“Kyiv Spring Nocturnes” emerged as a synthesis of fine art and music. The exhibit was launched to the accompaniment of the folk group Desnianka. They performed old Ukrainian songs originating from the Kyiv and Poltava regions, from Sloboda Ukraine.
This exhibit is meant to combine painting and sculpture (involving works by five painters and five sculptors), offering a diversified yet harmonious display in several museum halls. It includes works by Anatolii Zork, Anatolii Marchuk, Volodymyr Harbuz, Mykola Yevtushenko, Inna Pantelemonova, Mykhailo Dmytriv, Zynovii Fedyk, Vasyl Korchovy, Mykhailo Horlovy, Stepan Kutsy, and Ivan Didur.
Few if any visitors will fail to miss Inna Pantelemonova’s 15 canvases that reveal her talent. Her pictures make one believe that Ukraine is blessed by the Lord, with its gifted, hard-working people.
Says Inna Pantelemonova: “I was born in Odesa, so my inclination toward sunlit themes is understandable. At first sight, my works have little to do with Kyiv and the adjoining lands, but the fact that I’ve spent almost 13 years as a resident of Kyiv has obviously influenced my creativity. Beautiful environs and culture provide a strong impact on one’s creative mind. Otherwise I would’ve hardly created the ‘Singing Riverbanks’ series. I painted these pictures being strongly impressed by Ukrainian [folk] songs. ‘Kyiv Spring Nocturnes’ displays five canvases of this series. My heart is beating in unison with that of Ukraine, this beautiful and fertile land; I put my heart and soul into the painting of these pictures.”
Vasyl Korchovy, sculptor: “I’m interested in Ancient Greek classical art, in Hellenistic Greece, as well as in ancient Ukrainian myths. I visited Italy and saw masterpieces created by the Renaissance outstanding painters, such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti. This unforgettable experience must have inspired my creative effort. I also often work on female images; I have romantic and archaic torsos, among them Dana, Pria, Bather, Bacchante, Zhyva, and many other images of goddesses and mortal women. Each sculpture requires character and special approach, considering the theme and material. I mostly use limestone. It is extracted in the vicinity of Kamianets-Podilsky, by the river Zbruch. Limestone is like a creative talisman to me. I’m inspired by Mother Nature. Everything around me, including beautiful women, is a manifestation of natural harmony.”
Ukraine’s noted sculptor Zynovii Fedyk submitted easel compositions rooted in Christianity. “I’m fond of studying our pre-Christian past; it reveals striking parallels with current realities,” says Fedyk, adding: “My mahogany and stone Trypillia Berehynia perhaps serves as the best example of an exciting dialog between the plastic art and environment. Here one experiences unpredictable compositional breakthroughs that are strongly reminiscent of all those sharp bends in one’s life. The Trypillia Moirai has to do with the ‘eternal signs’ I borrowed from Trypillia ceramic pieces. I meant it to convey the spirit of our ancestors.”
This exhibit at the Taras Shevchenko National Museum will close on April 8.
