|
|
|
|
Mykola Storozhenko is a professor at the Arts Academy. I was his pupil still in the Soviet times. He is a good painter and an excellent teacher, but way back then he did not seem to be properly appreciated, and he worked as an obscure teacher for about fifteen years. It was in my fifth year of studies that Storozhenko agreed to take me as a student. When I applied to be transferred to his studio everybody was flabbergasted at my "rash decision," and I began to be talked out of this "strange move." You see, I was a very good student and the argument was that with my excellent grades I could make a good career as a painter, and Storozhenko was not a master to provide one with helpful references. But I did not listen to any arguments because I knew that Storozhenko was the only teacher for me who could teach me what I wanted to learn. Besides, he did not suppress the individuality of his students, giving them a chance to develop their own approach to art and their own view of the world. He turned out to be so good that now I feel honoured that I was a pupil of his studio of Church Painting. My road in art Ivan PylypenkoMy road in the art of painting is to use light colours. I tried to paint in dark colours too, and in bright colours, but then I came back to using the light colours. At first, there was something aggressive in my works, something harsh, but after I got a studio in the territory of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery in 1955, I discovered to my own surprise that harshness: left my pictures and that I began using lighter and lighter colours. This studio was a Godsend for me, Peace of mind that descended upon me changed my life and my work. Look at my paintings — they all of them exude tranquillity. Most of my paintings now are created in accordance with the laws governing the art of icon painting. Look at the perspective I use — it is not linear, and may be called "inverse perspective," But it is not the technical side that is important, it's the state of your mind, your mood, that make the difference. You should be in the state of rejoicing at the light, at love to produce good works. Icon painters work only when they are in such a lofty state of mind and heart. They do not drink alcohol, they do not sin, and they address their thoughts to God. I do my best to get myself into such a state in order to work. Most often it comes early in the morning when I am alone with myself, when my soul is in harmony with the whole world. About loneliness It happens often enough that after a day of work, of being with people, a person wants to be alone, and enjoy silence in privacy. It is the theme of one of my paintings which is called Enjoying Silence. When I am alone, I talk to myself, I think about various things, I meditate. I can be alone for many days in a row, not just a day or two. If I spend a day at the Arts Academy, teaching students, meeting people, or move around town, at the end of such a day I make it a point to return to my studio in the Lavra Monastery. I spend some time sitting quietly, listening to silence, meditating, absorbing positive energies from this holy place. The art of easel painting presupposes the loneliness of a painter, and when you're looking for own way in art, being alone is just how you attain what you're striving at. Torments of creative work How fast or slow do I create my pictures? A lot depends on my mood, and one day differs from the next. If the mood is right I can paint a picture in the matter of tours, and it will be a good picture, as good as any other that has taken much longer to paint. It's fantastic how fast it can happen. But, of course, it takes much longer to preliminary think things over. There are some paintings that I spent years bringing to completion — thinking it over, developing the idea, and then changing things in the course of actual work. Every minute detail needs a careful approach. There were several cases when the picture did not turn right, no matter how hard I tried, and I had to paint something entirely different over the original picture. I've never made any sharp veers in my work, no sudden shifts from one set of images, subjects or themes to another. My development as an artist moved along more or less one line smoothly enough. It is important for me to show the world not just an image, subject or theme itself but my attitude to it, the way I feel about it. I know what I can do better, and what is not so easy for me to master. For example, a historical subject does not come as easy as a philosophical or religious one. I cannot sit down and paint without any preparation what I see inside myself. I have to ponder a subject, to feel it, to learn as much about it as I can. All of this is my life, and I, like many other painters, do go through the torments of creative search. My agony and ecstasy. However, once in a while I go through periods during which I have absolutely no wish to paint. And at the end of such a period I begin to have a weird impression that I have never painted anything at all. About photography The art of photography helps me work at my paintings. When, say, I paint a church I have photographs of it at my side because it is not always possible for me to work in the open air right in front of the church, and it is not easy to remember every little detail, or a particular lighting effect. The Lavra Monastery is my favourite subject. I observe everything that may go into the picture: the sky, colour of leaves, trunks, walls, play of light, or, if a dense fog settles down, I watch how it envelops the buildings. The combination of snow and fog is an exciting thing to paint. Fog binds things together into a whole, and holistic approach is a very promising one, not only in art but in everyday life too. Integrity is something that should be appreciated, admired and promoted. In nature, such "integral" states usually happen at dawn, at dusk, during a pouring rain and in a heavy snowfall. Buildings, trees, sky and people seem to be united into one integral whole. In the bright sunshine, things stand out all by themselves, separately: buildings and the shadows they cast seem to be separate entities. The blue of the sky presses down on you so hard that your head begins to spin. In my paintings I try to unite all the elements into one whole — in my pictures, trees merge into buildings, and the sky merges with earth. At the same time, we observe the contrasts of big spots and small spots, of dark areas against the light ones, of obtuse angels and of sharp angles. We are affected by verticals and horizontals, we differentiate between things lofty and profane, between the dark side and the bright side of things. A picture should make an impression on us by its special energy, its ambiguity and vagueness, rather than by the story it may tell. A painting should speak the language of colour spots, surfaces, lines and angles, and we should "read" a painting similarly to reading "between the lines" of a text. A detail matters but a group of details matters more, a colour area matters but an arrangement of colours matters more. A dramatic contrast is achieved through a contraposition of the light and the dark. You can find a similar thing happening in our life: birds of a feather stick together, as they say. About travels Ever since I got this studio in the Lavra Monastery, I have not had any wish to go travelling. Before that I used to go abroad about five times a year. I saw a lot during those trips, a lot of interesting things. When I stayed in Cheltenham, a borough in Gloucestershire, England, attending a course of advanced studies at an art college, I travelled around Britain, visiting museums and meeting people. I met quite a few prominent people, cultural and political figures too. Travelling gave me, an artist, material for my work. These days, when I stay put, people come to me, people from many countries of the world. I don't have to go anywhere, people come to talk, to share ideas and impressions. I'm open minded and I'm open to all kinds of ideas. Everybody's welcome to my studio. My works travel instead of me. I know that my paintings have made their way to the east and to the west, to Africa and Australia. I've noticed that even those who know very little about Ukraine find it easy to understand, to feel what my works want to tell them. My pictures portraying the Lavra Monastery seem to get to the heart of everyone. About the present generation Young people in this country these days are much more sophisticated than they used to be under the Soviets. They have learnt to make their own judgments. Say, at the Arts Academy, students themselves choose who they want to study with. Unfortunately, the economic condition of this country is such that it cannot provide everyone with work. Artists get practically no support from the state, but young people can get a very good education. I do not think Ukrainian artists can get a better education abroad. I'm convinced that our Arts Academy — in full, it is called the Ukrainian Academy of the Fine Arts and Architecture — provides tuition whose level and quality are much higher than anywhere else abroad. We have traditions, and we have an excellent school of painting. Ukrainian art is quite competitive, works of Ukrainian artists are in great demand, If I had had a chance to start everything from scratch, I would follow the same line, and I would go to study art with the same teachers and painters. //Welcome to Ukraine. Monologues. [Home] [Painting] [Biography] [Published] [Contacts]
|
About the art teacher, Mykola Storozhenko