Painting. Levkas. Painting. Levkas. Sculpture. Sculpture.
Mykola Zhuravel
Painting. Levkas. Sculpture.
Mykola
Ukrainian artist Mykola Zhuravel breaks the boundaries between painting and sculpture, performance and installation art. Zhuravel turns to nature to create thriving monuments to man’s links to the Earth itself. He searches for compatibility between Earth and mankind, while pointedly making reference to the obstacles that human beings have placed in the way of a harmonious existence. Zhuravel’s ambitious style results in a remarkable series of living images of a visionary utopia. By using levkas, a traditional primer employed by icon painters, Zhuravel unites the legacies of Byzantine and icon painting with his contemporary painterly technique. The result, richly vibrant and inventive contemporary works that emerge as modern-day icons.
Zhuravel
02 I Evening Rahapsody, 2019, wooden board, wood, oil, 130x240 cm
04 I Breakfast by the sea, 2008, oil on canvas, 120x70 cm
05 I Still life, 2011, oil on canvas, 120x100 cm
06 I Golden Beehive, 2018, oil on canvas, 200x200 cm
07 I Abstract landscape, 2018, oil on canvas, 200x190 cm
08 I Transformation of the spheres, 2018, oil on canvas, 250x320 cm.
09 I Swarm over the ield, 2017, wood, levkas, oil, 280x120 cm
11 I Solar protuberance, 2017, oil on canvas, 250x400 cm. Left: Solar protuberance, fragment.
12 I The Joy of Being #1, 2004, oil on canvas, 130x80 cm
13 I The Joy of Being #2, 2004, oil on canvas, 130x80 cm
14 I Annunciatoin, 2017, oil on canvas, 80x70 cm
15 I Family, 2016, oil on canvas, 180x120 cm
16 I The Last Supper, 2019, wood, levkas, metal, oil, 120x280 cm
18 I Comet model, 2019, wood, metal, 230x110x100 cm
19 I Wings of Griin #1, 2013, wood, levkas, metal, oil, 120x140 cm
20 I Turquoise vibrations, 2018, oil on canvas, 70x120 cm
21 I Lamentation of Christ, 2018, oil on canvas, 140x220 cm
22 I The Winged Island, 2019, oil on canvas, 100x200 cm
24 I Rhythms of rain, 2016, oil on canvas, 150x220 cm
25 I Under the turquoise sky, 2018, oil on canvas, 90x130 cm
26 I Torso, fragment. Right: Torso, 2017, sculpture, metal, 170x140x100 cm
28 I Installation «The broadcasting», fragment
29 I Installation «The broadcasting», from the «Invasion: Redux» project, 2015, object 170x100x100 cm
30 I Transformation of space #2, 2017, wood, levkas, metal, oil, 105x200 cm
31 I Transformation of space #1, 2017, wood, levkas, metal, oil, 150x130 cm
Mykola Zhuravel Mykola Zhuravel is a Ukrainian artist who lives and works in Kyiv. For over 30 years in his artistic practice he has used ancient long-forgotten techniques transforming them to it in a contemporary context. Levkas is a 6 thousand-year-old Egyptian technique which was used to decorate sarcophagi — stone coins where pharaohs’ mummiied bodies were contained. This technique was later utilized in religious ine art in the Middle Ages in Europe and the Byzantine empire. The basis of the Levkas technique is a wooden shield covered by glue (from gelatine or derived from sturgeon bladder) and a paste made from a mixture of ine alabaster powder and gypsum or chalk applied in layers to a surface prior to gliding with gold leaf or painting it. This technique is also used in wooden sculpture and reliefs and looks very organically combined with diferent types of metal. One advantage of Levkas is the fact that it allows for the combination of diferent forms of art such as sculpture (including bas-reliefs), painting, graphic art, etc. Mykola Zhuravel is currently preparing for a show a series of his works created with the use of the Levkas technique.
Selected exhibitions & projects: 2019 Personal exhibition, Painting & Levkas, Museum of Kyiv history, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2019 XIIth Florence Biennale, «Art+Design», ST-H Gallery, Florence, Italy. / 2019 Texas Contemporary, Texas, USA. / 2019 International Fall Exhibition, MoRA, New York, USA. / 2019 Modern Ukrainian Symbolism, The Korsaks’ Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art, Lutsk, Ukraine. / 2019 Cultural Complexity, Saphira & Ventura Gallery, New York, USA. / 2018 Retrospective personal exhibition, Painting & Levkas, The Korsaks’ Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art, Lutsk, Ukraine. / 2017 Personal exhibition «Transformation of space», White World Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2016 Gewalt | Macht | Herrscher, Kunstverein ARTProject Worpswede, Berlin, Germany (nomination irst prize to Mykola Zhuravel). / 2016 Personal exhibition, «Invasion: Redux», White World Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2016 Ukrainian painting Triennale Kyiv 2016 (nomination irst prize to Mykola Zhuravel), Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2016 Personal exhibition, «Invasion: Redux», Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, USA. / 2015 Art Kyiv Contemporary X, Art Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2014 «Following The Inner Light», National museum of Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2014 Ukrainian Institute of America «Following The Inner Light», New York, USA. / 2014 SCOPE international contemporary art show, New York, USA. / 2014 «Ukraine. Archetype of Freedom», Vienna, Austria. / 2013 Personal exhibition, Zorya Fine Art Gallery, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. / 2013 Art Toronto Fair, Toronto, Canada. / 2013 Personal exhibition, Bezpala Brown Gallery, Toronto, Canada. / 2013 Art Contemporary, Art Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine. / 2012 Personal exhibition, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, USA. / 2011 Personal exhibition, Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, USA. / 2011 «Apiary», Venice Biennale, Italy. / 2010 Personal exhibition at «lu Hisu» museum, Shanghai, China. / 2010 ART Shanghai, China. / 2009 Personal exhibition Lavra gallery, A-House gallery Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2008 Personal exhibition «Apiary» art project at the Voltahalle Gallery Basel, Switzerland.
Awards: 2019 First Prize on All Ukrainian Levkas Biennale, White World gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 2016 First Prize on Ukrainian painting triennial Kyiv 2016. / 2009 Academician of the Academy of Rome-modernist art. / 1998 First Prize, the Ukrainian Painting Triennale, Kyiv, Ukraine. / 1996 Awarded the Zolotyi Peretyn Prize and Artist of the Year title, First International ART Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Biography: 1960
Mykola Zhuravel was born in Magnitogorsk, Russia.
1979
Crimean Art school Samokisha, Simferopol, Ukraine.
1989
Graduated from the Prestigious National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
1995
Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.
1996
Member of the Artists’ Union the BZh-Art.
2009 Academician of the International Academy of Modern Art, Rome, Italy. Currently resides and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.
More information about artist you can get here:
http://alliance.elegantnewyork.com/home/painters/mykola-zhuravel/