Ten years ago art critic Natalya Kleschevnikova received the shock of her life when she met up with a local official from the Ministry of Culture.
After she showed the works of little-known deceased artist Oleksandr Shuldizhenko that she hoped to exhibit, the official told Kleschevnikova, he “is worth 5 kopeks – as much as a sheet of the Whatman paper” that he painted on.
Kleschevnikova was appalled – especially since several other critics from Russia and the Baltics had raved about Shuldizhenko and described his artwork as “alive.”
Even today, Kleschevnikova said she still can’t come to terms with the incident – and the superficiality of the official’s opinion.
“In Ukraine, no one wants even the most talented artist until he is famous,” she said. “The price of the artwork is the chief factor that attracts people.”
Kleschevnikova said the incident changed her life forever – perhaps for the better.
“I began to wonder how to make Ukrainian art more prestigious, how to get the viewers interested,” she said. “One way out is to create new methods of presentations – traditional exhibits and art critics are already obsolete.” Kleschevnikova knows about the past. A former staffer at the Leningrad Russian Art Museum affiliate in Sochi, she now resides in Kyiv.
She said the change in her thinking inspired her to develop the concept of “Attractivism.” Within her concept, an exhibit is not simply a presentation of works grouped under a certain theme. Rather, it is a narration that blends artwork and details from the artist’s life with additional information that relates to it – be it an apt quote or a description of a contemporary event.
At first glance, the art coupled with various pieces of information may seem incompatible, but Kleschevnikova is careful not to pursue the concept in a narrow-minded way. She defends the method as both relevant and natural.
Kleschevnikova said a friend of hers once bought a stack of old photographs in the market, and it turned out that they were all photos of the same woman. Some of the photos contained verses and commemorative inscriptions on the back. They immediately attracted Kleschevnikova’s attention.
“If you look thoroughly at each of the photos and place them chronologically, you can read this woman’s life story,” Kleschevnikova said. “She was an unusual, beautiful and strong woman who loved two men at the same time.”
One of Kleschevnikova’s works that best illustrates the idea of attractivism is titled “Kyivlyanka” (“Kyivan Woman”). It is in fact a photo novel based on dozens of pictures of Lubov Komissarova, a doctor who lived in Kyiv in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
Taken during the 1880s – the photos show Komissarova from the time she was a young pupil in Kyiv to when she was a St. Petersburg medical student.
In one photo taken by the celebrated court photographer Vladimir Vysotsky, Komissarova has an elaborate hairdo and wears a gorgeous brocade dress.In a later photo taken during World War II. Komissarova is seen wearing a doctor’s uniform. And finally, in a 1943 passport photo taken in Kyiv during the German occupation.
The exhibition is comprised of four parts: the visuals; Komissarova’s life story based on the photos and comments from a psychologist; quotes from various literary works of the time; and descriptions of women’s fashion at the turn of the century.
But Kleschevnikova’s biggest project is the exhibition of artist Oleksandr Shuldizhenko (1922-1988), who she met not long before he died. During his life, Shuldizhenko never organized an exhibit featuring his art. After his death, Kleschevnikova organized three exhibits of his works in Kyiv. Art critics who viewed his work said that no Kyiv graphic artist can be called his equal.
During the war Shuldizhenko was taken prisoner by the Nazis and spent time in a concentration camp.
After escaping, Shuldizhenko spent 10 years living in England, where he graduated from the London City Arts School and thrived in the Bohemian atmosphere of the city’s arts community.
Shuldizhenko returned to Kyiv in 1953, right after the death of dictator Josef Stalin, but was never accepted into the Artists’ Union. Instead, he worked as a decorator.
Many of Shuldizhenko’s watercolors are nostalgic retrospectives of his years in London. He also mastered portrait art, which he created through a series of diagonal strokes using only color one and conveying not separate facial features but the character of his subject instead.
Kleschevnikova wrote to Sotheby’s auction house, offering to help publicize and sell Shuldizhenko’s work. Her offer was rejected, however, as the auction house said it only dealt with better-known artists. But Kleschevnikova said she won’t give up pressing her case.
Kleschevnikova’s next exhibit will feature the works of Saken Gumarov and is to take place in October during the Kazakhstan Days festival in Ukraine.
