ArtCult Gallery

Victor Sydorenko

Illustration

"Levitation 2"

2018, canvas, oil190 x 190 cmSold

From the Concentration of the Will at M17From the “Flashes of Black Earth” series190x190, canvas, oil, 2023Price on request

  • Read more about the artwork

    In the project “Flashes of Black Earth”, Victor Sydorenko’s characters are trapped in overnight dreams of the restless Ukrainian lands currently engulfed in war. The colour black has a whole range of associations in the new series of the artist. Besides being the colour of the night, the word black is the root of such words in the Ukrainian language as black soil, Chornobyl, and Chornobaivka. Each evokes associations with stories of the Holodomor genocide, technological disaster, and Russian invasion.
    Traumatic experiences of witnesses to wars and social catastrophes are in the foreground of these stories. Starting from the “Amnesia” project by Victor Sydorenko, these characters appear in white underwear. Both then and now, they remind us of the fates of millions of people who are trying to get rid of burdensome memories and heal in anticipation of epochal changes.
    Today, the land is associated not only with the native area, but also with the substance that preserves evidence of Russian war crimes: the bodies of murdered people, the ruins of cities, houses and streets. In certain cases, the land is literally the only thing left from their former life. What was dear to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians since their childhood has been destroyed and turned into an exclusion zone with only ruins and ashes. The only thing that keeps it all together is courage. The people who ruthlessly look into the face of darkness.

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    The main question asked by Viktor Sydorenko in the project "Levitation" - the identification of the individual in post-totalitarian and modern society. Through the image of a unified person in pants, the author explores the mechanisms of adaptation of the individual in society.
    On one hand, unification is a lack of freedom, an eternal experience of the totalitarian past. On the other hand - the opportunity to lose yourself and feel free - levitate. The project creates an optical game where all the objects seem to hang in space.

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    The main question asked by Viktor Sydorenko in the project "Levitation" - the identification of the individual in post-totalitarian and modern society. Through the image of a unified person in pants, the author explores the mechanisms of adaptation of the individual in society.
    On one hand, unification is a lack of freedom, an eternal experience of the totalitarian past. On the other hand - the opportunity to lose yourself and feel free - levitate. The project creates an optical game where all the objects seem to hang in space.

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    The main question asked by Viktor Sydorenko in the project "Levitation" - the identification of the individual in post-totalitarian and modern society. Through the image of a unified person in pants, the author explores the mechanisms of adaptation of the individual in society.
    On one hand, unification is a lack of freedom, an eternal experience of the totalitarian past. On the other hand - the opportunity to lose yourself and feel free - levitate. The project creates an optical game where all the objects seem to hang in space.

Illustration

From the "Untimely" series150 x 125 cm€22 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    In his work, the artist often explores where there are restrictions between the past and the present, and whether there are such boundaries at all. Many of his projects are related to the movement in space and time in one way or another, and the "Untimely" series is no exception. "Untimely", or "out of time", according to the artist, is something that exists beyond time.
    When a photo is taken, the time is captured along with the subject in front of the camera; when a painting is created, the object itself becomes the canvas, and the time dimension disappears. The artist deliberately "ages" the canvases, "wiping" time.

Illustration

From the "Untimely" series150 x 125 cm€22 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    In his work, the artist often explores where there are restrictions between the past and the present, and whether there are such boundaries at all. Many of his projects are related to the movement in space and time in one way or another, and the "Untimely" series is no exception. "Untimely", or "out of time", according to the artist, is something that exists beyond time.
    When a photo is taken, the time is captured along with the subject in front of the camera; when a painting is created, the object itself becomes the canvas, and the time dimension disappears. The artist deliberately "ages" the canvases, "wiping" time.

Illustration

From the "Untimely" series150 x 125 cm€22 000

  • Read more about the artwork

    In his work, the artist often explores where there are restrictions between the past and the present, and whether there are such boundaries at all. Many of his projects are related to the movement in space and time in one way or another, and the "Untimely" series is no exception. "Untimely", or "out of time", according to the artist, is something that exists beyond time.
    When a photo is taken, the time is captured along with the subject in front of the camera; when a painting is created, the object itself becomes the canvas, and the time dimension disappears. The artist deliberately "ages" the canvases, "wiping" time.

Illustration

Beach "Comrade"Price on request

  • Read more about the artwork

    Back in 1983, a philosopher Mikhail Epstein drew attention to the special "state of the coast", where "you can see the figure of a guard or border trespasser", where there is tension and danger... Almost twenty years later, in 2004, artist Viktor Sidorenko began work on a large series of paintings about Crimean beaches.
    Their crowd, the hustle and bustle, the dense concentration of human bodies on the narrow, not always suitable for recreation coast, was perceived as part of the landscape, its integral attribute, where it is always summer and vacation.

Illustration

Beach "Comrade"Price on request

  • Read more about the artwork

    Back in 1983, a philosopher Mikhail Epstein drew attention to the special "state of the coast", where "you can see the figure of a guard or border trespasser", where there is tension and danger... Almost twenty years later, in 2004, artist Viktor Sidorenko began work on a large series of paintings about Crimean beaches.
    Their crowd, the hustle and bustle, the dense concentration of human bodies on the narrow, not always suitable for recreation coast, was perceived as part of the landscape, its integral attribute, where it is always summer and vacation.

Illustration

Beach "Comrade"
Price on request

  • Read more about the artwork

    Back in 1983, a philosopher Mikhail Epstein drew attention to the special "state of the coast", where "you can see the figure of a guard or border trespasser", where there is tension and danger... Almost twenty years later, in 2004, artist Viktor Sidorenko began work on a large series of paintings about Crimean beaches.
    Their crowd, the hustle and bustle, the dense concentration of human bodies on the narrow, not always suitable for recreation coast, was perceived as part of the landscape, its integral attribute, where it is always summer and vacation.

Illustration

From the "Year Zero. The Idea of Light" series200 x 200 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the "Year Zero. The Idea of Light" series200 x 200 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the "Year Zero. The Idea of Light" series200 x 200 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the cycle "Levitation"150 x 150 cm€27 000

Illustration

From the "Lexicon" series40 x 40 cm each€1 500 for each

Illustration

From the "Lexicon" series40 x 40 cm each€1 500 for each

Illustration

From the "Lexicon" series40 x 40 cm each€1 500 for each

Video

Victor Sydorenko's "Flashes of Black Earth"

"What has been dear to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians since childhood was destroyed, turned into an exclusion zone with only ruins and ashes. The only thing that holds it all together is heroism. People who look ruthlessly into the face of darkness."
Victor Sydorenko

In the project "Flashes of Black Earth", featured as part of the exhibition project "Concentration of the Will" at M17, Victor Sydorenko's characters are trapped in overnight dreams of the restless Ukrainian lands currently engulfed in war. Traumatic experiences of witnesses to wars and social catastrophes are in the foreground of these stories. The heroes of Sydorenko’s works remind us of the fates of millions of people who are trying to get rid of burdensome memories and heal in anticipation of epochal changes.

Illustration

About the artist

Victor Sydorenko is an artist, art researcher, curator, teacher, an author of objects and photo compositions and also scientific and publicistic texts. He was born in Taldykorgan (Kazakhstan) in 1953. He is the member and the President of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. In 2001 Sydorenko founded and headed the Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts. In 1979 he graduated from the Kharkiv Art and Industry Institute with honours (class of Prof. B. Kosarev, winner of the USSR State Prize). In 1981 Victor Sydorenko started post-graduate studies at the USSR Academy of Arts creative workshops, supervised by the USSR Academy of Arts academician, the People’s Artist of the USSR, winner of the USSR state prizes Prof. S. Grigoriev. At the same time Victor worked as an art director of the film "The Anatomy of the miracle" (director V. Ivanov). Sydorenko's pathway from realism to neo avant-gardism represents the freedom of creativity of the last generation that grew and was working in a totalitarian regime. In the project "Levitation" (2008–2009), the artist gives an advantage to the optical illusive game which is created by dense and viscous red color and by the space with large-format picturesque planes and installation. Man's figures stretched out and soaring in air, are forcing you to lose reference points and coordinates, and even yourself.

  • List of the awards and exhibitions

    Awards:
    1996, Kyiv, Ukraine. The winner of "Golden section" at the Art festival.
    2000, Kyiv, Ukraine. The winner of "the Gold Palette" on "Millennium-opening day".
    2003, Kyiv, Ukraine. Golden Medal of Ukrainian Academy of Arts.
    2005, Magdebourg, Germany. The author of the best project of V International Festival of Arts.

    Biennials:
    2003 - "Millstones of time", the personal project at the 50th International exhibition of modern art in Venice. The author and the curator of the project.
    2007 - "The poem about an internal sea", the Ukrainian project at the 52nd International exhibition of modern art in Venice. The co-curator.

    Selected curatorial projects:
    1998, 2001 — Triennale of Painting (catalog),
    1999, 2002 — Triennale of Sculpture (catalog),
    1999, 2002 — Triennale of Sculpture (catalog),
    2000, 2002, 2005 — The Newest Trends,
    2003 — Millstones of Time, the 50th International Art Exhibition in Venice (catalog, CD).

    Solo exhibitions:
    1989 — The Aral Sea, House of Artists, Kharkiv, Ukraine;
    1992 — Kharkiv Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine;
    1993 — National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    1995 — Lviv National Art Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine;
    1996 — A. Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan;
    1997 — Municipal Gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine;
    1998 — Pendleton Art Center, Cincinnati, US;
    1998 — Atelier Karas gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    1998 — Persona gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    1999 — Lillie, France (catalog);
    2000-2001 — Aral cycle, Maysternya gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    2002 — Soviart gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    2003 — Millstones of Time, 50th International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy (catalog, CD);
    2003 — Lora D art gallery, Chicago, US;
    2003–2004 — Amnesia, «L-Art» gallery, Kyiv/Ukraine (catalog);
    2004 — Millstones of Time, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine;
    2006 — Authentication, Lavra municipal gallery, Kyiv/Ukraine.

    Selected group exhibitions:
    1979–2006 — All-Ukrainian exhibitions of the Union of Artists of Ukraine, Kyiv;
    2007 — Traverse Video, X International Video Festival, Toulouse, France (catalog).
    2006 — Eastern Neighbors, International Art Festival, Cultural Center Babel, Utrecht, Netherlands (catalog);2005 — Now, V. International Art Festival in Magdeburg, Germany (catalog);2004 — Farewell, the weapon, Museum of Contemporary Art «Arsenal», Kyiv, Ukraine;
    2004 — Faster than History, Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA, Helsinki, Finland;
    2003 — Eurographic 2003. The Bridge of Integration of European Culture, Lavra gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;2003 — Blood: Lines and Connections, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA;2002 — Art of Ukraine, Beijing, China;2001 — All-Ukrainian Art Exhibition on Commemoration of Chornobyl 15 Years’ Anniversary, Central House of Artists of Ukraine, Kyiv; 2000 — Lavra municipal gallery, Kyiv/Ukraine;
    2000 — Millenium Vernissage, International Convention Center Ukrainian House, Kyiv (awarded with Zolota palitra 2000 for artistic achievements);
    1998 — Salon of Central and Eastern Europe, Paris, France;1997 — International Art Festival, International Convention Center Ukrainian House, Kyiv (catalog);1996 — Golden Section International Art Festival, prize-winner, International Convention Center Ukrainian House, Kyiv (catalog);1994–1995 — Kyiv Art Fair, International Convention Center Ukrainian House;1993 — Konsument Art-93, Nurnberg, Germany;1992 — exhibition of Ukrainian artists, Berlin, Germany;1992 — Art of Ukraine, Yale university, US;