SPACES Exhibition of Contemporary Ukrainian Art in Geneva

Last week, Geneva hosted the opening of the SPACES exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art, presented by independent art manager Yekaterina Ivanova at La Cave Gallery.

The exhibition brings together six contemporary artists who explore the relationship between man and the environment. Through experiments with the shape of physical objects and spatial illusions, they question the ability to sense the world around. Feeling yourself in a certain space and feeling that space within yourself is what artists offer the viewer as part of the SPACES project.

Nazar Bilyk - a modern sculptor, explores the limits of visible space. He analyzes the properties of form and its interaction with space. He is experimenting with various materials such as bronze, steel, glass and various polymers. Analyzing form and light, Nazar Bilyk also studies their interaction with the consciousness of the viewer, which, together with other means, becomes plastic material for the sculptor.

An intellectual combination of tradition and innovation is a peculiar feature of Bilyk. In his works, he turns to man, explores the relationship between society and the environment. Nazar often uses the opposite technique of space and tries to get closer to the basics of matter and form.

“Traditionally, sculpture works with timeless space. Modern sculpture, rather, speaks of temporary space and its delimitation with time. He explores the visible limits that always elude him and remain indefinite. The project unfolds as an eternal act of reflection, when one question becomes a reference point for another ”(Olga Balashova, Ph.D., art critic).

Ekaterina Buchachskaya is concerned that modern artificial culture is gradually replacing observations and feelings with theory, forcing us to lose touch with the sensory experience of the world. Thanks to the creation of large dew drops, Buchachskaya pays attention to natural phenomena, using art as a lens for their high appreciation. Previously, this work was presented in the landscape of the Kiev Botanical Garden, now it shows it in a new environment. With the previous version of this work, Catherine won the Special Prize as the best young artist as part of the Kyiv Sculpture Project 2012 in Ukraine.

Igor Gusev is represented by his two latest works - a pair of plastic panels called “The Prince of Office” and “The Princess of Office”. In these works, Gusev continues the theme that he discovered with the help of painting - a combination of abstraction and fine art. Igor subtly and elegantly combines individual objects in space using lines. This is his vision of uniformity in terms of eternity.

Gusev is one of the leading artists of his native city and one of the most important art regions of Ukraine - Odessa. He creates performances, objects and installations, and also writes poetry. In Odessa, Gusev led the art raider movement, which is famous for its neo-Dadaist actions.

Zhanna Kadyrova works with various media, such as sculpture, installation, interventions in public space. Her artistic talent is localized in her ability to metaphorically transform various utilitarian materials - be it tile, cement, plywood board - into valuable objects, both literally and figuratively.

Diamonds - the visiting card of Kadirova - are cement forms resembling the usual options for cutting precious stones, lined with multi-colored glossy ceramic tiles. Exclusive, status form of diamonds embodied in one of the most household materials. Turning tiles from everyday material to artistic, Kadyrova creates works that are ambiguous in their duality, which cast doubt on the hierarchy of values in modern society.

A series of SHOTS works presents ceramic tiles shot from a shotgun. Balls and hunting fractions penetrate the surface, leaving a unique pattern of destruction.

Created at first as abstract works, in the context of chaos and war, which now swept part of Ukraine, these works became an essential commentary on the destruction of buildings and infrastructure as a result of military operations.

The works of Misha Zavalny are a wonderful combination of graphic techniques in the ancient tradition with observations of the modern material world. They express new meaning and meaning through the old style.

A series of etchings called “Around” is dedicated to the various objects that surround us in our daily lives.

These objects and forms are united according to the principle through which a person imitates and learns from nature, discovers the outside world. Indeed, people themselves seek these principles in various phenomena. We often borrow mechanisms that work in nature for artistic creation. This principle of creativity and life was especially clearly presented in the mandala. These are ritual images that the ancient Eastern science of tantra used to explain the various life forces, energies, which are the driving force of our thoughts and actions. Zavalny’s theory was that even an ordinary object embodies this principle, since it is inseparable from our mind and body, is a continuation and expression of all desire and action.

Ruslan Tremba represents the Transcarpathian school of painting, which is known for its strong and refined tradition. It is based on a mixture of Western European pictorial style of the early 20th century and local aesthetic ideas.

“Over a significant period of time, the works of Transcarpathian artists were united, aimed at gravity toward decorativeness, as well as the principles of realistic painting and the complex paradigm of attitude to the domestic art of the Carpathian region” (Lyudmila Biks, art critic).

Tremba transforms the customs of the Transcarpathian school of art using modern techniques.

Tremba’s works - even the most abstract - always appeal to the concepts of physicality and sexuality. But this "sex" is not sexual. The subtexts in the work of Ruslan is only a polemic about the physical nature of works of art.