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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

THE MYTH-MAKER OF KYIV Three variations on the theme of Dmytro Korsun

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

1. NOSTALGIC

The time, when it was a club for food industry workers, Slavutych is remembered by old-timers for its fantastic dances. One of them, a woman artist by the name of Alla, recalls the 1950s when the whole Podil section of Kyiv watched breathlessly the stormy romance between a one-armed beauty and a brave fellow (of course, they would marry and live happily ever after). But even today, adds Viktor, a restorer, one can meet at its Lonely Hearts sessions a romantic plump 60-year-old man. He is a regular here, always coming all the way from the Kharkiv Massif at the city’s southeastern extremity. When he was 16 he fell in love for the first time. It happened at this club, and he has frequented the place ever since, looking for shadows from the past. He still hopes to find them.

What am I driving at? At an exposition recently opened at the Slavutych art gallery. A one-man show by Dmytro Korsun called My Endless City. All the canvases are dedicated to Kyiv. Some portray Podil, others Andriyivsky uzviz, the House of Richard, Lavra Monastery cupolas along with the Dnipro and verdant slopes above. Even his “foreign” portrayals (Prague, Greek scenes, even Paris, which he has never visited) seem to have been viewed through the prism of Kyiv cityscapes. His Summer Day in Paris reminds one of Pechersk, while Kyiv cafes and side streets look very Parisian. He lends Kyiv a European touch and yet remains touchingly anachronistic. Here one can glance Polenov and there Levitan... No orthodox realist would dare paint such flaming scarlet shop windows reflected in puddles.

2. FRIGHTENING

A month ago Dmytro Korsun displayed his “Heavenly Warriors” at the Irena Gallery. Half an hour before starting the open-air exposition the lights went out in the entire city district.

People waited and waited and then decided to hold the exhibit nevertheless. Candles were lit casting whimsical shadows on the canvases.
A veteran Air Force man (a rare sight on such occasions these days) spoke in a whiskey voice while people explored the exhibit, drank vodka from old thick glasses and ate fatback with brown bread. The author was very perplexed. His friends told him to cheer up. “Say man, this is cool! I mean it! You’d never have arranged anything so exotic, even if you tried...” Personally, I think that his pictures with pilots of the 1930s are the best he has ever done. Handsome fellows with red sides and green bodies, the last of the knights glorified by the artist. Dmytro is convinced that their twentieth century mission was very personal and incomparable; they stood against the onslaught of pragmatism. He compares the pilots to archangels and their images are icon-like, with nimbuses and romantic captions in Spanish (the artist first received a degree in history).

3. MYSTICAL

I saw a beautiful plane flying over the city on Kyiv Day, trailing a colorful band tied to its fuselage. I was not surprised and my first thought was that Dmytro Korsun is up to his old tricks. Two minutes later I spotted the familiar face with round glasses in the crowd. The next moment it disappeared, as though the man were hiding from somebody. Yes. He could well have done the trick, because the man is the myth-maker of Kyiv.

 

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