There are a lot of places and outstanding monuments in Kyiv that are well-known throughout the world, not only in Ukraine. But this does not at all mean that all artistic achievements are a thing of the past. The Day recently went on an excursion down the streets and avenues of Kyiv in order to find some newly-built sculptural “residents.” Here is the most suitable, in our view, route to take a glimpse of them.
The point of departure, Zoloti Vorota (“Golden Gate”) metro station, is nothing but a cats’ place. You will find here the bronze Pantiusha, a monument to the cat that is the habitue of the nearby restaurant Pantagruel, as well as two kittens that have climbed up a tree – one, made of wood, is opposite its bronze-made relative and the other, made of throw-away forks, is on a cafe patio by the Golden Gate. Sculptor Kostiantyn Skretutsky, the “father” of these two and many other interesting objects in Kyiv, has set himself a goal to “populate” the city with at least a hundred cats.
“If Skretutsky manages to fulfill his plans, it is not ruled that Kyiv will be called cats’ city. And those who love these animals will be coming here from all over the world. But, to tell the truth, what really matters is not the character but the way it has been made,” says Arsen FINBERG, initiator and manager of the Interesting Kyiv project.
“It is very important for sculptors to make themselves known not only via gallery exhibits but also by way of unconventional ‘autographs’ on the streets,” says Kostiantyn SKRETUTSKY, the author of the feline sculptures. “Besides, city residents like sculptures. When the exhibition is over and the work has not been sold, it will just be gathering dust somewhere in a studio or the basement, and nobody will ever see it. By contrast, the city allows far more people to see my works.”
Incidentally, characters of this kind do not appear on Kyiv streets chaotically.
“About two years ago our charitable foundation came up with a program of Kyiv landscape humanization, i.e., a desire to make the city look more attractive and humane,” says Volodymyr KOLINKO, vice-president of Kyiv Landscape Initiative. “We got in touch with several sculptors, including Kostiantyn Skretutsky. We happened to share the same views and have been cooperating since then. Sometimes I hit upon an idea and he implements it, while sometimes we do this together. Our goal is to attract other sculptors to this movement. Let fantasy run high if, of course, it is aimed at making positive changes to the landscape.”
Zolotovoritska Street is next on our itinerary. Here, next to No. 6a, you can see a bizarre wooden character whom some take for an Asian warrior and others for a pensive girl with a long braid. And at the bottom of the street stands perhaps one of the most favorite “animal monuments” – “a hedgehog in a fog,” well known thanks to a homonymous animated cartoon.
Turning to Reitarska St., we walk to the intersection of Stretenska and Striletska streets. There is a composition named “Motherhood” and made of a tree trunk at 19b Reitarska St., and the crossroads shows us a subtle ballerina who seems to have stilled in a dancing pas.
“There is an interesting story connected with the ballerina,” says Kolinko, initiating The Day into the secrets of this street masterpiece. “We first wanted to erect a minimalist, very simple, sculpture at this place. But once, as I was passing by, I saw a notice nailed there, which said something like this: ‘We kindly request you to put up a ballerina, for a true ballerina resides in the opposite building.’ I added to the notice that I would try to do so and asked Skretutsky if he could. He said in reply: ‘I think I can.’ This is how a tender dancer emerged here.”
Now The Day is on Oles Honchar Street. We walk down towards Victory Square. The first stop: a family of white crows lives in the hollow of an old tree on the sidewalk to the right. The second stop: a flying cow has landed on a willow-tree next to No. 51 – it is hard to see it from afar due to thick foliage and branches. Still lower, at the Chkalov Park, there are a few wooden objects: a big fish that is trying futilely to dive into the ground, a winged crocodile that caught a small fish, and three dragonflies that are “flying” in the tree’s shade. We can also see a girl’s face made of gypsum in the tree hole. Still further there is Pinocchio in his, so to speak, natural shape, i.e., in wood.
“One of the key ideas of the Kyiv landscape humanization program was that old trees, which have already had their day, can be given a new lease of life – they can serve as wooden sculptures or be used as materials,” Kolinko goes on. “Then this idea was somewhat transformed and broadened. We decided to stage a sort of an extravaganza in courtyards and on alleys, i.e., where people come to every day and can relish some positive images.”
A few more steps – and we are on Rylsky Alley (not far from St. Sophia Square), where a little donkey with a cart of flowers extends its long ears to pedestrians among the proud foreign-made cars parked on the sidewalk. In Mariinsky Park, next to a playground, you can find a bronze branch with cracked chestnuts: it is dedicated to newborns and their parents and to children in general.
Now The Day is in downtown Kyiv, on Independence Square. You can find some fragments of romanticism near the stops of Nos. 16 and 18 minibus taxis: there is a bench on which two… lanterns in love are “sitting.” In this very place, the followers of Ostap Bender (smooth operator from satirical novels – Ed.) can try to find valuables in one of the chairs that “grow” just on the branches of a metallic tree.
Now we are in the shopping arcade known as Passage. There is another couple of lovers here, who sit on a bench and must have come here on a bike that stands beside. They are… two chairs.
The especially endurable travelers and admirers of the talents of Nikolai Gogol can try to rub the great writer’s bronze nose on the wall near the entrance to the Triptych gallery on Andriivsky Uzviz.
We finally walk from Podil to 37 Artem St. to think over the “green problems” of our megalopolis with the help of a “living” matchstick which shows some tiny sprouted leaves and thus symbolizes the metamorphoses and hard life of trees in a big city full of automobiles.
The lanterns in love, the chairs composition, and the “living” matchstick are the works of the sculptor Volodymyr BILOKON.
“The dilemma of what is more important – the city or the gallery – cannot be simply resolved. It takes money to have a good studio and tools. Therefore, gallery exhibits are organized to sell works and raise money,” the sculptor reflects. “And as for self-realization, I think my ideas are good enough to live in a larger, urban space.”
If you manage, in spite of the inevitable daily routine, to go on a similar excursion following the itinerary that The Day has just suggested, you will see, as we did, that in reality the urbanistic space that our contemporaries are creating is not always aggressive and still. Just the contrary, it is brimming with life and positive emotions.
Anastasia Samoshyna is a student at the Den/The Day Summer School of Journalism
