They have called the exhibit “Spring, for Some Reason.” Now when it is late autumn outside and we are approaching bad weather with cold rains, you are suddenly immersed into a riot of colors symbolizing awakening and resurrection. United by the label “Vynnyk Brothers Studio,” the pictures on the gallery’s walls pour out onto the visitors a varying palette of colors: vivid, pastel, or joyful. They have a lot in common: the principles of creative work, the naive manner of depiction, and the oil-painting and acrylic-painting techniques.
Still, the two painters are very different. And yet, what unites their works is the overarching style of post-impressionism which permeates the exhibit. Oleh and Oleksandr, nine years apart in age, came to it following different paths. Both graduated from the Kharkiv Arts College and studied in the Academy of Arts. However, Oleh, the older one, quit after the third year and plunged into painting, while Oleksandr graduated from the academy and joined first the Youth Union of Painters and then the professional Union of Painters.
Prior to this exhibit the brothers put theirs their works—landscapes, portraits, and still lifes—on display within the framework of joint and collective projects. Now they have brought them together under one label.
“As long as we studied, we lived in different places and worked separately,” says Oleh Vynnyk-Shtep. (The second part of his last name is in honor of the hamlet near Poltava, where he was born.-L.T.) “At one point we decided to set up the creative association “Brothers Studio.” We do have the studios: our parents left us a spacious house which has all the conditions for living and working. In 2006, we opened an exhibit there. We hung paintings everywhere, even in the attic and on the fences. In general we had nearly 300 square meters of exhibition area. In this way we got the word out about us.”
Are you and your brother the first painters in the family?
“We are the first professional painters. Our mother was an ordinary uneducated worker and our father has been a driver and still working on construction sites. However, we have an aunt who weaved carpets and made very interesting things in the folk style. Another relative of ours is a very original non-professional painter who paints, as they say, to his heart’s delight.”
Who generates ideas in your team? Do you manage to realize a lot of them?
“I am overflowing with both creative and organizational ideas. Last year we had our exhibit in the Maestro gallery in Kharkiv. It was called “Late Autumn Like a Red Chicken” and involved nearly 120 paintings depicting late autumn. They were hung askew and slantwise, like falling leaves, the floor was covered with real leaves, and their rustling sound added to the ambience of the place.
“A totally different atmosphere reigned at our latest exhibit “Around the Sun,” which took place in January 2008 in the Kharkiv Museum of Arts.”
There are many paintings showing cathedrals in his exhibit.
“I love painting churches. I am a believer. There are churches, such as the Sviatohorsky Monastery, to which I return many times in the search for special, light-filled holiness. I need to switch to something else after each study. Even though I pain them in the cartoon-like style, my attitude is very serious.
“In Februrary we plan to present the results of the Kyiv plein-air session. Again, this is a new project I proposed: 13 painters are involved; we will stay on a motorship, paint the sights of Kyiv from life, and then finish our works at home to make them presentable.”
