Information about the work
The painting From Childhood [Z Dytynstva] (canvas, tempera, 1990, acquired in 1991 for the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum collection from the author) is dedicated to touching and somewhat bittersweet memories of a carefree childhood. Bittersweet, because of the realization that childhood years can never be brought back, and despite the hardships of rural life, those years were truly happy. Only in childhood, out of sheer idleness, could one build a bonfire with a friend and, say, bake delicious potatoes.
The figures of the boys and the bonfire are outlined with linear contours and generalized graphically. The manner recalls the style of both folk painting or children’s drawings and medieval sacred monumental painting, which the artist consciously cultivates. Professional artist Honchar strives to paint with the effortless freedom of children and enhances the sense of timelessness through a color palette reminiscent of an “ancient fresco.” Thus, the work becomes the embodiment of a “canonical image of holy childhood”—sinless and carefree.
Oil on canvas, tempera. 100 × 100
