Ukrainian X-Files Art Series

On the eve of Ukrainian Independence Day, Kyiv’s Helman Gallery hosted a display by postmodern artist Vasyl Tsaholov, titled The Ukrainian X-Files. His series is not cinematographic but purely artistic, having little to do with the noted US television series, although in both cases paranormal phenomena are in the limelight. Tsaholov was captivated by the topic in 1995 and he decided to concentrate on all those little green men from outer space, placing them in a Ukrainian village setting and creating the series. The project took quite some time; the first canvas, “Female Contacts,” appeared four years later.

Tsaholov’s art is primarily associated with contemporary video techniques: tapes, photos, and installations. Such works were displayed by Helman in Moscow, in 1994. In 2000, Kyiv patron Oleksandr Soloviov came up with his project, The White Room, and it was there that Tsaholov’s first UFO canvas appeared. The artist explains, “We all know that paranormal phenomena cannot be clearly seen on video tape, so works of art are the only way to produce a documentary image. My series are intended as a creative narrative.”

He copes with an usual task using artistic means, placing a show in the static space of the canvas. He believes that his series will meet with a social response: “Here I make a step forward, toward the viewer. On the one hand, there is a stable backdrop for UFO themes, originating from the US X-Files, followed by abundant sensational stories carried by the media; on the other hand, a certain percentage of oldsters across the world seem to have been in contact with aliens. The Ukrainian X-Files is a joke on the subject and the said factors provide an opportunity to introduce it in the social realm.”