The Koliory Gallery at the Pecherska Lavra Monastery is hosting an exposition of prints by Oleksiy Apollonov, a young artist from Kyiv (he also paints) who in this case discarded traditional water colors and Indian ink. The works on display are monotypes in which the creative process as such becomes identical with that of printing. The result is not only the perfect uniqueness of every print (as is the case with all graphic techniques, also using water colors and gouache), but also a very special directness. Of course, the viewer cannot witness the process of creation, but every work reflects it in the most minute detail. Easy and graceful improvisation is combined with jeweler’s precision. When printing, events can take a totally unexpected course, yet the artist never fails to guide them in the right direction. Precisely this paradoxical combination of two polarized qualities allows Oleksiy Apollonov to address totally different themes and images. His Music and Windows series seem an accurate (perhaps sensitive is a better word, so much as it is applicable to the graphic art) fixation of the ebb and tide of moods. And there is, of course, the Bluebird, the Man series, and other works relying on primitive art (e.g., Hunting series, Hunting for Turtles series) where what is conveyed is not so much moods as meditation, reports Oksana LAMONOVA.
