The Day was perhaps the first of Ukrainian media outlets to write about publishing a unique catalog titled Ukraine’s Decorative Art of the Late Twentieth Century: 200 Names. Experts claim that it has no rivals not only in Ukraine but throughout Europe. The project, in addition to publishing the luxury catalog, envisions another stage, a wide-ranging exhibition, Ukraine’s Contemporary Professional Decorative Art: Transformation of Image, opened last week at the Ukrainian House. Even now one can state that it bears all the signs of a national event. Among the participants are traditionalists, neo-avant-gardists, post-modernists, etc. Artists’ fantasies are embodied in glass, ceramics, metal, wood, and textile. The fact that precisely the 200 Names art project will present Ukraine at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in May 2004 speaks volumes about the exhibition’s level. President Leonid Kuchma sent his greetings to the project organizers, seeing its implementation as a “good sign of the establishment of humane ideals, high moral principles in the life of the society, and a guarantee for the future of our native Ukraine.” Yesterday the president also signed an order taking the project under his personal patronage.
Seeing the high level of the displayed works and being aware of the situation on the domestic arts market, we asked ourselves a question of how to create a fashion for things Ukrainian.
Ivan MARCHUK, Artist:
“A single person cannot create a fashion: it has to be based on something. The Great Pyramids of Egypt were built from the bottom up, getting narrower the higher they go. Only after you have built the foundation you can reach the top. When milk stands, you can skim off the cream. I always said that Ukraine produces more talents for every square meter than any other country but they can’t take root here. It eats them like a cat sometimes eats its own kittens. But what we see at this exhibition is grand, although it’s done in defiance of the existing conditions. Only one of the three or five hundred people manages to make it to the ways of prosperity. This what happened to me... The development of the arts in a country depends of the presence of rich people. What can an artist depend on these days? Previously there was the Soviet state and artists had their moonlighting: painting slogans, propaganda billboards, portraits in dry brush... They survived from one holiday to the next. Today artists need some basis: people who understand art. I’m very pleased that cottages now are mushrooming throughout Ukraine, which are to be decorated with art objects. Objects of whose art? Are they going to go to France or America to buy them? What can they possibly find there? The same kitsch as it is sold everywhere in the world, and one should stick to unique artists. When there will be more rich people art will rise too .”
“The exhibition we are at today demonstrates art of the world level. It’s just that we’ve always considered decorative arts as something third-rate. Ukrainian fashion will come, it’s just a matter of time. Now the situation is gradually changing. Look how many young people are here! It’s so pleasing they came... The Soviet mentality hasn’t been overcome yet. Remember how we went to the cinema: if the movie is made in France or the US everybody goes to see it. I’m waiting for our Renaissance when all our artists will do their creative work. This atmosphere has to be created on the official level. And political fights do not further the development of the arts. Personally, I am prepared to present all my works to Kyiv, to Ukraine, just “give me some walls” as I use to say. They won’t give them to me. There is also a problem with businessmen: maybe one in every hundred is a conscious Ukrainian. And such a person will always find somebody to support here in Ukraine, because he or she understands: this is a talent, a perspective, this is our future.”
Hanna LYSYK, Artist:
“Everything has to happen naturally. I doubt it is possible to create fashion by some artificial methods. Something depends on everybody: politicians, businesspeople, artists, and the environment in general. If everybody would do his job conscientiously, everything would be fine.”
