31 October - 29 November 2023
Art cannot stand aside from global cataclysms. It lives to the fullest only when it reflects the concerns of humanity, individual nations and peoples, and every person. So it is natural that a true Ukrainian artist has been dealing with the tragic military reality for more than a year now.
Anatolii Varvarov set himself the task of creating a real "chronicle of the present", to show how his own life and the life of our country have changed. His work is lyrical and full of irresistible faith in the Victory. Every experience, every movement of the soul is captured in his work. That is why the scrupulousness of the artist and the truthful nature of his works allow us to call him a chronicler of Ukrainian modernity.
31 October 2023
I write my works today, in wartime. I will never be the same as I was. I work, I write in order not to extinguish myself, in order not to let others fade away: my family, relatives, friends. I paint what makes me feel positive for a victorious future. My paintings are a reminder of what I feel during the war. How do you not break down? How not to fade away?
My works are a reminder, a memory of the war for myself, the viewer, and history. I saved myself by working on paintings from the panic of the war, the global explosion and the end of everything human. The exhibition "Chronicle of the Present" is a personal diary about the war, about us - artists - in 2022-2023.
February, March, April 2022
I spent it in Kyiv, in the forest, with my sons. We were helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine, building engineering structures, defending our native forest. I had already begun to forget the smell of oil paints and the look of brushes.
End of April 2022
When the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed and drove the enemy out of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions, I was able to take my first breath of air, and I dived out of the darkness of the depths. At home in the kitchen, I tried to start writing my first works during the war. To the sound of air raid alarms. The first works of that period: "May 2022", "My Kyiv 2022" and "Flag".
The beginning of May 2022
Art galleries, museums, and institutions began to return to their work. I began to feel and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then the metro started working. I was able to get to my studio. During this period, I created the works "Let's Save, Let's Raise", "Good News", "Red Viburnum", "Seeds for the Future Harvest".
End of August 2022
Summer, the work "A River Flows". I couldn't believe my ears when I was painting this work. I thought: "How can there be such silence during the war? You can only hear a stork crying."
September 2022
The works "The Geese Flew Away" and "The Flight of the Crane" reflect the fact that there is a war around, it is getting cold, and the birds are scared, just like people. Still, the birds take risks: they fly to warmer places in winter to survive.
September-October 2022
After the liberation of the Kharkiv region, the work "Kotyhoroshko" was born.
October-November 2022
The little light inside my soul has not gone out. This is how the great works appeared during the blackouts in October and November: "And there will be light", "Do not extinguish yourself".
December 2022 - January 2023
Then a dark but not cold New Year's Eve with works: "New Year 2023", "Dad's Glasses", "Call to Mum", "Energy".
February 2023.
At this time, I created the work "Snowflakes 2023", which reflects my feelings when I walk along my native streets and do not recognise them because of the anti-tank hedgehogs that have always made me both sad and terrified. One morning I went outside and it was snowing. The snowflakes turned these rusty pieces of iron into kind, gentle snowflakes that looked like themselves. Both sadness and horror left me by themselves.
March-April 2023
I painted Stolen Summer, because not only children, but all of us have had two summers stolen from us. I also created the work "Air Force", because I really want peaceful patrol planes to fly over Ukraine instead of fighters with cruise missiles. "Dominoes" - the tiles in the game that usually fall down, in my case fly upwards, towards Victory. And finally, "Life goes on": The air defence system is working, the missile is humming and roaring, and the birds and people are unperturbed because they are almost used to it. Life really does go on, no matter what.
And then, and then... the war will end with the Victory of Ukraine and light over darkness.
Project team: Olena Borymska, Veronika Shchukina, Oleksandr Kukhar, Iryna Khomenko, Oleksandra Ryzhova, Oleksandra Kabakova, Yelyzaveta Shulyak, Anastasiia Shvydiuk.
Design: Malika Umarova.
Full price: for free.
