Works by Skrypka on exhibit at newly opened art gallery in Connecticut (11/14/04)

Works by Skrypka on exhibit at newly opened art gallery in Connecticut

by Ika Koznarska Casanova

GREENWICH, Conn. - Zorya Fine Art, a recently established gallery that presents works of 20th-century and contemporary artists, with a focus on artists from Ukraine, opened on October 22 with the inaugural exhibition "Valeriy Skrypka: Paintings and Watercolors," with Sam Hunter, the distinguished art scholar, as curator. The exhibit of 31 works will be on view through November 30.

As noted in the artist's profile by Marsha Child Contemporary of Princeton, N.J., Mr. Skrypka was born in Zaporizhia in 1964, "the son of a respected non-conformist painter and Soviet dissident. He received a rigorous classical training at the Ukrainian Academy in Kiev [Kyiv], but broke with tradition as he developed his own style synergizing realism, surrealism, Byzantine art and Ukrainian folk traditions."

With reference to the artist's work it is noted that his "mystical oil paintings and watercolors are windows into a mysterious, Eden-like world in which time stands still. Executed with superb technique in a rich palatte of colors, his compositions celebrate the restorative, life-affirming power of art."

Mr. Skrypka's recently published book with the eponymous title, "Valeriy Skrypka," which came out in Kyiv in 2003 as a publication of Marsha Child Contemporary, offers a comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work, complete with 64 color plates and a preface by Prof. Hunter.

Among the artist's recent exhibits was the first show of the fall season at Marsha Child Contemporary, a gallery of international fine art with special emphasis on the work of established contemporary emerging artists from Eastern and Central Europe, (September 17- October 19), as well as exhibits at the Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe and the Park Gallery in Carmel, Calif. A current exhibit of the artist's work opened at the Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago on November 7, where it will be on view through November 30.

The artist, who first gained recognition in Europe, where his work continues to be exhibited, now lives in the United States and exhibits nationally and internationally. His work has been exhibited in Germany, France, the Netherlands, as well as Japan and Canada, and is on permanent display at the Pieter Breughel Art Gallery in Amsterdam.

Upon first coming to the United States with his wife, Tamara, in 1993, Mr. Skrypka's work was first exhibited in New York in a solo exhibition featuring 25 paintings at the Chryzanta Hentisz-Kaminska Gallery on the Lower East Side as well as at the Mayana gallery, directed by Slava Gerulak, in an exhibit featuring the work of Jacques Hnizdovsky and Mr. Skrypka in an exhibit titled "Derevo Zhyttia" (Tree of Life). From 1997 to 2001 his art works have been displayed at the Galerie de Provence on Madison Avenue. Since 1994, the U.S. dealer for Mr. Skrypka's work has been Marsha Child Contemporary, originally based in Soho.

Prof. Sam Hunter, a specialist in 20th century art, is emeritus professor of art history at Princeton University, where he was also faculty curator of modern art. Prof. Hunter's many publications include "Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture" (third revised edition), with John Jacobus, and recent monographs on Isamu Noguchi, Marino Marini, Hans Hofmann, Larry Rivers, George Segal, Alex Katz and Tom Wesselmann.

Before his academic appointment at Princeton he was director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, founding director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, and director of The Jewish Museum in New York (1965-1967).

Prof. Hunter was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy, and Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.

Zorya Fine Art is located at 38 E. Putnam Ave. For additional information contact Zorianna L. Altomaro at (203) 273-6588 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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