Linoprints by Bohdan Soroka on view at The Ukrainian Museum

by Marta Baczynsky

NEW YORK - An exhibition of linoprints by noted Ukrainian artist Bohdan Soroka is currently on view at The Ukrainian Museum in New York City. The exhibition was organized by the museum and Plast's Verkhovynky Sorority. It will close on November 29.

Bohdan Soroka's work in graphic arts is readily recognized by its rather expressionistic style and very imaginative pictorial representations. A talented artist, he is also a strong communicator and his prowess lies in his ability to speak to the viewer directly and clearly through the images he puts on paper.

Mr. Soroka was born in 1940 in Lviv. He graduated from the Lviv Academy of Art in 1964, but it was not until several years later that an opportunity to illustrate a book of poems "Vidchynennia Vertepu" by Ihor Kalynets, directed him to the field of graphic arts. He was asked to provide illustrations for the publication. Mr. Soroka's work for the book was a series of drawings titled "Folkloric Motifs." Developing series of prints on a particular theme became the artist's trademark - one he has repeated many times.

The aesthetics and style in the art of Bohdan Soroka no doubt reflect the proud Lviv tradition of art of the 1920s-1930s represented by such great artists as Paul Kovzhun and Mykola Butovych among others. Like many Ukrainian artists of the 1960s attempting to find their own creative expression outside the constraints of the socialist realism, Mr. Soroka embraced within his individual artistic parlance modern trends coupled with the Ukrainian national traditions, spiritual, historical and cultural.

The 1960s revolutionary movement exhibited in art and literature in Ukraine by the "Shestydesiatnyky" led many artists, Mr. Soroka among them, to deal with a dilemma. It was not enough to put on canvas or paper the visual representation of folk or legendary heroes from Ukraine's historic past; there was a deep desire on the part of the artists to infuse these figures or situations with the psychological and spiritual essence unique to the Ukrainian people.

Fascinated with Ukrainian history and its folk culture, Mr. Soroka produced several series dealing with these topics, among them "Ukrainian Mythology" (1970-72) and "Kupalo Festival Games"(1974), among others. His trip to Uzbekistan yielded a series of drawings of that country's unusual architecture. The trip gave the artist the impetus to create numerous linoprints depicting panoramic views of his beloved Lviv, as well as its individual architectural monuments, especially churches.

The series presented at this exhibition is titled "Symbols and Emblems." Since Ukraine's independence, the artist has slowly changed the direction of his expression, employing more universal themes in his work.

Mr. Soroka has drawn many illustrations for books by modern and classical Ukrainian writers. He has also created countless ex librises. In 1989 in Vilnius, he received a prize at the International Competition of Ex Librises. An ex libris that he created for Ivan Svitlychny in the 1960s graces the cover of the book, "Dobrookyi," published in 1998 in Kyiv in memory of the noted poet and philosopher. The same ex libris is also on the cover of the book "Bookplate of Those of the Sixties" published in 1972 in the United States, presenting the art of ex libris produced by many artists of that period.

The works of Mr. Soroka have been exhibited in major cities in Ukraine, throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. His works are located in such institutions as the Ukrainian Art Museum in Kyiv, the National Museum in Lviv, the Library of the Academy of Sciences in Lviv, the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation in Toronto, the Niagara Falls Gallery and Museum and the Lithuanian National Library in Vilnius, among others, as well as in many private collections.

The Ukrainian Museum, 203 Second Ave., is open Wednesday through Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Telephone: (212) 228-0110; e-mail: [email protected]; website: http://www.brama.com/ukrainian_museum/

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 22, 1998, No. 47, Vol. LXVI

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