A one-woman show by prominent Kyiv artist Valentyna Chaikovska has been opened at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra’s Nef Gallery. Called Formula of the Initiated, it is the artist’s seventh and in a way groundbreaking exhibition, a kind of a jubilee. Yet, all Ms. Chaikovska’s exhibitions are groundbreaking in one way or another and always include a vast “theoretical” component in addition to the paintings proper. But only occasionally does the artist reveal this part, letting the works speak for themselves.
The theoretical part of the Formula of the Initiated is truly enormous. Ms. Chaikovska herself says the following of her seventh exhibition, “The whole world is strewn with handfuls of people who are doing very much for our planet. They are not overwhelmed with personal passions, the prospects of private life or egotistical success in a physical sense; they are not enthralled by their spiritual sphere; they are fulfilling the holy will of the Lord. It is to this kind of people that the exhibition is dedicated.”
The exhibits are arranged in three halls, with each having its own name and purpose. The first hall, Earthly Joys, contains by far the most charming and fabulous pictures by Ms. Chaikovska (Light It Up!, Childish Fun, and The Always Open Sky). These pictures, almost all of which were painted in recent years, signify after their fashion a bygone stage for the artist. Also here is the installation, Spiral, stuffed with fruit (earthly joys) and tipped with gilded topaz, the symbol of frankness. The second hall is Search or, in other words, the time of apprenticeship. Ms. Chaikovska’s pictures, both old (Homeward Bound, Queen of the Holy Rosary, There Was Pink Snow) and new (The Feeding of Bright Ideas, A Stained Glass Window Master Looking through Ages, Complete Happiness Is a Step Away), peacefully hang side by side here. And, finally, the third hall, Completeness, is dedicated to teachers proper who have achieved the most complete knowledge (Unfreezing Depths, Outside the Five Elements).
What surprises one in Ms. Chaikovska’s pictures is that they are above all not just beautiful but precious. The point is not so much in their contents (which often needs a special theoretical complement) as in the chosen symbols that convey certain ideas. Fragile cut glass castles, multicolored radiant mountains, huge flowers, stars, and precious stones: the artist’s world has been woven of endless details, each of which is a filigree painting decoration. The pictures making up The Formula of the Initiated are no exception to this. And yet.
Valentyna Chaikovska takes a fragment from Aivankhov’s book, The Main Key to the Problem of Existence as the epigraph to this exhibition: “To create harmony, you must understand, first of all, that harmony is preferable. Then you must fervently desire it and, finally, decide you’ll make efforts and sacrifices in order to implement it... And it will speak for itself. This is why the word, Silence, was pronounced. The formula of the Initiated is ‘Know, want, dare, and remain silent.’ The word, component, is used to obscure the true meaning, while silence expresses reality.” This sounds extremely elevated and significant but also somehow cold, very cold.
Whatever little human warmth and joy is left is perhaps in the caption under the picture The Song of a Miracle and the Endless Canvas: “Miracles are in fact wrought by Eccentrics, those who know how to dream.” But there are not many Eccentrics at the current exhibition. You tend to reach out to them as if they were a smoldering bonfire: a girl blowing soap bubbles with abandon (Childish Fun), a couple of wandering actors traipsing after a closed carriage (The Always Open Sky), a master seeing the rainbow-like colors of a still unfinished stained glass window (A Stained Glass Window Master Looking through Ages), and a fairy with her trusted tomcat (The Guardian of Dreams). Perhaps the former Eccentrics have turned into the current Initiated. But you cannot brush aside the thought that the Initiated have got the upper hand this time. Perhaps forever, but I hope not.
