The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Art Museum ranks with the best at the Ukrainian capital. This time it has hosted Andrzej Strumillo, a leading Polish graphic artist. He received his basic professional training Poland, was a professor with the Krakow Art Academy (1977-80), and coordinator of the UN General Secretariat’s graphic publications program in New York (1982-84). He also did painting, drawing, photography, illustrations, book and even stage design for TV plays. He has been involved with photography since 1945 (!) and his creative quest is not reduced to the visual arts; he is the author of the two volumes of verse, My Own and How, along with a book on nature and culture. He has been round the world, from Italy to Japan and Thailand, the experience resulting in a series of drawings and photos. He has a collection of art and articles of material culture from the Far and Middle East. A list of his one-man shows in various cities of Europe, Asia, and the Americas is too large to quote here. And now he has come to Kyiv.
At the opening ceremony, Strumillo was touchingly modest. “I am only too well aware of the difference between my works and all those creations displayed at this museum.” Indeed, there is a difference between the museum exposition and modern graphics, but the latter, done at an appropriate professional level, does not look alien within these classical walls. In his brief address, the author said, “I wish Ukraine independence and prosperity. I wish Poland the same. Moreover, I am sure that the former is impossible without the latter.” The opening ceremony was attended by Polish Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Marek Z Ч lkowski.
Andrzej Strumillo’s graphic works are on a rather restrained color range, without exalted outbursts and insolent interpretations. He uses diversified techniques: India ink, gouache, linoleum engraving, and zincography. He can even take advantage of a curve in the paper, forming a small fold, as a major innovative approach (like his Captain’s Head with a Scar). Some works attract one’s attention with an incredible amount of meticulously executed details, making every stroke of the chisel painstakingly inimitable (Mongolian Suburgan), others seem influenced by pop art and surrealism, although prove far from either trend when considered as such.
He writes on himself, “I used to regard all media as a means of expression, as forms of communication. And I regarded communication as so many components of the conscious and subconscious which we wish or have to discover to sustain ourselves and uphold a dialogue with others.” His stand is reflected in his Information and Emotions series, of which three works were displayed in Kyiv. From the current of ciphered information the artist snatches an informative piece and presents it for the viewer’s inner judgment.
His Sun is perhaps the best work on display. Its spiral concentric circles are bewitching and the sun in his interpretation has protuberances resembling a beast’s shaggy mane and pacified tail of a stellar stallion.
