Information about the work
The painting Untitled [Bez nazvy] (cardboard, oil, 1991, gifted to the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum collection by the author in 1995) serves as an example of the minimalism toward which Volodymyr Strelnykov forged his artistic path over many years. For the artist, color and form become the dominant forces of expression. The exhibited piece invites quiet reflection and meditation. Contemplating abstractions can be compared to listening to music, evoking unique memories, associations, and impressions in every individual. It is worth noting that during the Soviet era, Odesa artists generally counterposed abstraction to Socialist Realism as a direct manifestation of their artistic resistance.
Reflecting on his journey toward minimalism, Volodymyr Strelnykov shares: “Throughout my conscious life, I have felt many influences—archaic, pre-Christian art radiated by Scythian stone babas, the bare steppe, the Black Sea sky; Russian, Ukrainian, and Balkan icons; the influence of the Ukrainian Baroque… My stylized Strolls were still, unfortunately, literary. The world moves further—both in imagery and in logic. I feel close to views that regard the mediums and materials of creation as the main theme and primary content. Not a hint of literature. Paint itself is the theme and the subject. Wood, glass, a line—they form the meaning of the constructive. A drawn tree is abstract because a living tree exists. But what is concrete is metal, or a black line on a canvas.”
Nonconformism is synonymous with the terms underground, unofficial art, and dissident art, which describe the cultural expressions banned in the totalitarian countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR from the 1950s through the late 1980s. It represents free creative activity that emerged in defiance of ideological regulation, serving as the direct antithesis to officially canonized art.
Cardboard, oil. 56 × 50