Farewell to socialist realism

An exhibit of 25 paintings and graphic works by Ivan Marchuk is on display at the Creative Arsenal continues until March 2. Visitors can take a trip in time and sense the spirit of the Soviet era and witness the beginnings of Marchuk’s career as an artist. Marchuk was an active participant of the Ukrainian underground in the mid-1960s), and his “informal” creative quest, which did not fit into the pattern of socialist realism, destroyed its ideological foundations.

“Ivan Marchuk is a folk artist of Ukraine, but to me he is just Granddad, my relative and teacher, who gives other people so much that often they are unable to realize the healing power of his creations,” said Ihor Didkovsky, the acting director general of the state-run Creative Arsenal. Marchuk commented jokingly that he is not a grandfather yet, just a fine fellow, energetic and handsome.

“I first met Ivan Marchuk in New York,” recalled the poet Bohdan Boichuk. “This was not an easy period for him. But he was working with great inspiration and seldom left his studio. Of course, I have seen many of his paintings from different periods. You know, Marchuk calls this early, first, period a “farewell to socialist realism.” It is true, these pictures are very powerful. First of all, this is a breakthrough of individual expression, of a style, something that is very important for every artist. Second, this breakthrough is very special: I would describe this trend as surrealistic mysteries. You see brilliant attention to detail and the original graphic nature of a painting and its elements. These things are truly surreal because through their essence they cross beyond the borders of what is real.”

The singer Rosava said, “I first visited Marchuk’s studio four years ago. Ivan Marchuk is a very open-hearted and sincere man. He loves people and adores women. He often ‘weaves’ female images into his canvases. In this period of his creativity two emotional lines can be singled out: the lyrical, even somewhat naive, touch to his pictures of the mid-1960s and early 1970s, and a creative quest. The mid-1970s marked a turn in the opposite direction, probably because his creativity was being persecuted. Almost every work reflects his protest against contemporary realities and a political system that did not accept Marchuk and branded him as a ‘nationalist’ and an ‘unreliable’ person. He was always different from the others by virtue of his individual approach, style, world outlook, and the manner in which he reflected life in his paintings. The series Voice of my Soul dates to 1965. In its center is the Universe as though seen through the artist’s ‘third’ eye, which allows the viewer to glimpse the head-spinning depth of forms concealed behind ordinary realities. The characters of this miracle-play are people (mostly rural residents), birds (crows), plants (trees, guelder roses), participants and at the same time symbols of the lasting myth known as life. Human images emerge in endless variations as the biggest mystery and, simultaneously, as the answer to all questions.”

Marchuk told The Day: “The Voice of my Soul is a philosophy of life. Every picture is a short story. By the way, I write stories now and then, each no longer than a page. Generally speaking, this is my childhood, my village, my land. As for the raven, I even had a ‘raven period,’ perhaps because when I was a boy I couldn’t pass a single nest without stealing the eggs and breaking them. Now I can’t understand what made me hate these birds so much. When I painted pictures in my early period, it was a search process. I had to break and destroy everything, and travel along a path that started with terrible primitivism to find something of my own. I don’t know where that rebellious spirit came from. I wanted things to get worse, so long as they were different. At that time I wanted to become Shiva, to have as many hands so that they could all work because I had no time to paint everything that was born in my mind. I paint at a great speed: 10 strokes a second. And I improvise a lot. At first, most of the paintings displayed here had no titles. For me it was a language barrier, so I photographed them and then asked my friends to think up titles. But after I collected all their titles, none was good enough. Then something broke through in me and I started giving my pictures titles. Later I called the period from 1965 until 1979 the Voice of my Soul. This voice is still speaking.”

When he was asked about the situation surrounding the construction of his museum, Marchuk joked that “they will probably build it 20 years from now, when I’m not around...There were many arguments, even lies, but before the New Year the Kyiv City Council voted to designate some land for the museum. There are sponsors, so let’s hope for the best.”