Seven Ukrainian artists from Kolo collective featured in Ottawa art exhibit (12/08/96)

Seven Ukrainian artists from Kolo collective featured in Ottawa art exhibit

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Oksana Bashuk Hepburn has taken a lead from the French and the British. While the two, through La Francophonie and the Commonwealth, respectively, have maintained close ties with their Canadian comrades, Ms. Bashuk Hepburn would like to see Canada do the same with Ukraine - through art.

The Ottawa-area consultant, who runs U-Can Ukraine Canada Relations Inc., is promoting seven Ukrainian artists and one Canadian of Ukrainian descent (who also happens to be her British Columbia-based younger sister, Irene Bashuk Mohr), at an Ottawa exhibit that ran until November 22 at the Upstairs Bistro in the city's Westboro district.

"For the first time in Canada, we are linking the Pacific Ocean with the Black Sea," said Ms. Bashuk Hepburn, who solicited community interest in getting the art show on display in Toronto and Winnipeg.

Actually, the work of the seven was first displayed two years ago during President Leonid Kuchma's stop in Ottawa amid his first official state visit to Canada. Though pieces were on exhibit for a spell, public servants tend not to rush out in droves to purchase art. Ms. Bashuk Hepburn was counting on her friends in the Ukrainian-Canadian community to dig deep into their pockets and show some artistic appreciation.

The seven in question come from Kyiv's famous Kolo collective. Not one to lose a quick analogy with things Canadian, Ms. Bashuk Hepburn is promoting her Ukrainian connection as the "Group of Seven" - reminiscent of Canada's most famous artists collective.

Like their historical counterparts, the Ukrainians' work is diverse and covers a range of media. For instance, Michael Shevchenko, 46, has a piece titled "Memory" presented in mixed media, which has an eerie reminder of his famous poetic namesake, Taras. Not surprisingly, the more contemporary Mr. Shevchenko's art earned him the T.H. Shevchenko State Prize.

"Memory" is priced at $525 in Canadian funds. If sold, Mr. Shevchenko receives one-seventh of the amount with the rest divided among his six colleagues. Prices range from $150 to $3,500 for the eclectic collection.

For instance, 47-year-old Ms. Bashuk Mohr's mural-sized human figures in oil are breathtaking in both their anatomical detail and in their near-mythical aura, while 46-year-old Alexander Kononov's reliance on browns and blacks gives his pieces a distinctly earthy, of-this-land texture.

Interestingly, the "baby" of the seven, Ihor Andriyiv, 38, who also happens to be the only one of the seven not living in Kyiv, has turned his creative attentions to his new home, Ottawa. Obviously one passionate for landscapes and architecture, Mr. Andriyiv has drawn such scenics as a view of the city's historic Conference Center set before the equally historic Chateau Laurier - taken from the perspective of the Rideau Canal. Goodness knows Mr. Andriyiv could do with the fame in his new home. Well-known in Kyiv, Mr. Andriyiv needs a lot of northern exposure to equal his Ukrainian position in Canada. These days, he supplements his income by painting houses; his wife, Luba Andriyiva, works as the Ukrainian editor for the Ottawa-based business and trade quarterly Canada-Ukraine Monitor publication.

But living in Ottawa for the last four years, he said, is a lot better than living in Kyiv. The Andriyivs have a 14-year-old son, Eugene, for whom they wanted to help build a future. The effects of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster also hit them personally - causing Eugene to experience some medical problems as a boy.

Canada has also given Mr. Andriyiv a new career of sorts - as an entrepreneur. Not only does he continue to produce his own works in oils, watercolors and etchings, he also promotes the work of his colleagues - five of whom (Mr. Shevchenko, Mr. Kononov, Yevhen Matviyiv, Anatoliy Khmara and Natalia Kononova) he has known for 20 years since they all worked as illustrators for a book publishing house in Kyiv. (Anatoliy Khmara and Yevhen Mukhoyid joined the group later.)

Furthermore, Mr. Andriyiv has a great ally in Ms. Bashuk Hepburn. In fact, on the October 21 opening night of the exhibit she organized, Mr. Andriyiv sold four of his works.