Ukrainian Easter egg shown at Monaco fair

On the eve of the Catholic Easter Day, the well-known Ukrainian ethno-modern artist Zinaida Likhachova exhibited a sculptural composition, Impersonation, at the Monaco-based contemporary art fair ART MONACO 12.

The fair, held on April 5 through 8, displayed the works of contemporary art masters from all over the world.

Likhachova’s work is a gypsum plaster-cast 30-cm painted Easter egg (pysanka) “sliced” into four parts.

The artist tried to express in the language of form and symbols her reflections on what is now going on in the world.

But the authoress offers no cut-and-dry conclusions or answers – she only prompts the viewers to think and decide for themselves what kind of a world they are living in.

The work shows dynamism and a deeply-symbolic ornament. To create the sculptural composition, Likhachova used an ancient traditional Ukrainian ornament known as “forty wedges.”

Among the depicted symbols are a rhombus, a square, a six-pointed star, and two triangles: the one with its vertex up symbolizes the male principle, spirituality, and creativity, and the one with its vertex down means the female principle and wisdom.

Every tiny line of the pattern is full of a profound meaning and dedicated to the sun, the moon, the stars, the elements, birth, sprouting, plowing, sowing, and the ripening of grain. One of the composition’s central symbols is a cross – not only as the main Christian symbol but also a symbol of harmony of the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. All these symbols are closely linked with each other and express sort of a prayer to fulfill 40 wishes.