An Odesa-born colorist

The Merited Artist of Ukraine Vasyl Chehodar (1918-89) studied at the Perm Art College, and then at the Kyiv Art Institute. However, the artist’s birthplace, in the Odesa region, seems to have had an immense impact on his creative work, as the rich colors typical of his paintings breathe with the purely southern, sunny energy of Odesa.

However, it was not the Odesa theme that brought real success to Chehodar, a landscape painter, but rather his lengthy work with Kyiv landscapes. The artist painted the capital for over 40 years. On the whole, the artist’s oeuvre includes the historical places of Kyiv region, modern industrial landscapes, as well as eternal, mountainous and marine, sceneries.

The artist’s oeuvre also includes many still life works. Flowers are the predominant motive in his paintings. Like his famous predecessor from Poltava, Kateryna Bilokur, Chehodar saw flowers as one of the main sources of human joy.

The canvases exhibited at the GALLERY 15/5 give an insight into the pictorial explorations of the artist as a subtle colorist, master of landscape and still life painting. Obviously, the artist considered color as the most important thing in painting, making it his main artistic instrument and means to touch the audience.

The exhibit at the GALLERY 15/5 (vul. Instytutska 15/5) will be open till June 2011.