“When the war is over, I’ll take up painting again”

Petro Prymachenko and I met in the heat of his volunteer work. In early spring, The Day visited a training of Azov fighters at Kyiv’s ATEK factory. At the time, only courtyards were used as a training ground for recruits, but now ATEK has a big complex with simulators and an obstacle course. The complex has emerged thanks to the indefatigable work of volunteers, including Petro. Besides, Prymachenko and his friend Serhii Prykhodko (grandson of the Hero of the Soviet Union Mykola Prykhodko) organized a volunteer group, Narodny Oboronprom (“People’s Defense Industry”), in Ivankiv, his birthplace. The friends first decided to repair front-line vehicles and then switched to supplying food. Prymachenko spoke to The Day about his own work and reminisced about his grandmother.

“WAR CAME TO ME MUCH EARLIER THAN TO THIS COUNTRY”

“War is a very terrible thing,” Petro begins his story. “It came to me much earlier than to this country. As a child, I had a good friend – we were inseparable. When the time came for him to go to the army, he was sent to Afghanistan. He fought there a little, and then suddenly came back… in a zincked coffin. It was a shock for me. I was fully aware of the horror of war, but I hoped we had already had it. But it turned out that it was only the beginning. There are 49 apartments in my building now. Six of those who live there have already taken part in the ATO. Those who have a sense of humor and optimism feel quite good after coming back to a peaceful life. But some guys look like death warmed up. They dislike everything and are aggressive sometimes. It will take us a long time to recover from war experiences. I am also feeling a certain psychological pressure. Sometimes you’ve helped some, but others are calling to ask why you brought them nothing. I must go on working so that everyone has their fair share. These worries have even caused a heart trouble – I received treatment quite recently.”

What do you exactly do as a volunteer?

“Our volunteerism deserves a book to be written. There’s precious little we haven’t done! Serhii Prykhodko and I prepare canned meat in our spare time, and we used to make moveable stoves for the winter. We began with repairing front-line vehicles. Our friends and acquaintances would gift us old autos, and we were trying to fix them so that the guys had at least something to ride on. They at first had no military equipment – so we were trying to find a way out of this situation. To tell the truth, there were howlers, too. Once an MP gifted us an old rusty Volga, but when he saw on a photo how we fitted it out, he decided to take it back. He came and said: ‘I’ve changed my mind. Give it back!’ He changed his decision later, but we drew a conclusion and have never worked with him ever since. In addition to sending things to the front line, we also help border guards. The border with Belarus is near us, and there was a rotation there recently. When the guys had just come there, they literally had no hammer and nails. We began to gradually deliver building materials, and boards. We also put up a stove. The guys turned out to be good and laborious. They have built all that they needed, even a bathhouse. They feel comfortable now.”

“WHEN STILL A CHILD, I WATCHED GRANDMOTHER PAINTING”

Your grandmother’s oeuvres are rich in various images. Which of them could you associate with present-day Ukraine?

“Grandmother often touched upon the Ukrainian theme in her pictures. I can remember her painting women in embroidered blouses and captioning the pictures ‘A Sweet Ukrainian Girl.’ As for association with war, grandmother did not paint the pictures of war as such. We’ll see no catastrophe in her oeuvres, for she focused more on its consequences. For example, one of her works is To the Fallen Soldiers. It depicts a grave by which a horse stands. I don’t know why, but military actions never interested her, even though granny had gone through the Holodomor and the war. I remember her saying that there were trenches just in our vegetable garden, and she and dad used to hide from shelling in the hideouts right there. Dad kept asking for dried crusts because there was nothing to eat. And my grandfather was killed in the Finnish war. He wrote in his last letter that they were launching a seventh attack, and then there was no news.”

MARIA PRYMACHENKO TAUGHT PETRO NOT ONLY TO PAINT, BUT ALSO TO READ AND WRITE. “SHE IN FACT RAISED ME, FOR MOTHER AND FATHER WERE AT WORK ALL THE TIME. WHEN STILL  A CHILD, I WOULD WATCH HER PAINTING,” THE ARTIST’S GRANDSON RECALLS / Photo from the website UARP.ORG

What kind of reminiscences do you have about grandmother? What kind of a person has she remained in your memory?

“She in fact raised me, for mother and father were at work almost all the time. Granny looked after me since my early childhood. I remember her as much as myself. When still a child, I would watch her painting. She would put out all the accessories on the table, I gaze at them – it was so interesting! Sometimes she would give me a used paintbrush to draw. She thus taught me a little. I can also remember that a lot of people kept coming to visit my granny throughout my childhood. Among them were all kinds of artists, diplomats, ambassadors. Ordinary people were also coming often, for they all loved her so much.

“What left the deepest imprint on my mind was the now late Sergey Parajanov. Whenever he was visiting us, his Armenian heart was always bringing along a feast. The adults sang songs with him, he would bring boxfuls of oranges to us, children, – what else did you need? I have also a lot of funny memories about granny. Once, when I was little, I climbed up a mulberry tree. I wore pants with one suspender and a button, like Karlsson-on-the-Roof. I specially bided my time so that nobody was around, then I began to pluck berries, and the branch suddenly broke! So, I hung on my pants (laughs). Seeing this, granny came up and said: ‘Well, astronaut, let’s now wait for dad to come from work and get you down.’ The tree was tall, and she herself could do nothing. I don’t know how long I hung there, but, luckily, a neighbor was passing by and took me down.”

What did grandmother teach you in addition to drawing?

“Grandmother could also embroider very well, but I don’t like this (smiles). And, as a matter of fact, she taught me almost everything – I can even read and write thanks to her. I was only five, when I would go to the local library on my own, choose fairytales, and read them before sleeping. Granny knew very well about human nature, she seemed to be able to see through everybody. When I was a child, she often said that I would be very independent: ‘Whatever you are told, Petro, you will do it your way.’ Hence is the result: I have always chosen only what I like.”

“I CAN’T MAKE THINGS TO ORDER – ONLY BY INSPIRATION. THIS IS A COMMON FEATURE OF GRANDMOTHER AND ME”

Which of your grandmother’s pictures do you remember best of all and still keep?

“My favorite work is A Lion Broke down an Oak Tree. It is a very well-known picture. I have always liked A Chornobyl Bull too. It shows an old man who leads a bull whose feet are wrapped in cellophane bags. This work is about the Chornobyl disaster. In general, grandmother’s all works are very interesting. Each of them has energy of its own. But we do not keep them at home now. In 2008 we were robbed of all the pictures. We then found about 70 percent of them. But these are some of the latest works. We never found the older ones done in the 1930s-1950s. And it is about 50 pictures. Before that, we had kept many various canvases. She often painted pictures as gifts on such important occasions as anniversaries and marriages. She once presented me with a picture when I was in the army. I served in the border security force, so granny painted me riding a horse and titled the picture Petro Guards the State’s Border on Horseback. We have often been asked about pictures. Some asked to sell, some asked to gift. But there have been fewer requests after the war. The situation is difficult now, and it is perhaps a wrong time [to sell and buy pictures].”

You continue your grandmother’s pursuit. What can you say about your pictures?

“It is difficult to classify my works. It is a new style, a combination of abstractionism and folk art. None of the art critics has so far identified this trend. I’ve never pondered over the style – I just try to paint what goes straight from my heart. I am often asked to draw something concrete, but I refuse. I can’t make things to order – only by inspiration. This is a common feature of grandmother and me. My latest picture is thematically about revolution. It is difficult to describe it as well as abstract art in general. The work symbolizes a fight between good and evil. After the Maidan events, I’ve had no time to take the paintbrush, for there are lots of other things to do. But now I don’t even have a studio. I think that when the war is over, I’ll take up painting again and will be looking for ideas. I already have two notebooks of pencil sketches – I do this during intervals in my work. And if I begin to turn these sketches into pictures, it will take me at least five years to do this job.”