Aesthetic in prosaic

The exposition is called “The Restoration of the Rainbow.” Its author is The Day’s great friend, vice-rector of the Lviv Academy of Arts, professor, art critic, and historian. As he told The Day, the exhibit is dedicated to memory of his mother and aunt, Iryna and Sofia Lisovets.

“Actually, an opportunity to record a transformation in the artistic work of a mature and well-known artist takes place quite rarely. Especially when he is also a famous art critic and historian,” says art critic, Ph.D. Daryna SKRYNNYK-MYSKA. “However, in the new series by Roman Yatsiv, gathered in the exhibition ‘The Restoration of the Rainbow,’ the change, or to be precise, the evolution of the author’s style is the most noticeable. One can say with confidence that graphic and painting works of the last period show the beginning of the new stage in the artist’s work.”

The art critic says that Yatsiv’s style possesses boldness, ease, but the latest works demonstrate special freedom and lightness, in technique as well as in images. The artist discovered colored inks, and this medium proved absolutely organic for him, so his experimenting transformed in new graphic achievements. Transformation also involved another material the artist works with, acrylic paints. His works of the previous period have a more saturated structure, are based on sharp contrasts of fine spots and rhythms or juxtapositions of local spots, often underlined with a contour or texture, which set a structural rhythm to the surface. Conversely, the recent compositions became more laconic in means, they are based on contrasts of large, extended stains and textures, which creates an impression of big canvases despite their modest dimensions.

The changes visible in Yatsiv’s latest works have only to do with his authorial style, while the expressive intonations unfolding in lyrical plots have remained and steadily dominate the artist’s pictures. His emotional and lyrical perception of the world allows the author to capture its poetry in the most everyday manifestations of life, find sublime esthetics in humdrum and reveal it to the others.

The Day congratulates Roman Yatsiv on the opening of his exhibit and wishes the public not only sheer pleasure from enjoying his canvases, but also joy from communication with the painter and academic, a man of astonishing erudition, author and compiler of many publications aimed at solving the most burning and urgent problems of Ukrainian history of art.

A recently published catalog of Yatsiv’s works can also be purchased at the exhibit.