By Roman YANKEL, The Day
Ivan Merdak's wood masterpieces await their turn to be displayed. His works
can hardly be mistaken for those of any other artist and even harder to
forget. His studio, located in Novy Svit, Ternopil, seems to be eternally
inhabited by the spirit of olden times. Two different epochs have come
to live under the same roof, embodied in sculptural images of not only
noted historical personalities or literary heroes, but also ordinary people
who lived and still live in this land.
Ivan Merdak relies on the shape of a tree where every crack, dent or
whimsical natural bend prompts his artistic compositions, in which his
Lemko cycle, Our Ancestors, occupies the place of honor.
Tieri Vergelen, a noted Belgian sculptor, after visiting Merdak's studio,
said, "Merdak is a real discovery! To make sculptures he shifts natural
forms, rendering them mobile. We have a new science here. I have never
seen such wonderful things."
The sculptor managed to avoid persecution and purges in Soviet Ukraine.
Communist authorities enjoyed being asked to help and eventually did. Ivan
Merdak expects no help from the relabeled former Communists currently in
power. His works, nearly 500 wood sculptures, can been seen in the yard
of his old village home. Anyone can come and watch him turn a piece of
wood into an image, and even ask him for a lesson. Foreign tourists visiting
Ternopil always include his studio in their itinerary and it has been visited
by Ukraine's prominent artists and politicians, who agree that the makeshift
museum is unique and that the owner needs help, but they go no farther
than promises.
A garden of sculpture adorns the yard of Merdak's home cum studio, with
trees in human form.
Ternopil







