An art gallery has been inaugurated in Kharkiv at the brand- new ABEK & Co. building. It comprises the works of 19 Kharkiv artists, mostly young but well-known in the world. Simultaneously with opening this gallery in the ultramodern arcade of the company building, the AVEK Kharkiv city charitable foundation and the modern Russian art museum in Jersey City, the US, began to implement a joint project: an exhibition called Kharkiv — New York — New York — Kharkiv.
This is a unique museum. Founded by Aleksandr Glezer, a famous Soviet dissident and organizer of the notorious bulldozer exhibition at Moscow’s Manezh, it has helped many artists. Mr. Glezer, who arrived for the gallery opening, said he had conceived the museum 20 years ago to help modern artists gain fame abroad, thus saving them from reprisals: it is more difficult to put an acclaimed person inside. However, now it is even more important to extend material help to artists, especially young ones. The state again has no money for culture. Arranging exhibitions in New York and Paris, the museum also organizes auctions for artists to sell their works. Incidentally, the Kharkiv residents are rising to the occasion, competing with American artists.
The new gallery pursues the same purpose. President of the new AVEK Foundation, Oleksandr Feldman, said he wanted the gallery to become a place of intellectual and esthetic education for the younger generation, as well as a visiting card for talented and original painters, graphic artists, designers, and sculptors. Young artists will be able to organize their personal exhibitions here, relying on the charitable foundation’s support.
In reply, a group of artists — Oleksandr Shekhovtsov, Olha Yerofeyeva, Olena Lesnycha, Oleksandr Lysenko, and Oleh Lazarenko — transferred their works to the foundation as a gift to the city children’s hospital which treats children abandoned by their mothers. The AVEK Foundation is implementing a project called Every Child Must Have a Family and sponsoring the hospital.
