Posters as museum value
Exhibition Top-20 of World’s Best Graphics Works opened in Yermilov Center in Kharkiv
“This is the result of our daily work. The design of this exhibition was developed two years ago and then we took it to Kyiv and Odesa because there was no sufficient place to present it in Kharkiv due to the big format of the art works, each being a two-meter poster. Now we were able to present them in Yermilov Center,” said Oleh Veklenko, president of the International Triennial of Ekoposters “4th Block.”
Theatrical, cultural, entertainment, and social posters were nominated along with ones on environmental topics at the triennial and were taken from its reserves for the exposition. Veklenko says that the exhibited works are of great artistic and cultural value, recognized all over the world. Of course, they also have quite a high material value – commercial price.
“Graphics is a specific area. There are special museums of posters in the world, which store and continually update their collections. There are museums that purchase only works of those authors, who are presented at our exhibition,” said Veklenko. “The reserve stock of the ‘4th Block’ holds nearly 6,500 posters. And if the state would provide assistance we could have one of the most interesting environmental museums of the world here in Kharkiv!”
Names of the designers whose works were presented at the exhibition are well-known all over the world. Among them there were: Yurii Surkov, Vladimir Chaika, Alan le Kernek, Takashi Akiyama, David Tartakover, Niklaus Troxler, Poli Cher. The geography of places from where they all came is very impressive: the exhibition features works from Japan, France, United States of America, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Israel, and Iran.
Curators of the exhibition say that modern posters present a huge range of feelings. Designers’ works reflect the national traditions, trends of different schools of graphics, thoughts on life, the universe and art, they also send an aesthetic message to the society.
The president of the triennial expresses his concern that even despite the fact that “4th Block,” which has been held since 1991, attracted considerable attention in the world, as for now, the local officials, involved in the sphere of culture, do not pay attention to the graphics masterpieces presented in Kharkiv.
Gallery owner and art curator Tetiana Tumasian suggests that Ukrainian graphics has been a success in Kharkiv and in the world is quite natural because there is a powerful school of graphics here and the authors are very professional. In the early 20th century there was established an art school in Kharkiv, which combined the ideas of the avant-garde and traditions of folk culture of Slobozhanshchyna. Posters and graphic design played a special role in formation of the specific character of the Kharkiv graphics school in the second half of the 20th century. Tumasian considers the fact that professor Oleh Veklenko is the head of the graphic design school today a great success and joy for Kharkiv. Graduate students from other cities, as well as art curators and critics from abroad, also note the special position of Kharkiv on the cultural map of Ukraine. More on this in an interview with Tetiana Tumasian, which will be published in the upcoming issues of The Day.
