Painter Vincent Guzman gives a taste of his perspectives at the French Cultural Institute, and in Lviv various French photo-journalists help open a weeks-long fair in the western city.
r, convey ceaseless movement. Indeed, the pieces in the new exhibit “Pictorial Variations” currently showing at the French Cultural Institute on Gorkoho, sometimes seem vibrant enough to escape their borders.
Golden yellows, olive greens, scarlet reds, steely grays and other hues swirl with an endless fluidity – there are no straight lines anywhere in Guzman’s work. In each unnamed piece colors lead the viewer along the lines traced by the artist hand, morphing and recombining, creating patterns that bewitch the eye. They compel you to get closer to the surface in order to more closely examine each painting’s intricacies. Patterns emerge, though imperfect, providing the viewer with a sense of being led. The work is all about textures and impressions: rather than seeing the canvas as a squared-off boundary, I began to see Guzman’s work as something altogether more protean, like it was attempting to seduce the audience by deliberately subverting the idea of edges and boundaries. Perhaps that’s the way he sees the world, as a place that can’t be defied by the rigidity of right angles.
Living organic tissue, bits of life seen under a microscope – that’s another thing these paintings recall. They don’t make you think so much as feel, as if Guzman wants you to hear his artistic voice, not read his thoughts.
Variations pictures (Pictorial Variations)
Through Dec. 25.
The French Cultural Institute (104 Gorkoho, 269-4157).
Open Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m., Sat. from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.
French Photojournalism
Courtesy of the French Embassy in Ukraine comes the return of Kuty Zoru (Visual Angles), the photojournalism festival that made a splash in Kyiv last year. This year, however, the festival is taking place in Lviv, Ukraine’s most Western city, and will include exhibitions by French photographers who are Ukrainian-born. Cyril Horiszny, for one, exhibited his photographs at the French Cultural Institute here in the capital as recently as spring 2003.
Over the course of two weeks, the festival will present some of the best in the craft of photojournalism as it’s practiced these days.
Friday, Nov. 26
6 p.m. Official opening “International Exhibition,” Lviv Art Palace:
“Rwanda,” Benoit Gysembergh, Paris Match, France;
“The World in Conflict,” Agence France Presse, France;
“At that side of the lens,” Viktor Pobedinskiy, UNIAN, Ukraine;
“The Picture Editors’ Awards Exhibition,” UK and Ireland;
“What the Czech Republic Looks Like,” Yaroslav Kucera, Czech Republic.
Saturday, Nov. 27
12 p.m. Opening at the Lviv Ethnographic Museum:
“Subjective St. Petersburg,” Genadiy Khoroshaylov, Valeriy Degtiarev, Eduard Horbatenko, Russia;
“Lviv of the 1920s,” Adam Lemkyvytch, Poland;
Presentation of “Ancient Lviv: A Cultural Review 1.”
2 p.m. Opening in the Bernardin Yard (open air):
“Lviv,” Vitaliy Khrabar, Lvivska Hazeta, Ukraine.
3 p.m. Conference at Dzyga Gallery
“This Profession: A Photojournalist,” with the participation of AFP, Paris Match, UNIAN.
6 p.m. Evening of photojournalism at Lyalka.
Saturday, Dec. 9
5 p.m. Opening at Dzyga Gallery:
“Ukraine, Beyond Time,” Cyril Horiszny, France.
