About the artist
Oleksandr Roitburd was a Ukrainian artist, photographer, author of objects and installations, art curator, director of Odesa Fine Arts Museum. One of the leaders of the "Waves” of Ukrainian transavantgarde. Alumni of art-graphic faculty of the Odessa Pedagogical Institute (1983), member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (since 1989), representative of South Ukrainian art school. One of the founders of Ukrainian postmodernism, co-founder of the "New Art" Odesa association (1994). Chairman of the Soros Contemporary Art Center, Odesa (1997-1999). He lived and worked in New York for 2 years from 2000. A participant of the 49th Venice Biennale. Oleksandr Roitburd held the position of Director of Guelman Gallery in Kyiv city, and later – the director’s position at Odesa Fine Arts Museum. Art critics say: "He's plastic, sculptural, massive and almost tangible. A typical paint brushstroke has qualities of a graphic one. As a result, the form is not defined, but emerges on the canvas, being its emanation to some transcendent space. Therefore, even figurative Roitburd's images are abstract. And in this sense they are cinematic: however specific they may seem, they always stay mere hints, symbols, refer to objects in reality, never coinciding with them" (a passage from introductory article to "Roitburd" catalogue, 2015).
List of the exhibitions
Exhibitions and projects:
2021 - "Exercises in being loose", Shcherbenko Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 - "The Day of People in Love", Shcherbenko Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 - "Copies for Substitution", National Museum of Decorative Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine"Metaphysics of the Myth", M Gallery by ArtCult, Kyiv
2017 - “Salon of Outcasts”, The Odesa Maritime Museum, Odesa, Ukraine - “Pure Art”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine - “Zeitgeist”, Zenko Foundation Art Space, Tatariv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine
2016 - "Roitburd at the Museum", the Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Caution, wet paint!", Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv / Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv / HudPromo Gallery, Odesa, Ukraine 2- "The Garden of Earthly Delights", Karas Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Cardinal Richelieu", Shcherbenko Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine- “The Wild ‘90s”, MSIO (Odesa Museum of Modern Art), Odesa, Ukraine
2015 - "Alive Nature", Dukat Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Roitburd – Variations", the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Odesa, Ukraine- “On the Edge. Ukrainian Art 1985-2004”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine - “ENFANT TERRIBLE. Odesa Conceptualism”, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2014- "The Show within the Show", Art Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Down with Mantra!", Shcherbenko Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine- “Premonition: Ukrainian Contemporary Art Today”, Saatchi Gallery, London, Great Britain
2013 - "Imaginarium", Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 - "Arthouse", Alexander Korobchinsky art-center. Odesa, Ukraine- "Double Game", Special Project Arsenale 2012, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine - "Myth Ukrainian Baroque", National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011- "14.14.14 (Le Roi Soliel)", Hudpromo gallery. Odesa, Ukraine- "20 Years of Presence", Modern Art Research Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine - "The Independents", Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine - "A Space Odyssey", Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2010- "Roitburd VS Caravaggio", Collection Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- "TOP10 Artists of Odesa", HudPromo Gallery, Odesa, Ukraine
2009- "Museum Size 2x3", Kyiv National Museum of Russian Art, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Over The Wall", Art Next Gallery New York, USA
2008- "A Ball at the Folies Bergère", NT-Art gallery, Оdesa, Ukraine- "Bloomsday", Collection Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine - "Ukrainian Contemporary Art", White Box Gallery, New York, USA
2007- "The Amalgam Project", Collection Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- “Bloomsday”, Collection Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine - “GOGOLFEST”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2006- "The Meat", Tsekh Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Male/Female Principle", L-ART Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2005- "The Tango", Karas Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- Self-portrait, Tsekh Contemporary Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine- “Reality Verification,” Ukrainian House, Kyiv, Ukraine
2004 - “A Farewell to Arms”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2003- The Retrospective, Bereznitsky Gallery (L-art Gallery), Ludmila Beresnitsky, Kyiv, Ukraine- “The First Collection”, Central House of Artists, Kyiv, Ukraine
2002 - Arts and Drugs, Rebellminds Gallery, Berlin
2001- "Crucified Buddha", Museum of Cultural Heritage, Kyiv, Ukraine- "Plateau of Humanity", 49th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2000- “Open Ends”, МоМА, New York, USA - “2000+”, Moderna Gallery, Ljubljiana, Slovenia
1999 - “Future is Now”, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
1998 - “Academy of Coldness”, Art Museum, Odesa, Ukraine
1997 - “The Every Day Life in Pompeii”, Atelier Karas Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
1996 - “Phantom – Opera”, Small Stage of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Odesa, Ukraine
1995 - “Kandinsky Syndrome”, The Odesa Museum of Regional History, Odesa, Ukraine - “Doctor Frankenstein’s Surgery”, House of Scientists, Odesa, Ukraine
1994 - “Free Zone”, Art Museum, Odesa, Ukraine
1993- “Angels over Ukraine”, Edinburgh, Great Britain - “Steppes of Europe”, Ujazdów Castle, Warsaw, Poland
1992 - “Postanaestesia”, Villa Stuk, Munich, Germany
199 - “New Figurations”, Literature Museum, Odesa, Ukraine