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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

At the Start of the Road

The House of Artists in Kyiv features exhibit “Artists Say Yes to the Orange Revolution!”
21 December, 2004 - 00:00
KYIV STREETS AND WALLS WERE THE PRINCIPAL EXHIBITION HALLS / Photo by Mykhailo MARKIV, The Day Photo by Mykhailo MARKIV, The Day

History is an inexorable and unstoppable archival machine. Sooner or later, all events, even the most striking ones, are transferred to the pages of history textbooks and encyclopedias. The first sign that an event is becoming history is the presence of reflections on the part of the artistic community, which may be the most sensitive one.

Our orange holidays are no exception. Their scenario seems not to have been played out yet, its seventeen exciting days are still fresh in our memories, and the rerun has yet to be held, along with the New Year smelling of oranges. Scholarly conferences are already being held to discuss the connection between Rabelaisian carnival culture and Kyiv in 2004, and topical exhibits are being launched. In fact, the Maidan and adjacent streets and underpasses became a huge display of handwritten posters, banners, streamers, graffiti, and ice sculptures. Yet the outpouring of revolutionary creativity was also reflected in the sharper contours of an exhibition hall, or rather, halls: the exhibit called “Artists Say Yes to the Orange Revolution!” occupied two floors of the House of Artists, an unprecedented occurrence.

It seems best to avoid naming names in this display, because names aren’t what really matters. It’s like playing with kids; you find tattletales and bullies among them, but when they’re playing a game, they’re all equal and good partners. Naїve and immature works are displayed side by side with works by accomplished artists who have also joined in the game. Of course, some could be blamed for being oversensitive to the juncture and trying to catch the train of history, even if it means that they jumped into the last car at the very last moment. However, even if such falsehood was present, no one could detect it.

Canvases done by noted abstractionists, painted in ocher and orange, brimming with sunlight, peacefully coexisted with purely parlor realistic works. In a funny way children’s posters paralleled professional caricatures portraying well-known politicians. The installation “Breaking News,” which shows a wall of television sets with screens displaying scenes of the round-the-clock protest rally on the Maidan, is continued in a series of amateur photos taken on Independence Square. Other artists had no need of installations, and set up tents, the kind used in the celebrated tent city on Khreshchatyk. A burlesque political chart of Ukraine echoed the picture Ded Mazay i zaytsy [Old Man Mazay and Hares, based on Nekrasov’s poem about an old Russian peasant who saves hares during a flood — Transl.]. Here you see the hares and the old man, except that here he is a Masay from Africa and the hares are inflatable rubber toys. There is even a tribal totem, a miniature orange windmill attached to a mast outside a window facing the entrance to the House of Artists.

It’s safe to assume that many other similar exhibits will be held, hopefully on a higher artistic level, like the display by Kyiv art photographer Oleksandr Hliadelov, set up in a shop window near Tolstoy Square.

Turning quantity into quality and vice versa is very topical. Will the sociopolitical revolution, with its theatrical and artistic manifestations, lead to a revolution in culture, if only in its visual form initially? Will this political impetus be transformed into new ideas begotten by painters, writers, and film and stage directors? Will it stir into motion the creative potential hidden in younger and creatively fresher minds, considering that the older ones are in the grips of a crisis?

We will know the answers to these questions before long. This is a case when trying to explain one’s creative impasse by a lack of budget appropriation becomes really stupid.

The whole situation is so very interesting, it’s truly unprecedented; our intellectuals have to hurry to catch up with the masses, not the other way around!

By Dmytro DESIATERYK, The Day
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