Houston gallery to feature artists from Ukraine (01/19/97)

Houston gallery to feature artists from Ukraine

HOUSTON - The exhibit "Artists from Ukraine: Works on Paper," organized by the O'Kane Gallery at the University of Houston - Downtown and curated by Ukrainian American artist Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak and the University of Houston - Clear Lake faculty printmaker artist Sandria Hu, will be on view at O'Kane Gallery from January 21 through February 21.

This exhibit of 48 artworks by 20 artists provides an opportunity to become acquainted with the diversity, range and scope of a selection of contemporary artists living and working in Ukraine.

Though the artwork comes from only two cities in Ukraine, Lviv and Kyiv, and while most of the artists had studied at one of those cities' art academies, the work in the exhibit is surprisingly varied. The 12 women and eight men range in age from their late 20s to their early 70s.

The artwork ranges from the intimate delicate etchings and small Ex Libris prints of Olha Pohribna-Koch to the large computer-generated ink-jet prints of Ihor Yaremchuk. In some work, like Yurko Koch's linocut prints, there is an inventive use of visual and narrative Ukrainian folk motifs. Serhiy Shulyma's powerfully constructed dramas conjure up the destruction and human suffering inflicted by the Soviet state. Allegory and satire appear in the work of Lubomyr Medvid and Danylo Dovboshynsky, while romantic lyricism characterizes the collages of Kateryna Korniychuk and the later prints of Andrew Levitsky. Much of the artwork in the exhibit displays a stylized use of the figure, elements of storytelling, and a predilection for decorative patterning.

Ms. Bodnar-Balahutrak has lent some work from her family's private collection, which began with her first visit to Ukraine in 1991 to the Lviv Art Institute of Fine and Applied Arts, now the Lviv Academy of Arts. In May 1996, she and Ms. Hu traveled to Kyiv, as visiting artists at the Kyiv Ukrainian Academy of Art, and gathered suitable and available work from Kyiv artists/printmakers for this exhibit. When Ms. Bodnar-Balahutrak returned to Ukraine in September that same year, she brought back prints from two Lviv artists to add to the exhibition group.

A catalogue of the exhibit, to be produced by the O'Kane Gallery, will include an essay by art historian and art history professor at UH-Downtown, Dr. Susan Baker, and a list of the participating artists with short biographies and photoreproductions of their work. Both host institutions plan gallery talks, lectures and other exhibit-related events.

The artists represented in the exhibit are: Andriy Chebykin, Mr. Dovboshynsky, Valentin Gordiychuk, Halyna Halynska, Alina Ivanova, Yevgenia Kharkova, Ksenia Khodakovska, Oksana Kirpenko, Mr. Koch, Ms. Korniychuk, Mr. Levitsky, Lubomyr Medvid, Irina Movchan, Olena Mychaylova-Rodyna, Ms. Pohribna-Koch, Oleksandra Prakhova, Mr. Shulyma, Oksana Stratiychuk, Olena Yakovleva, and Mr. Yaremchuk.

The exhibit is scheduled to travel to the College of the Mainland Art Gallery in Texas City, where it will be on view March 30 through April 13. Following its Texas venue, portions of this exhibit may travel to other U.S. cities.

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