The world is beautiful because we can see its colors. Red is one of the first colors that humanity learned to produce, replicate and divide into shades. Because of this, red has been the main color for centuries. Even though the western world calls blue as the favorite, and in everyday life red is mediated (especially compared to ancient times), it still remains one of the most vivid colors and has great associative possibilities in poetry and symbolism in general.

Psychology, which studies emotional and psychophysical influence of color on a person, claims that red color activates the vegetative functions of the human body, while blue has the opposite effect. This “language of color” is international.  Red is associated with the vital energy, human passions and flame. Different shades of red can symbolize tragedy and sacrifice, celebration, fiery passion and something mysterious. You may or may not like red, but you can hardly be indifferent.

The outstanding painter and art historian Vasyl Kandynskiyi once wrote “red pierces like a very vital, full of spiritual power disturbing force…” (“About the spiritual in art”).

Red color has accompanied humanity since ancient times. It is well known that red is the color of blood and sacrifice, danger and courage. This color is associated with many gods in different cultures. In China, India and many other Asian countries it symbolizes luck and happiness. In ancient Rome, color of blood symbolized courage, power and authority. It was a color of nobility, patricians and emperors. After the victory, the Roman commanders painted their faces (in honor of Mars) in red. The red color in Egypt was associated with evil gods (Seth and Apophis). This color had the same meaning in medieval Europe: Satan, vampires and other demonic creatures had red eyes. But, at the same time, red clothes were a sign of power. Clothes of this color were worn by the hierarchs of the Catholic Church (popes, the cardinals, archbishops), dukes of Burgundy, high-ranking officials of Great Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia and other countries. In Europe red is still associated with nobility and clergy. Its association with the blood of Christ made it very important to the Catholic Church.

In the political aspect of life, red is the color of the revolution, fire and blood. A red rose is a symbol of love and beauty. But, at the same time, red is used for safety warnings (red traffic lights, road signs).

Traditionally, red is the most commonly color in Ukrainian culture. Ukrainians associated this color with beauty, health, joy, welfare and love. In the Ukrainian embroidery, it symbolized family ties, lineage, married life and everything related to it.

As we can see, the red color has always had positive and negative associations, but this does not make its meaning less than other colors. The Swiss psychologist Max Lüscher claimed that the red color is always chosen by the strong personality and the weak ones are inhibited by it. There is an axiom: if you want to draw attention to yourself, wear red. It always works perfectly. Different shades of red have always been in trend. The famous designer Christian Louboutin chose “Chinese red” (one of the shades of red) and made it the trademark of his brand. It was presented to the public in 1992.

Red is one of the favorites in the paintings of the famous artists. Some say that the more red colors in a painting, the more expensive it is. Painting “Horse. Evening” by Anatolii Kryvolap (a Ukrainian master of nonfigurative painting) was sold at auction for $186,000 in 2012. This is a record price for a painting by a Ukrainian artist and another proof of that fact.

There are numerous artworks by the famous, progressive and successful artists in the funds of XOXM. The works of the following artists are presented at the exhibition: Petro Lebedynts, Nina Denysova, Roman Romanyshyn, Volodymyr Tsiupko, Oleh Voloshynov and others. Each artist uses his own tools and talent to create a unique artistic image, where all the shades of the elegant red color are in the middle.

We invite you to visit our exhibition and personally meet the “king of all colors” red. We hope that you will fall in love with Ukrainian contemporary art after the visit.