For many years, the efforts of our museum staff have been largely focused on the constant “probing” of the artistic space of Ukraine, recording the dynamics of the contemporary artistic process in the world, creating problematic exhibition projects, and organizing public discussion panels. Throughout its history, the museum has always been interested in local cultural life, in which various trends and aesthetic tastes coexist, and in the art of neighboring regions, including Ternopil. Thus, in 1994, Ternopil artists who were born in Khmelnytskyi region presented their works in the museum halls: painter Ivan Yavorskyi, graphic artist Petro Shporchuk, and sculptor Borys Rudyi. In the 2000s, personal exhibitions of Ternopil residents were presented: painter and sculptor Dmytro Stetsko, painter Ihor Dorosh, theater artist and painter Hryhorii Loik, and later, in 2018, ceramist Yevhen Ovcharyk. In 2008-2012, the exhibition project “Neighbors” was implemented, which demonstrated a kind of fusion of the artistic traditions of his native land and innovations that reflect the general global cultural development. As part of the project, well-known artists from Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Volyn, and, of course, Ternopil regions presented their works.
With the exhibition “United by the Zbruch River” our museum continues to acquaint visitors with the artists of Ternopil region and presents the works of members of the Ternopil regional organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, but in tandem with artists from Khmelnytskyi region. The works of the Khmelnytskyi artists enter into a dialog with the works of the Ternopil artists and demonstrate how much they are interconnected, not only in their artistic pursuits but also in their history. The title of the exhibition is very eloquent, because today the Zbruch is a river of unity, but it was not always so. For centuries, the states (first the Romanov and Habsburgempires, and later theUSSR and Poland) that captured and divided the ancient Ukrainian lands among themselves defined the Zbruch River as their border. “To the Zbruch” and ‘beyond the Zbruch’: the river delimited not just states, but ideologies. It wasonly after World War II that the Zbruch became an ordinary river again, and today it forms the administrative-territorial border between Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil regions.
The exhibition brought together authors of different generations who presented works created at different times. The exhibited works are not connected by a common theme or gravitation to a particular stylistic direction, but encourage the viewer to reflect on interdependence, interaction and processes of change that occur in and around us, reminding us of the importance of support and mutual care.
The exhibition presents works of various genres and techniques. Many artists turned to abstract painting. The works of Ihor Dorosh are informative abstraction: spontaneous images, ordered by a thoughtful composition. They are characterized by surface texture and complex color solutions (“Premonition”). Volodymyr Chornobai also actively experiments with color in his compositions “Moving Shadow” and “Birth of a Rainbow”. Oksana Dorosh combines graphic and pictorial means of postmodernism. When creating the basis for her paintings, she uses different types of fabrics and threads, emphasizing the object and tactility of materials. Mykola Dmytrukh (“Sun of the Steppe-8”) works in the direction of abstract painting, based on the laconicism of form and associativity of images. Mykhailo Kuziv embodies an abstract interpretation of the images of Ukrainian history and folklore in his work (“O wind, wind, my free brother…!”). The expressionist artist Volodymyr Kupetskyi’s search for the materialization of mental states in his diptychs “State- I” and “State – II” is connected with the materialization of mental states.
Stanislav Kovalchuk’s assemblage “Still Life with Flowers” is noteworthy, combining painting and mounted real three-dimensional objects – metal, wood, plastic. This creates a peculiar mood that cannot be conveyed with a brush alone. Still life “Composition with an Apple” by Oleh Kurdybakha tells about the search for beauty and inspiration in everyday life, objects that constantly surround us.
An integral part of Andrii Huliovskyi’s creative activity is his work in the open air. Continuing the traditions of the Impressionists, the artist creates different variations of the same motif, experiments with the effects of natural light at different times of the day, in different weather. The exhibition features his cityscape “Ternopil”. Other artists also presented landscapes: Ihor Sevets (“Morning at the Holy Protection Cathedral”), Mykola Panasiuk (“Kamianets Landscape”), Mykhailo Dyrbavka (“Winter Landscape ‘Vorokhta’), Mykola Pazinin (”Winter in Sedniv”), Stepan Mamchur (“Fertile Fields”), Liubov Mylenka (“Morning Dnipro”), Vasyl Stetsko (“Boats”), Oleksandr Horban (transparent watercolor “Warm September in Kyiv”), Leonid Sherstyniuk (“Podillia”).
Antonina Shtohryn also prefers an impressionistic style of painting, when the work is done in one or two steps. It is then, in her opinion, that it is possible to capture the mood, convey emotions and impressions of the amazingly changing world around us (“Apple Blossom”).
Bohdan Tkachyk’s works are dominated by decorative genre compositions that raise issues of Ukrainian history, ecology, and the preservation of cultural and historical heritage. The exhibition presents the diptych “Easter” from the series “Vorokhta Weavers”.
Oleksandr Antoniuk’s works are based on the author’s philosophy, the authenticity of his own experience, and are full of play of meanings and metaphorical imagery (“Saturday”, “Sacrifice”).
The works of Andrii Isaiev, Volodymyr Karvasarnyi, Oleksandr Humenchuk, Taras Andriychuk, Vadym Pishcherskyi, and Edward Miliar stand out for their inexhaustible imagination and complex world of artistic experiences.
The sacred themes in the paintings of contemporary Ukrainian artists are an attempt to preserve and at the same time rethink traditions. Ihor Zilinko actively uses symbols and images of the Christian iconographic canon and sacred geometry (“Mother of God of Zarvanytsia”, “Mother of God of Pochayiv”).
Hanna Yermenchuk-Hruchman develops a rich, original, diverse decorative and applied art in her work (the exhibition presents stylized vytynanky, the ornaments and plots of which the artist searched for in Ukrainian classical literature, and referred to ancient beliefs, customs, and rituals); Olena Savchuk, whose work “Shawl” emphasizes that Ukrainian vytynanka is an important symbol of Ukrainian culture and national identity, passing on heritage and traditions from generation to generation, and artist Anna Skrypalo demonstrates contemporary vytynanka in the style of neurography (“Spiral of Success”). Svitlana Butkovska creates tapestries in the style of classical hand weaving using her own techniques and philosophical understanding of the idea (“Autumn Symphony” tapestry). The exquisite porcelain composition “Forest Song” by Yevhen Ovcharyk is also worth noting. The ceramist organically combines plastic and color, experimenting with form.
The events of today’s history are also reflected in the artists’ work. Artists always feel the changes more acutely than others, and can formulate meanings where others are just beginning to find words. Artists reflect on the war and rethink their emotions: Mykola Melnychuk “Assault”, Nadiia Boretska “Dawn on February 24”, Volodymyr Marchuk “Titans” (triptych), Andrii Kaptar “Time of Transition”, Olga Ferens-Hryshyshyna “Kharkiv under Protection” – some of them glorify victory, some record historical events, and some construct reality.
By figuratively addressing current issues, the artists are surprisingly sensitive to changes in society, culture, and their own environment. Through the means of visual language, they convey different visions of modernity: ironic, optimistic, dramatic, realistic.
The work of the union members, marked by a multitude of directions, techniques and individual manners, is a self-sufficient creative achievement against the background of the panorama of artistic life in Ukraine. Thanks to creative searches and experiments in the field of composition, color and form, personal artistic self-knowledge and many years of fruitful work, a professional vertical of the community has been built, which is an integral part of the diverse structure of contemporary Ukrainian art
