Andrii Chebykin: “Creative work and school”
An exhibit of the artist’s graphical works opens at the Modern Art Research Institute
The new exhibition project presented at the Modern Art Research Institute of the Ukraine’s National Academy of Arts urges to thinking, tempts to rhyme only with its name “Creative work and school.” We can certainly underline that “Creative work of Andrii Chebykin = School,” “Andrii Chebykin’s personality = Creative work.” In this unity with “school” there is a great meaning: constant interaction of creative ideas and flavor of their plastic embodiments nourish the common space of high art.
The name of Andrii Chebykin is widely known and respected in Ukraine, for many years (since 1989) he has been the rector of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, a member and president of the Ukraine’s National Academy of Arts (since 1997), he is the head of authoritative state commissions and boards. But, with it all being mentioned, first of all he is a true great master of graphic art. His creative works best represent our country at the international level.
Creative works of Chebykin became an integral part of the history of Ukrainian art. It is embedded in a variety of presentations – starting from the 1970s up until present time. Among his numerous awards and titles there are: winner of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1977, for the series of etchings devoted to space), honored worker of arts (1979), People’s Artist of Ukraine (1992), winner of Ivan Ohiienko Prize (1995), and winner of Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (2007, for the series of artworks “Crimean Motives,” “Female Images,” illustrations for the book by Ivan Franko Withered Leaves). Recognition always accompanied master, opening new opportunities and giving inevitable responsibilities.
Right after graduating from the Kyiv State Art Institute (1970) Chebykin was invited to teach there. His communication with students, his book Etching Technique (1978), and his creative work inspired a few generations of graphic masters for committing themselves to the alchemy of this technique. In 1985 Chebykin founded a studio of free graphics, which he still leads. In his own creative work Chebykin moved from prints to the immediacy of author techniques – sepia, coal, pencil, ink, and watercolor.
The works made by the master charm with lightness and beauty of life, with happy Mozart manner of performance. The accuracy of power movements of a pencil, subtle shades of watercolor, faint clouds of sepia, and rapid finesse of brush soaked with ink. They are capable of conveying anything the master wants: resilient pulsation of life energy, vanishing shadow picked up by the wind, rustling of grass, and glare of the sun. His artistic world is natural, full of love’s light that breathes freely. Refinement of the art continues the line created by the Lord, creative work given by the Creator.
During the years of teaching nearly 300 artists went through Chebykin’s studio. Each of them has their own inner world, their own skills and attraction to their own artistic expression. All of that had to be felt, each time as if diving into depths. As you know, art schools have had established traditions that worked for centuries, when master taught his students in a way that for the rest of their lives they remained his recognizable followers. Without doubt, in such a way it was easier to pass on the artistic skills. However, Chebykin chose a different harder manner, when each of his students gained artistic and practical experience developing his own personality and his own vision.
Chebykin’s students have become well-known artists both in Ukraine and abroad (Mykola Zhuravel, Andrii Levytsky, Oksana Stratiichuk, Ksenia Khodakivska, and Lada Nakonechna), they work fruitfully, teach and pass on the experience of the studio (Viktor Kyrychenko, Yulia Maistrenko-Vakulenko, Ivan Hryhoriev, Yurii Pshenychny, and Slava Snisarenko). For several years now Mykola Kochubei has been the head of the Graphic Section at Kyiv office of Ukraine’s National Union of Artists. The young artists like Taras Kovach, Serhii Sabakar, Oleksandr Zhulynsky, and Anna Naduda are opening new possibilities of graphics today, the ways that connect collective experience of the studio and daring new search.
The exhibit perfectly shows that the students of the studio are different and bright personalities. They work in graphics, in painting, and in video art, they create objects and installations, develop artistic projects. However, all their artistic aspirations are based on a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that they acquired in the academic studio. Chebykin’s school is a school of high professionalism and free creativity. Besides, perhaps the most important is that it is a school of inner freedom and spiritual nobility.
