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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

Myroslav YAREMAK: “Raising a positive Frankenstein?”

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Myroslav Yaremak puts creativity over provincialism

Ivano-Frankivsk’s Object S Art Gallery has reopened and almost from the outset had several displays attracting critics and an increasing number of visitors.

The Day interviewed its manager Myroslav Yaremak, artist, designer, and art impresario. The following are only several facts from his curriculum vitae (which has so many entries that citing them would take a booklet): art shows in Germany, Austria, and Spain; the biannual Spatia Nova in St. Petersburg, fourth biannual international miniature art exhibit in Gornja Milanovic (Yugoslavia), Europe-Art 1997 (Geneva), Angels Over Krakow (Poland). I specially chose these events, because they took place outside Ukraine and my questions related to a somewhat different subject.

Q: Do you think that Ivano-Frankivsk is a provincial town?

A: Of course, but its provinciality is determined not so much by being remote from the big cities as by its almost complete absence of dynamism. Above all I mean economic provinciality. No sizable assets are attracted or circulated here, and money makes people dynamic. They start looking for and choosing things; money dictates and stimulates. There is no capital to act as a catalyst, so we have to find other ways to dynamize ourselves using some parallel noneconomic factors...

Q: When starting on your project of establishing an artistic territory, I mean a certain household for creative programs and actions, you must have encountered precisely this provincialism. With this in mind, how did you construct your own outlook?

A: Object S remains my major creative accomplishment. When we say artist we no longer picture a man working his paintbrush on a square of canvas, because it often takes more than just a brush, paints, and canvas. One can gather stones and place them on the ground, creating a certain pattern or position objects in space. Practically anything can serve material for art. For me, this material is my territory as an artist, where I place certain subjects, creative personalities, within a certain object, these premises. It doesn’t fit in the traditional concept of a painter, but it is a phenomenon of the same origin. This has nothing to do with politics, ideology, business, or public activities. This is my creative domain...

Q: So what is your purpose, this territory?

A: Yes and no. Rather, it’s part of the general project, a phase in its implementation. My immediate purpose is the transformation of man. Let me explain. This has to do precisely with that provinciality. Halychyna appears to lack creative personalities. It’s as though people were afraid to show their talent. Probably a syndrome of that historical crossroads on which we are all now marking time, when one prefers not to get out of line, anywhere, anyhow. Under the circumstances the appearance of several such personalities would serve to dynamize the province. Say, if our mayor turned out to be an unusual man, an eccentric character, I’m sure he would cause many things to change for the better. Actually, this was the aim of my Alternative Mayor Action, which is still underway. One of the objectives of Object S is an opportunity for those who want to assert their place in life to give dynamism to our provincial environs by taking some radical steps, thus making themselves distinct from others.

Q: Something like provoking the environs?

A: Right. And it goes further than Ivano-Frankivsk. Who knows, maybe Object S has no meaning for Ukraine as a whole, and maybe it does. We say province, but maybe some other province somewhere is now witnessing some really interesting phenomena. We also say we need contacts. We do, but I’d rather have such contacts with some remote obscure areas where no one would expect anything out of the ordinary to happen. We call such places terra incognita. I know what’s going on in Poland, the Czech Republic, or Austria. I know about their predominant and marginal trends, but there is little we know about the East.

Q: In fact, this subject is very serious, I would even say dramatic. It is a threat to our expected normalization, I mean getting civilized. In our conditions giving a strong impetus to the capital city means a devastating blow to the provinces, including brain drain. Would you agree that the result will be a showcase, postmodern, technologically up-to-date, cosmopolitan megalopolis surrounded by a vast expanse of God knows what?

A: Yes, but such “creative territories” could be an effective countermeasure. I mean they could serve to fill this big gray void with something meaningful... to create an area of mutual rapprochement if you will...

Q: You will also have to agree that your project has a certain commercial side. We see canvases and pencil sketches displayed. All this is for sale. In a way a confrontation between art and business, isn’t it?

A: It is, but only on the ideational plane. In practice, artworks have been bought and sold everywhere and always. You can pick stones somewhere in a desert, then put together a pattern and find a buyer. But there is also the initial purity of creative inspiration. My personal experience shows, however, that most artists work to sell their canvases to earn a living. This is only natural. Painting is a profession, with all the attendant consequences. It can be cruel at times, because of self-limitation, losses, and inner compromises. I have that inner fear of suddenly losing everything I have, because not all of this is actually mine, it was given me as a present. At one time I turned away many  excellent opportunities, like taking part in prestigious projects, moving to the capital, find my own art market niche, either in Ukraine or somewhere in Eastern Europe. You can take my word, I did not refuse out of laziness...

Q: You mean you stay put in Ivano-Frankivsk for fear of losing your own creative self?

A: I wouldn’t put it in so many words. Although this town is tempting to live in, because in a way it is tabula rasa. There are about 200,000 residents, all first generation urban dwellers. They know all there is to know about modern amenities like transport, sewage, cars, or VCRs. But they still have to learn urban culture. It is a gap in their mentality. So everything depends on what you show them and how. Here you have complete freedom and absolute responsibility. The extent of this responsibility is very intriguing. They come here and examine everything with utmost concentration. Everything we have here is not what one needs to survive. In this sense it is useless. But it is of vital necessity for one’s cultural enrichment Man must live, not just survive. In our society everything is made so that one cannot distinguish between survival and living. This is a flagrant transgression of the eternal hierarchy. One of the consequences is that the people currently in power do not know much about culture and creativity. And most bitter of all is that they do not even realize that they have a responsibility to orient themselves in this direction.

Q: You know, I think this  tongue-tied behavior by our captains of state itself testifies to their incompetence. If a person doesn’t know his grammar, then he is certainly not able to lead society. This is direct evidence of all that garbage that has been cultivated in their consciousness. And to think that in this country people unable to express their ideas for want of education stand the biggest chance of making spectacular political careers! But suppose we get back to your Object S?

A: Right. This project was conceived and is designed to bring about positive changes in precisely this sphere, I mean to help form our elite (sorry, I know you hate the word). Remember I mentioned the transformation of man? My immediate purpose is to convert any given ordinary pragmatic businessman, help him discover in himself something new and powerful which he never expected existed there, a strong attraction to art. Help him develop a taste for it and an interest in it, say, in this “territory” at first...

Q: In which case he would be your own creation, wouldn’t he?

A: Yes, he would, in the sense that I would open his eyes on all that which is Good, on all this wonderful world. You know, like raising a very positive Frankenstein... Then there would be true art galleries, art auctions, art business. I’m willing to give him all this, because it isn’t really mine. But first I have to create him, and this is where my strongest artistic ambitions are aimed.

 

Interviewed by Yuri Andrukhovych, The Day
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