It is impossible to live in Ukraine and avoid the topic of war. The graphic art exhibition “Overcoming Darkness,” which was held at the Khmelnytsky Regional Art Museum, aims to explore the paradoxes and dramatic twists and turns of human life in times of crisis. The author of the works is a young artist and lecturer at the Department of Graphic Arts of the Institute of VPI, Serhii Hulevych.
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“Currently, only a limited number of artists work with the etching technique,” said museum staff. "Young Ukrainian graphic artist Serhii Hulevych, who was born in the Khmelnytskyi region and now lives and works in Kyiv, is one of them. He became acquainted with this complex technique in the studio of Vladimir Ivanov-Akhmetov while studying at the Publishing and Printing Institute of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. After graduating from university, he began to professionally engage in etching, mainly monochrome, creating both easel sheets and series of works. The artist is also interested in monotype and black-and-white photography.
Of course, artists' reflections on existential questions have continued, continue, and will always continue. The works presented in the exhibition were created during the war and are a profound reflection on the events that have been taking place in Ukraine since 2014. The gloomy colors are complemented by allegorical images: people, weapons, destruction, death... But, according to experts, these sheets are distinguished by their emotional depth, incredible aesthetics, and timelessness.
“Each of these works symbolizes one event or another,” says S. Gulevich. “Conceptually, they can be divided into three blocks: the ‘Outpost’ block is about Donetsk airport; the second block, ‘Duration,’ is about the full-scale invasion; and ‘Symbolism’ is where I reflect on the Russian-Ukrainian war through images of various animals.”
Our newspaper has already reported on the talented graphic artist as the winner of the Kyiv City State Administration competition (see KP No. 29-30 dated September 13, 2024). By participating in exhibitions, the artist continues to demonstrate that Ukraine has a good school of graphic art: “In European countries, we see interesting artists and graphic artists, but for some reason, Ukrainian artists are rarely mentioned. In addition, this exhibition is a moment of communication with the world about the problems that surround us here today.”
Incidentally, among the works presented in the exhibition was a postcard with animals. “The one with the tigers is quite an interesting work, it's a vision,” the author shared. "On my way to work on Volodymyrska Street, I looked at the monument and thought, 'What a cool idea: you could do something like that. And instead of the horse that Bogdan is sitting on, I depicted a tiger — the symbol of the coming year — and tigers that are compositionally moving forward.
(The tiger is the symbol of 2022 according to the Eastern calendar.) Unfortunately, a full-scale invasion began in 2022, but for me, these tigers are a symbol of our Armed Forces." Indeed, Serhii Hulevych's works are like a cultural archive of history, true and therefore so painful.
Just like our present.
Reference: Serhiy Gulevich is a Ukrainian graphic artist. He was born in 1995 in the Khmelnytskyi region.
2018 – received a master's degree from the Department of Graphics at the National University of Civil and Military Engineering.
In 2021, he became a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (graphic arts section).
In 2024, he defended his thesis and received a PhD in Cultural Studies. He has participated in group exhibitions, festivals, and thematic competitions.