Charmed by Refinement

Edmonton’s SNAP Gallery hosted a Ukrainian ex libris exhibit featuring contributions from more than 30 graphic artists from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Siverskodonetsk. Ethnic Ukrainian exhibitions in the Diaspora are mostly organized by and for Ukrainians, but this one proved a happy exception from the rule. Art critic Stephen Dixon considers Ukrainian works intriguing by their remarkable refinement of detail.

A closer look at such minutest components uncovers new levels of contents. Miniature refined ex libris works from Ukraine contrast the graphic art of North America, currently showing a growing conceptual trend, large scale forms, roughly worked details, techniques based on photographic technology rather than the ability to draw, Edmonton journalist Bohdan Klid believes.