Is Soviet art only Russian? Ukrainian artists set the record straight on European art history

The travelling Ukrainian exhibition 'In the Eye of the Storm' makes a stop in Bratislava.

By: sme.sk

Jul 05 2024
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Is Soviet art only Russian? Uk

Only after a close look on a dark painting viewers recognise a crocodile, bent, with glowing eyes, teeth and quirks on its skin, laying on a bay, leaving a feeling of a mystery in them. The painting is one of three painting by Mykhailo Sapozhnykov exhibited in the Slovak National Gallery and one of highlights of In the Eye of the Storm exhibition subtitled Secession in Ukraine.

In the Bay by Mykhailo Sapozhnykov (Source: Jana Liptáková )

“It’s like Magritte before Magritte,” Konstantin Akinsha, curator of the exhibition, referring the to the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, told The Slovak Spectator. “He is an absolutely interesting artist who is not known even in Ukraine.”

Sapozhnykov, a Ukrainian explorer of the unknown and the mysterious, is one of exhibited artists, who are not well known in the world. Another such artist is Vsevolod Maksymovych, who despite committing suicide just in his 20th year of life, has left behind a sound artistic oeuvre.