On June 1 the Dnipropetrovsk-based Kvartyra art center opened an exhibit “Over the Icebergs” of works by the legendary Ukrainian artist Oleh Holosii.
Holosii was born May 31, 1965, in Dnipropetrovsk. He attended the local art school (1980-84), and then studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (1984-90). He became popular in 1988 after a sensational All-Union Exhibit of Young Artists at Moscow’s Manege.
The artist managed to accomplish much before his tragic and untimely death in Kyiv in 1993. Early on he displayed exceptional talent as a painter and became one of the undisputed leaders of a new wave (also known as Southern Russian Wave or New Tender Ones) in Ukrainian art, centered around the famous Paris Commune art squat in Kyiv.
Art expert Liudmyla Tverska, deputy director for research at the Dnipropetrovsk Art Museum, who personally knew the artist, wrote the following: “Although it is very difficult to speak about artistic periods in the life of a painter who only lived for 28 years, the watershed that divides the two main landmarks in his life story is quite obvious. It is the 1980s, when he went to the Dnipropetrovsk Art School and very soon became a leader of his classmates. Restless, very active by nature, and open to communication, Oleh possessed the wonderful skill of winning the hearts of those who surrounded him.”
He had a lot of friends who adored him. Even his teachers often came under the spell of his human and artistic magic. It is this particularity of Holosii that his teacher, Meritorious Figure of Arts of Ukraine Leonid Antoniuk recalls with both warmth and pain: “Holosiy was always distinguished by his irrepressible disposition. He easily mingled with people but usually made friends with senior students because he was a head and shoulders above his peers. He read very much and enthused about Ancient Greek/Roman and Biblical mythology. He began very early to ponder over the meaning of life, the mission of an artist, and the role of art in society. He wanted a lot and immediately. So he hastened to live. As Pushkin said, ‘…he hurries to live and hastens to feel.’ The impression was that even in those years he bore the seal of a soon-to-come end…” (Art Ukraine, No. 3, 2011).
The combination of a spellbound poetical spirit and a metaphysical depth that freezes one to a certain degree is typical of Holosii’s pictures. He painted animals and humans in unusual, often festive, but not entirely realistic forms; he drew landscapes and interiors, created stories that resembled dreams, and depicted dreams that surpassed reality. In his generation, he was the most gifted and, hence, the most vulnerable. It will not be an exaggeration to say that there has been no other artist of equal talent in Ukrainian art over the past 25 years.
“Over the Icebergs” is important for several reasons. It is the first Holosii exhibit in his home city and the first solo exposition of his paintings in Ukraine in the past eight years. Besides, the exhibit displays the artist’s early canvases, when he was still a pupil, as well as later works from the family collection kept by Oleh’s mother Maia Holosii (Fantastic, Self-Portrait, Over the Icebergs, Mama, Those Who Sleep in the Gethsemane Garden) — a total 16 pictures hitherto unknown to the broad public.
The exhibit will remain open until June 14. Pictures are not for sale.
