Inspired by the Parable of the Prodigal Son

The major display, housed in the Palace of Arts, marks the 75th birthday of the Shevchenko Prize winner, People’s Artist of Ukraine, Academician, Professor Liubomyr Medvid. The exhibition brings together three stages of his great conceptual project “Genesis: Reminiscences” (2008-11), “A Parade of Parabolas” (2014) and “Genesis” in the narrow sense (2015-16), all linked by their topics which were inspired by the Gospel Parable of the Prodigal Son.

To congratulate Medvid on his birthday, a lot of people came to the exhibition. Those present included Academician-Secretary of the Department of Theory and History of Arts at the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (NAAU), head of the Department of Theory and History of Arts at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture Oleksandr Fedoruk; director general of the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAAU, People’s Artist of Ukraine Anatolii Melnyk; rector of Lviv Academy of Arts (LAA), Professor Volodymyr Odrekhivsky; deputy rector of the LAA, art historian, Professor Roman Yatsiv; Shevchenko Prize winners – author Ihor Kalynets and photo artist Vasyl Pylypiuk; former minister of education and science of Ukraine, Doctor of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics), Professor Ivan Vakarchuk; director general of the Krushelnytska National Opera and Ballet Theater in Lviv Tadei Eder; People’s Artist of Ukraine Anatolii Kryvolap; public figure Mykola Horyn...

“I admire Medvid’s energy, talent, and versatility,” Lviv National Opera soloist Oleh Lykhach told us. “He is a mainstay of our visual arts.”

“He is a unique artistic experimenter dealing with the form that allows one to discover hidden content,” head of the department of philosophy and economics (Lviv Medical University) Ihor Derzhko asserted. “The ability of artists of Medvid’s caliber to discern difference in similar things and vice versa, to discern commonalities in something that is so fragmented that we cannot organize it into a single unity, a single trend – this ability is a defining feature of his creative method. The artist is so individual in his ways that he seemingly cannot fit well with any one art school, although his style is a lot like modern and postmodern experimentation that characterizes contemporary painting. But while doing it, he is independent and unique. He once again reminds us: do not be indifferent, do not pass through the world with stubborn assertions ‘I now,’ ‘I have been convinced of it for a long time,’ ‘I learned it a long time ago.’ His art says: ‘Choose a time, concentrate your mind and discover the profound which is hidden by superficiality, which inspires us, unites us with the world, allows us to define our own place in the being and create that being at the same time...’”

“As for me, this is likely the best exhibition to be hosted by the Palace of Arts,” director general of the Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv Ihor Kozhan stressed. “Medvid’s subject is philosophical thinking. His paintings are very fine and worthy of a great master.”

By the way, starting on November 8, Medvid’s paintings will go on display at the Ukrainian House in Paris as part of the commemorative program for Queen of France Anna Yaroslavna, daughter of Prince of Kyiv Yaroslav the Wise.