When Ukrainian artist Volodymyr Kuznetsov came to Mystetskyi Arsenal (Arts Arsenal) on July 25 to continue working on his painting for a new exhibition, he learned his painting no longer existed.
Art Arsenal director and the exhibition’s
curator Nataliya Zabolotna decided that the work didn’t fit the exhibition’s
format and ordered to paint it black, so as to prevent the artist from even
retrieving his incomplete work.
The piece itself, titled “Koliyivshchyna: Judgment Day,” was part of a series by Kuznetsov and was
heavily inspired by recent news. Kuznetsov planned the painting to be divided
into two parts: Paradise and Hell. Hell was depicted as a boiler-nuclear
reactor with policemen, judges, rich youth and clergy in it. The artist did not
manage to draw the Paradise.
“Natalia Zabolotna, the Great and
Grand exhibition’s curator, banned and destroyed my work ‘Koliyivshchyna:
Judgment Day’ (11×5 m). One month in preparation, five days of work. She
covered it with black paint and called it her personal performance,” Kuznetsov
wrote on Facebook.
The Great
and Grand art project is organized to commemorate the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of the Kyiv
Rus. The exhibition, to be opened on July 27, should represent all periods of
Ukrainian art, from the Paleolithic period to the contemporary. According to
Kuznetsov, he was invited to participate in the exhibition by Zabolotna and the
Arts Arsenal’s chief curator Oleksandr Solovyov.
Kuznetsov says Zabolotna watched him
work for several days, but there had been no negative comments until July 25, a
day before the exhibition was shown to Ukraine’s top governmental figures and
clergy.
Zabolotna denies accusations of
censorship and says the painting didn’t fit into the concept and the overall
context of the exhibition. She says Kuznetsov planned to draw the recent events
in Vradiyivka, where a 29-year old woman’s gang-rape by police officials led to
public unrest, but then deviated from the original idea.
“Our exhibition is dedicated to the
unique national heritage, there will be exhibited artworks that have been kept
in museum depositories for decades, works that should demonstrate the influence
of Christianity on world and Ukrainian culture,” she told Lb.ua web-site. Zabolotna
also said that artists shouldn’t criticize their motherland. “You can’t criticize
your motherland as you can’t blame your mother. All that is said against the motherland
I consider immoral,” she added.
Few critics agree with Zabolotna’s
position. Art Arsenal’s chief curator Oleksandr Solovyov resigned on July 25, right after the accident. “I really wrote a letter
of resignation, but I don’t know if it was signed. But it does not change
anything. My resignation is my position,” Solovyov
wrote on Facebook. Kateryna Stukalova, editor of Art Ukraine monthly magazine
founded by Zabolotna, also resigned the same day.
Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Kapliuk can be reached at [email protected]
