CHICAGO – The Ukrainian National Museum announces the opening of its first exhibit of 2016 – “Bohdan Soroka (1940-2015) Retrospective Art Exhibit.” The exhibit opened on Friday, January 8, and will run through January 31.
Many themes are presented in the artist’s works, including Ukrainian religious and cultural traditions, history and folklore. The exhibit will showcase the artist’s most recent graphic series, including Ukrainian traditions, Christmas (including vertep, a traveling nativity scene drama), angels, musicians, the four seasons, and Ukrainian wooden churches.
Poster for the retrospective exhibit of works by Bohdan Soroka.
Soroka’s work in graphic arts is readily recognized by its expressionistic style and very imaginative pictorial representations. He was a talented artist who was able to communicate strongly through his art. He was able to speak to the viewer directly and clearly through the images he set down on paper.
Bohdan Soroka was born September 2, 1940, in Lviv. He was a graphic artist, a monumentalist-painter and a professor emeritus at the Lviv Academy of Art. He graduated from the Lviv Academy of Art in 1964 and won a prize at the International Competition of Ex-Librises in Vilnius in 1989.
“Musicians” (linocut, 2011).
The son of politically active parents, he was born in a prison in Lviv where his mother was being held for assisting in anti-Soviet uprisings. He was raised by his grandparents. Soroka’s father was imprisoned for 30 years in Soviet prison camps because of his membership in the Ukrainian resistance movement. His father died in Siberia for refusing to support the soviet regime.
During the 1980s, modernism and post-modernism appeared in Ukraine in spontaneous art movements and exhibitions. Post-modern rethinking infused the works of the artist. Soroka belongs to the generation of Ukrainian artists who, in the 1960s under the Soviet regime, used their art to protest their oppressors.
“St. George’s Church, Drohobych” (linocut, 2000).
Soroka had personal exhibits in Ukraine, England, Germany, France, Canada, and throughout the United States. He passed away suddenly in April 2015.
The Ukrainian National Museum is located in the heart of the Ukrainian Village, at 2249 W. Superior St. in Chicago. Hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission: adults, $5; children under 12, free.
For additional information, call 312-421-8020 or e-mail [email protected].