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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Icons We Know Nothing About

8 June, 1999 - 00:00

By Hanna SHEREMET, The Day

For a number of years Kyiv Day has been associated primarily with Andriyivsky
uzviz (St. Andrew's Hill) open-air exhibits. At present, this red-letter
day ought to be described as a folk festival, although the setting reminds
many primarily of art shows, maybe an open-air old curiosity shop, anyway
a case study in late twentieth century mass culture. And a good example,
I must say, in which the fraternization of lower-level cultures (in the
sense that there are higher-level ones, fortunately) with the consumer
placed in a totally relaxed, happy, even attractive atmosphere.

And everything started differently when the notion of an art market
- or any market - was nonexistent. When official culture jealously guarded
its ranks, when artists had to spend years waiting so they could display
their works in one of the few available galleries, subject to the condition
that their works answered every ideological dictate and universally accepted
aesthetic guidelines.

In that situation everybody got his just desserts, bold experimenters,
underground, and painters bent on mass culture alike. Open-air exhibits
emerged on Andriyivsky uzviz semi-legally. To an extent as a protest or
maybe an opportunity to prove that there was life even at the crossroads,
not just on the highways with their booming traffic, a colorful and interesting
life.

Eventually, Andriyivsky uzviz became what it is now. But we must admit
that without it the development of the Ukrainian art market would have
been held back, for this was, actually, one of the first alternatives to
official art. And in this respect all our modern art galleries, one might
say, have come down St. Andrew's Hill. Another thing is that they have
not as yet reached the level of a civilized art market. Well, perhaps because
the problem of their legalized existence has not been solved as yet (different
status for different art galleries). Far from all can earn a living single-handedly,
work with artists, and attract a public. As a result, out of several dozen
Kyiv art galleries truly interesting and fully creative life takes place
at 11-21. But such is life.

So what happens at the crossroads? Does it mean that we no longer need
our crossroads? We do. It often happens that the most interesting phenomena
in creative life take shape at the crossroads, quietly and humbly, contradicting
the generally established norms. For me one such discovery was a small
art gallery (just one small hall) functioning at the Patriarchate of the
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It specializes in modern and ancient
icon-painting. We have never had anything like it, and I think that a certain
role was played in its appearance by the fact that Patriarch Dmytry (known
as Volodymyr Yarema in the lay world), a great expert on icon-painting
and religious architecture, once dreamed of becoming a painter.

Despite the fact that there is so much interest shown in icon-painting
these days, on the part of both artists and public, collecting works for
the first expositions was not easy, admits the gallery expert and art critic
Natalia Savytska. Many serious painters, doing icons for their own personal
gratification, simply thought it immaterial and irrelevant to expose such
works in ordinary displays. So they found a place. At this charitable exhibit
(its proceeds will be used for the construction of the Cathedral of the
Nativity, to be located somewhere near Sovky) one finds breathtaking things
on display. Done in both the absolutely traditional technique (Serhiy Ivanenko,
Natalia Volobuyeva) and in batik which is absolutely uncharacteristic of
icon-painting (e.g., Natalia Karnabed, Serhiy Hurtovy's, Bohdan Savytsky's,
and Kost Markovych's paintings on glass, Tatiana Kolechko's enamel on copper...),
and all this harmoniously combined with icons from the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries.

Incidentally, the discerning visitor will instantly discover the sharp
contrast between the souvenir types of icons offered the public on Andriyivsky
uzviz and creations of the icon-painting art displayed at the gallery.
Mastering the technique and creating the Divine Image are things incompatible.
Here in the quiet of the small exhibit hall one understands this implicitly,
so turning from highways to the crossroads will be extremely useful.

 

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