3 November 2023 - 25 February 2024
The artistic comprehension of Taras Shevchenko's poetic works by the outstanding Ukrainian artist Ivan Marchuk was reflected in the creation of a series of paintings "Shevchenkiana". The artist used the technique of grisaille to create the paintings, which made it possible to create almost monochrome works, using a monochromatic range of the finest colour variations, based on a masterful sense of optical and chromatic possibilities. Only a few works of the cycle are multicoloured, but their colour is very restrained and noble and refined. The paintings not only illustrate the poetic lines of Shevchenko's "Kobzar", but also reflect the worldview of Ivan Marchuk himself, especially his historiosophy.
In 1994, the Dnipro Publishing House of Fiction in Kyiv published an edition of Kobzar with the world-famous artist's artistic achievements. The artist did not literally illustrate the poet's lines, but tried to convey the deep meaning of the works, the tension of the words of Shevchenko's "Kobzar", the palette of emotions, spiritual impulses, and philosophical reflections of Shevchenko. The Ukrainian writer Dmytro Pavlychko, noting the originality of the interpretation of "Kobzar", noted the plastic details of the works, which are invisible even to many art critics: "...Marchuk showed us his Shevchenko, not like the Shevchenko of Slastion or Cassian, but that is what makes him interesting. Perhaps, the artist also had a goal to show that "Kobzar" is no longer a book, but the flesh of our land... The cracks that run through the palms, clothes, banduras, and foreheads of Shevchenko's characters resemble cracks in black soil dried out by dry winds. One can feel the hot dryness of the land, but also its fertility, steadfastness and indestructibility... He makes us read Shevchenko with different eyes, to comprehend him in a new way and to strengthen his philosophical spirit in ourselves..."
Ivan Marchuk - People's Artist of Ukraine (2002), laureate of the National Taras Shevchenko Prize of Ukraine (1997), member of the International Academy of Contemporary Art "Golden Guild" (Rome, Italy). He was included in the list of one hundred geniuses of our time, determined by the Greators Synectics rating survey (2007, UK), which considers him "a genius who influenced the transformation of public consciousness". He is an honorary citizen of Kyiv, Ternopil and Kaniv.
The artist's oeuvre includes more than 4000 works and more than 100 personal exhibitions. He is the founder of new techniques in art, in particular, "plontanism" (the name the artist gave to his style - from the words "to weave", "to plait", because his paintings seem to be created from balls of fancy threads). Today, the Ukrainian artist's paintings impress connoisseurs in Europe, America, Australia and dozens of countries around the world.
In Kaniv, after the previous personal exhibitions of Ivan Marchuk at the Taras Shevchenko Museum on Tarasova Hora (1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 1997, 2015), the Reserve's collection was replenished with the works of the world-famous artist, which are in the permanent exhibition of the museum and at exhibitions. Ivan Marchuk's "Shevchenkiana" (42 works created in tempera in 1980-1983) is one of the most valuable acquisitions of the museum collection of the Shevchenko National Reserve, in particular due to generous gifts from the artist himself, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine (1993-2000) Viktor Yushchenko and Minister of Finance of Ukraine (1994-1996) Petro Hermanchuk.
Ivan Marchuk's life and creative credo: "...For me, art is life and revelation. There is no other alternative. And at the same time, art is hard labour. I work 365 days a year and I can't do it without it. It's fate's judgement, karma, sentence, doom. And there's no escape.... I dream of lying in the grass, listening to it grow, I want to watch the clouds float in the sky, I want to be happy, have fun, communicate in a company, I wouldn't mind going to school to teach someone something. And then I think: I also want to do something myself. An invincible thought!"
Co-organisers: The Office of the President of Ukraine, ICIP, NAMU, Tarasova Hora National Reserve, Centre for Contemporary Art - Ivan Marchuk Museum.
Project team: Alla Iling, Yevheniia Artemenko, Olena Borymska, Veronika Shchukina, Iryna Khomenko, Oleksandra Ryzhova, Oleksandra Kabakova, Yelyzaveta Shuliak, Anastasiia Shvydiuk.
Design: Malika Umarova.
Full ticket price: 300 UAH.
