casts of the artist’s own arms, legs,
and other body parts (“like Anna Zviahintseva
does”), etc… The Kyiv Art
Week takes place every year, and “live”
art sales are a more accurate indication
of people’s true worth in the world of art
than any competition.
UKRAINIAN NEWS IN ENGLISH
www.day.kiev.ua incognita.day.kiev.ua
FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER:
UKRAINIAN PRESS GROUP LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
Published since May 27, 1998.
Свiдоцтво про перереєстрацiю КВ № 21448-11248 ПР
вiд 27 липня 2015 року
Larysa Ivshyna, Editor-in-Chief, Den
e-mail: chedit@day.kiev.ua
Hanna Sheremet, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Anna Mazurenko, Director,
Ukrainian Press Group LLC
Anna Motoziuk, Editor,
English Language Bureau
Olha Pavliei, Technical Editor
Borys Honcharov, George Skliar, Taras Shulha,
Nadia Sysiuk, Translators
Maryna Khyzhniakova, Proofreader
Marharyta Motoziuk, Designer
Alla Bober, Responsible Secretary
Mykola Tymchenko, Photography Editor
Mailing address: prosp. Peremohy, 121d, Kyiv 03115, Ukraine
Telephone: +38(044) 303-96-19
Fax: +38(044) 303-94-20
Advertising: +38(044) 303-96-20; e-mail: ra@day.kiev.ua
Subscriptions: +38(044) 303-96-23; e-mail: amir@day.kiev.ua
E-mail: time@day.kiev.ua
Subscription index: 40032
Ukrainian Press Group LLC
Code 24249388
Raiffeisen Bank joint-stock company
MFO 380805
A/С 26007478064
Responsibility for the accuracy of facts, quotations, personal names, and other information is borne by the authors of publications and in advertising
materials by the advertiser. The views expressed in signed articles do not necessarily reflect those of the editors. Submitted materials are not returned
and not reviewed. The editors retain the right to edit materials. When citing Day materials, reference to The Day is mandatory. ©Den.