Not just a decoration

The Art-Kyiv art fair can now claim the title of the biggest and only event of this format and scale in Ukraine. For the second time it is presenting Ukrainian paintings of the 20th and 21st centuries-from old to ultra-modern art. This year the exhibition features more than 3,000 works by nearly 500 painters and occupies five stories of the Ukrainian House.

There are three aspects to the exhibition. The first features nearly 100 paintings by the most famous Ukrainian artists: Adalbert Erdeli, Tetiana Yablonska, Iosyp Borshai, Marc Chagall, Ivan Sokolov, Hryhorii Svitlytsky, and many others from the private collections of well-known Ukrainians, including Anatolii Kinakh, Petro Poroshenko, Yan Tabachnyk, Serhii Buriak, Eduard Prutnyk, and others. The second aspect covers galleries. This year there are 53 of them, whereas last year there were only 15. Geographically, they represent the entire breadth of Ukraine (Kyiv, Donetsk, Cherkasy, Odesa, Yalta, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv). Zabolotny, Art-Kyiv’s main organizer, says that this year the festival has works from virtually all Ukrainian galleries. “Next year we will be pickier and not invite galleries that are merely staying afloat. We will introduce a certain selectiveness.”

Participation in art festivals is an indispensable condition for the operation of art galleries all over the globe. This is how they announce themselves to the world and promote the artists whose works they present to collectors. Typically, this is the main way for them to acquire their most important clients.

The Lviv-based gallery Zelena kanapa is a newcomer to Art-Kyiv. It is presenting four painters from Lviv. Olesia, the gallery’s curator, says that for these artists “Art-Kyiv is primarily valuable experience. Second, it is a chance to advertise and spread the word about the gallery, find new clients, and make new contacts. Third, we also hope that it may be financially profitable.”

That it is worthwhile participating in this art festival has been proved by the experience of some painters. Alina Maksymenko was the discovery of Art-Kyiv 2006. Nearly 20 of her works were purchased by festival visitors. Now her paintings cost $2,000 to $3,000 apiece, and she gets regular invitations to art events in Paris. “Even though I am a critic, I will not criticize today. Rather, I will applaud,” said art critic Oleksii Tytarenko.

“The reason is that we need to turn our painters into stars. This is what art fair around the world do. Every painter and every gallery that strives for success need to participate in events of this kind.”

The first art fair representing the majority of Ukrainian painters was held in Ukraine in 1996. Tytarenko was one of the organizers, but now he says that the event did not have the magnitude of Art-Kyiv and was on a much inferior level. “Only events that are attended by a lot of art critics, who all draw their conclusions, allow one to accurately estimate the value of this or that painting and assess a painter’s talent.”

Also represented this year were foreign galleries, such as the Artfira Gallery (New York, US), O Art Gallery (Czech Republic), Zuzuk (Prague, Czech Republic), Murari Art Gallery (Vilnius, Lithuania), and Volga Gallery (Moscow, Russia). Nevertheless, Art-Kyiv can hardly be said to have any serious international component because all these foreign galleries were founded by members of the Ukrainian diaspora. Zabolotny promises, however, that next year the international section will have a wider representation. “This time we don’t have as many [foreign galleries] as we would like because customs regulations make it difficult to transport art works across the border. Foreign gallery-owners are still somewhat afraid of our laws,” he says.

Art-Kyiv’s third plane in 2007 is represented by eight special projects by such painters as Oleksandra Zhumailiv-Dmytrovska (Streets. Vector-Kyiv-Amsterdam), Anatolii and Hanna Kryvolap, Taberii and Ilona Silvash (Genetics of Color), Oksana Mas (They Are among Us), Ihor Haidai (Razom.ua), Alina Maksymenko (Music Lessons), Lithuania’s Sigitas Staniunas (Masks of the Silver Age), and others. Staniunas has been to Ukraine before. Not so long ago his works were exhibited at the Ukrainian House. This time he came with a special project for the express purpose of participating in Art-Kyiv.

During the opening ceremony the display of a series of paintings was accompanied by a musical quartet. “The fall is here. I wanted to show that while natural trees shed their yellow leaves, the tree of creative work is in blossom all the time. I want everyone to understand that paintings should not be mere wall decorations.”

A 400-page catalog with photos of the exhibits was published prior to the opening of Art-Kyiv 2007. “Whoever is not in the catalog is not here,” Zabolotny said audaciously. The first issue of the journal Art-Ukraine made its debut. According to its editor in chief Stanislav Stetsenko, it will fill a void in the cultural- artistic niche. The journal’s price policy has not been established yet, but Zabolotny says that it will be profitable because its target audience is wealthy Ukrainian art connoisseurs.

Art-Kyiv charges 7,000 hryvnias for a standard display box, whereas at the famous Art Basel fair the price is И20,000. Paintings cost no less than $500 and the average price is $2,000 to $3,000. “This is a normal European price for a good-quality art work,” Tytarenko says. The average Ukrainian would not call this price “normal,” but Zabolotny says that last year pictures were purchased “by the dozen rather than by one or two. There are people here who want to own original art works, easily recognized pictures, rather than cheap kitsch.” For those who simply want to feast their eyes on Ukrainian art, prices are much more democratic. The entrance fee is five to ten hryvnias. The organizers say that this is a nominal fee and the proceeds go toward the operating costs.

The honorary guests at the opening ceremony included primarily representatives of the political and artistic elite. The singer Nina Matviienko shared her impressions of the exhibition: “One feels the contrast between Soviet and contemporary art. It is so interesting that in colors we can see and distinguish our time from the past.

“When it comes to art, I value color above everything else. I love light colors, soft pinks and blues. Too much red is scary but a combination of beet-red and white is very nice and reminds me of my mother’s dress.

“It took me a long time to get used to contemporary art. Some of my friends are avant-garde painters- Nina Denysova and Mykola Malyshko. I have always wondered how they could paint this way, but then I got used to their works and learned to find something in them.”

The newscaster Oksana Sokolov says that contemporary art is thought-provoking: “That’s the main thing. At shows like this, around 90 percent of people do not, as a rule, understand what they see but the very process of thinking is the main thing that contemporary art can do.

“I am interested in art because I grew up in an artistic family- my parents are classical music performers. When I was looking at the art collections of our establishment, I thought that it is very good that our public figures are finally becoming truly public. I am pleased that they are investing in art, showing an example to others.

“I was very comforted by the news that Ivan Marchuk was counted among the chosen 100 living geniuses today. It is too bad, though, that he is the only Ukrainian on the list. Ukraine is more known for its political events and less so for its art. When the PinchukArtCenter opened an exhibition and Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons-two key figures in contemporary art today-came, the paintings by Illia Chichkan looked quite decent next to theirs. Koons said something that has stayed with me: art is not what you see on the walls but what is happening inside of you.”

SPECIAL OPINION

Ivan MARCHUK, painter

Does Art-Kyiv have a chance of becoming another Art Basel?

“As far as becoming another Art Basel is concerned, there is not enough room here, and there are some inconveniences. In New York art fairs like this are held every year. It takes a week to see all the exhibits and the whole world is represented there. Here we have “chamber art”-exclusively Ukrainian art, although there are a couple of foreign guests. But it is a good thing that this event is taking place. One can see a lot here; there are things for every taste.”

What is your attitude to ultra-modern art?

“Anyone can be an ultra-modern artist. You can set up a chair, hammer a nail into it, spill some paint over it, use a very nice wall as a backdrop, and, hey presto, you have art. Today I was asked whether I would like to start doing these tricks. I said no, because this kind of art is short-lived. People come to see it once and no one will come to take another look at it. What I am doing is long-lasting art that will be passed on to the next generations. Nevertheless, at the new show at the PinchukArtCenter I enjoyed Hirst’s works-he has a very good conceptual foundation. In its development contemporary art in our country is following the world’s example and this is a normal process.”