25.04.2008  New Ukrainian Painting

• On exhibit works by: Juri Solomko, Alexander Roitburg, Nikita Kadan, Ilya Chichkan, Andriy Sahaidakovsky, Maxim Mamsikov, Nikolai Matsenko, Lesya Khomenko, Konstantin Reunov, Vlada Ralko, Arsen Savadov, Sergei Zarva, Katya Solovieva, Vasily Tsagolov, Alexander Gnylitskiy, Pavel Makov. Curated by Marat Guelman; organized by Juan Puntes. Last in a White Box series exploring different methods of art production in Post-Soviet territories and Greater Russia begun in 2005 with Russia 2: Bad News from Russia, New Ukrainian Painting premiers a disparate group of artists – springing from the land of the great modernist painters Malevich, Rodchenko and Kandinsky – who after working in different media, resolved to return to painting as their instrument of artistic exploration and expression. The latest rehabilitation of Ukrainian painting has taken place in the media age, inevitably reflecting on its mutated features. Dealing with post-colonial issues like transculturalism while maintaining the belief that cultural systems of exchange evolve, New Ukrainian painters are no longer constrained by outdated boundaries and regulations. While they remain faithful to the figurative and the narrative, postmodern appropriations of art history direct a trans-media flow of mixed screen and glossy-magazine manipulation. The correlation seen in new Ukrainian painting of the modern context to the return to the “real” and the documentary is not simple abbreviation of the pre-media ages. The need to regain a grip on some “real reality” is more than just an alternative to the growing sensations of artificiality in today’s world and the virtualization of everyday life. These Ukrainian painters express a sense of both liberation and anxiety. As the former institutions that once defined their identity have been challenged, they now explore what is to be Ukrainian today. For more information visit: whiteboxny.org