“OIL AND WATER, TRANGRESSION OF MATERIAL”

Serhiy Savchenko

OIL AND WATER TRANSGRESSION OF MATERIAL paintings

OIL AND WATER TRANSGRESSION OF MATERIAL

OIL AND WATER TRANSGRESSION OF MATERIAL

paintings

Serhiy Savchenko

texts

Olena Grubb

“In my paintings I invest the material with the human features and simply create the conditions for the internal catharsis. The material strives to follow the human. It tries to grow and progress” Serhiy Savchenko in conversation with Olena Grubb Gdansk – Istanbul, 2019

Oil and Water. Transgression of Material.

The new series of paintings by the established Ukrainian contemporary artist Serhiy Savchenko explores the theme of movement of the material beyond its own borders. Serhiy Savchenko is the multimedia artist and participant of numerous international exhibitions and art residences.

In Oil and Water. Transgression of Material Savchenko’s main goal is to immerse of the viewer into the powerful stream of the energy that the paint bears when it transgresses beyond the white enamel on the canvas. The transgression in this series is viewed as the phenomenon of transformation of the artistic media into the “base matter” and represents the Ultimate Creative force that is not limited by the laws of duality commonly believed to dominate in the universe.

The artist started working on the topic of spontaneity and absence of control over the absolute creative force of the material in 2009 in the series called Eruptions. In 2019 he introduced new elements into his concept and came up with the Oil and Water. Transgression of Material. The new elements enabled him to model the behaviour of the material on the canvas - mainly allowing him to determine the direction of its flow.

The word transgression takes its origin in the ancient Latin and translates as an “act of breaking though the boundaries”. It conveys the phenomenon of transition from something seemingly impossible to something real. The topic of transgression is one of the leading threads of non-classical philosophy. It although has been of great interest to the classics too. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, for example argued that transgression is a movement beyond the social boundaries of existence and transcendence from the role of the participant to the role of the observer of the situation. Transgression is a movement of the essence of any phenomenon beyond its own limits, beyond its own borders and across the boundaries of impossibility in the process of the eternal development of the living material.

The artist reveals “In 2009 I have been invited to participate in a very interesting exhibition held in a small but notorious town of Novytsia. Novytsia used to be part of Ukraine and a great poet Bohdan-Ihor Antonych was born there. Now it is a part of Poland. The exhibition was held in a small ancient chapel. Previously I have never had a chance to try myself in the genre of the sacred art. The invitation to participate came unexpected and became a big challenge for me. For this project I have created my first series of seven abstract paintings called “Eruptions”. One of the painting was invisible. The seven works followed the idea of the classical iconostasis depicting

the story of the creation of the world. Every painting was inspired by its own symbolism. I was following the Genesis from the very beginning - starting from the simple earthy elements, such as stone or plant and moving towards the invisible creatures. In 2019 I felt the urge to return to this topic and to introduce new elements and new concepts into the series.”

French art historian and philosopher Georges Bataille has coined the term base materialism.

Base materialism comes as a concept of a certain absolute that overcomes the traditional division of the world into the material and ideal. In the classical materialism the material gives birth to the spiritual and in classical idealism the spiritual overcomes material. Bataille claims that the existence of the duality per se limits the human perception of the boundless potentialities of the higher matter, which is the matter that the Ultimate Creator operates with. Base materialism is introduced as the third option, that is represented by the act of transgression of the material and its exodus beyond the boundaries of its own self. By deconstructing the duality between the material and ideal it establishes the new reality, where the options of the Ultimate Creator are unbound. Everything that has ever been conceived may materialise, and everything that has ever been materialised has been conceived.

Savchenko continues “Transgression is an act of deconstruction of stereotypes. It is a search for the novelty through the internal conflict. Everybody goes through the internal conflicts to achieve some new levels of understanding, the new level of consciousness. This conflict I have embodied in the combination of two opposing materials – water and oil on canvas. All the paintings from the series “Eruptions” (2009) as well as “Oil and Water. Transgression of Material” (2019) are approximated to the human size. These works are somewhere in between the paintings and objects. It’s a paradox, because the body of the painting cannot be plainly white. But at the same time each object has all elements of the painting in it – dynamics, composition, texture.

In my paintings I invest the material with the human features and simply create the conditions for the internal catharsis. The material strives to follow the human. It tries to grow and progress.”

Serhiy Savchenko is extremely multitalented and diverse person. It is impossible not to admire him. Savchenko’s works are placed in the important private collections in Ukraine and overseas. Oil and Water. Transgression of Material represents the stream of the concentrated transformative living energy that the artist has fully experienced himself before expressing it on the canvas. According to Savchenko, these paintings could be viewed as the porotypes or the symbolical imprints of human alike anthropomorphic copies of the mythological demigods.

They are designed to initiate the process of transgression for the purpose of opening the new third dimension, the dimension where the Ultimate Creator reveals itself.

Olena Grubb, MAAB Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

oil, acrylic on canvas ,180 × 120 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas,180 × 90 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 60 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 60 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 180 × 90 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 60 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 60 cm (x3), 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 60 cm (x3), 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 180 × 90 cm, 2019

oil, acrylic on canvas, 180 × 90 cm, 2019

“coming home 1�, digital photo, 2020

“coming home 4�, digital photo, 2020

“coming home 3�, digital photo, 2020

Serhiy Savchenko Born 1972 in Lviv, Ukraine.

In 1991 graduated from the Lviv College of Decorative and Applied Arts named by I. Trush.

1998 graduated from the Lviv Academy of Arts.

Works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, video, animation, street sculpture, object.

Ex Curator of residencies program in Museum of Ideas in Lviv, Ukraine Participates in international residencies, workshops and art events in Ukraine and worldwide.

Founder of the Savchenko Gallery in Gdansk, Poland. http://savchenko.gallery .

Lives and works in Lviv, Ukraine and Gdansk, Poland Selected solo exhibitions: 1994 Museum of Ethnography, Lviv, Ukraine; 1996 Lviv Historical Museum, Ukraine; Gallery «Sparkasse», Bad Leonfelden, Austria; Lviv Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine; Gallery «RDCV», Prague, Czech Republic; 1997 Gallery «Laurier», Toronto, Canada; «Pavlovsky Arts and Crafts» Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands; 1998 «Gallery-36», Kyiv, Ukraine; 1999 «Gallery-36», Kyiv, Ukraine; 2000 “Black-transparent”, «Gallery–36», Kyiv, Ukraine; Gallery «Appia», Grenoble, France; 2001 «Gallery-36», Kyiv, Ukraine; Gallery «Galia» Bordeaux, France; 2002 Gallery «Dzyga» Lviv, Ukraine; Gallery «Galia» Bordeaux, France; Gallery «Appia», Grenoble, France; «Gallery-36», Kyiv, Ukraine; «Gallery-68», Copenhagen, Denmark; 2003 «The Laurier» Gallery, Toronto, Canada; «Maritime» Gallery, Odesa, Ukraine; 2004 “Photo-paintings”, Gallery «Dzyga», Lviv, Ukraine; Gallery «Appia», Grenoble, France; Gallery «Quedar», Strasbourg, France; Gallery «Maritime», Odessa, Ukraine;

«Gallery-36», Kyiv, Ukraine; «Gallery-68», Copenhagen, Denmark; «Peace and color art Gallery», London, United Kingdom.

2005 Gallery «Dzyga» Lviv, Ukraine; Gallery «A-House», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Drawings from the land”, Gallery «Maritime», Odesa, Ukraine; «Gallery-68», Copenhagen, Denmark; 2006 Gallery «Appia», Grenoble , France; «Peace and color art Gallery», London, United Kingdom; «Gallery-68», Copenhagen, Denmark; 2007 Gallery «E.M.», Kollum, Netherlands; Gallery «Tryptych», Kyiv, Ukraine; Gallery «Dzyga», Lviv, Ukraine; «Peace and color art Gallery», London, United Kingdom; Gallery «Maritime», Odessa, Ukraine; Gallery «Arte plurali» , Audincourt, France; «Gallery-68», Copenhagen, Denmark; 2008 “Big Red Mama”, Gallery «Volga», Moscow, Russia;“New Works”, Gallery «Kunst-und Kulturraum» , Zürich, Switzerland; Gallery «A-House», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Chorus”, Gallery «Bottega», Kyiv, Ukraine; «Peace and color art Gallery», London, United Kingdom; “Chorus”, Gallery «Volga», Moscow, Russia; “Prints”, Gallery «Maritime», Odessa, Ukraine; Gallery «Appia», Grenoble, France; «Gallery–68», Copenhagen, Denmark; 2009 “Lisova-44”, Gallery «Tryptych», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Graphic works”, Gallery «Nine by Five», Fremantle, Australia; “Zviri Zvychayni”, Gallery «Bottega», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Landscapes”, «Gallery -68», Copenhagen, Denmark; “New works”, «Peace and Color Gallery», London, United Kingdom; “Singing heads”, Gallery «In art», Berlin, Germany; “Zviri Zvychayni”, Gallery «Volga», Moscow, Russia; 2010 “Day of Knowledge», Gallery «Green Sofa», Lviv, Ukraine; “Ethno”, Gallery “Tryptych”, Kyiv, Ukraine; 2011 “Paintings”, Gallery «Uzhgorod», Uzhgorod, Ukraine; “School fiction”, Gallery «Detenpula», Lviv, Ukraine; “Back to color”, Gallery «Tryptych-art», Kyiv, Ukraine; 2012 Solo exhibition with Ustym Fedko in Casa de Teatro, Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; “Paintings of Serhiy Savchenko”, Regional Art Museum in Khmelnyckyy, Ukraine;

2013 “Process and Matter”, «Scherbenko art center», Kyiv, Ukraine; 2014 “Intimacy”, Gallery «Tryptych-Art», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Intimacy”, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine; “Intimacy”, Gallery «Red Black», Kaniv, Ukraine; 2015 “Erotica in landscapes” by Serhiy Savchenko, “From pragmatism of Malevich to Godless case”by Alyaksandr Zabavchik. Gallery «Anarkhia», Kopavogi, Iceland; “Earth” – Graphic, Paintings. Gallery «Tryptych Art», Kyiv, Ukraine; “Not My Shadow, Not my Body?”, Gallery «Ye», Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine; “Le Gens”, Gallery «Hebert», Grenoble, France; 2016 “Dispersion”, Gallery «Tryptych Art», Kyiv, Ukraine;“Public Relations” Serhiy Savchenko & Coproduction, Gallery «MEF», Izola, Slovenia; “Author Project”. VlodKaufman & Serhiy Savchenko. In the frame of Week of Actual Art in Lviv, ”Leminarium, Lviv Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine 2017 “That will never come..” , Kamila Bednarska &Serhiy Savchenko, Gallery Tryptych Art,Kyiv, Ukraine,«Returning with the arrow», Plac Izolanov, Izola, Slovenia «Serhiy Savchenko and the enduring resistance of vision». «White World» Gallery, Kyiv,Ukraine, 2018 “Savchenko”, Galerie “Hebert”, Grenoble, France 2019 «Ruin And Reproduction» by Serhiy Savchenko and «Dying Warriors» by Erik Mai,Savchenko Gallery, Gdansk, Poland; «You are what you look at», Savchenko Gallery, Gdansk, Poland Selected group exhibitions: 1992 Gallery «Lviv Picture», Lviv, Ukraine; 1993 Art Gallery named after A. Sheptitskiy, Lviv, Ukraine; Gallery «Sparkasse», Rohrbach, Austria; “Spring 93”, National Museum in Lviv, Ukraine; 1995 “Club of Ukrainian Artists”, Prague, Czech Republic; “Lviv’s Signatures” «OR-Gallery», Kyiv, Ukraine; “3-d International Symposium of Art Glass”, Lviv, Ukraine; 1996 “Art club”, Khmelnytsky Art Museum, Ukraine; “Hutir-II”, Khmelnytsky-Lviv, Ukraine; “Art-Fair”, Kyiv, Ukraine; 1997 Gallery «UCAF», Toronto, Canada; First International Gallery, Charlotte, USA; “Proposition”, Museum of Ethnography, Lviv, Ukraine;“Autumn Salon”, Lviv National Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine; 1998 “Robinzonada”, Khmelnytsky Art Museum, Ukraine;“Europe’Art”, Geneva, Switzerland; Triennial of painting, Kyiv, Ukraine; “Vysokyy Zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine; “Art Fair”, Rotterdam, Netherlands; 1999 “International Art Festival”, Kyiv, Ukraine; 2000 “Kunsthalle Austria Bank”, Vienna, Austria; Gallery «Persona», Kyiv, Ukraine;

“East-West”, Gallery «City-N», Kyiv, Ukraine; 2001 “Force line”, Gallery «City-N», Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine; “International exhibition”, «Todayji» Temple, Nara, Japan; 2003 “Silver Square”, Przsemysl, Poland; “Bacchanal of painting”, Gallery «Marina», Odesa, Ukraine; 2004 “International painting Symposium”, Zelwa, Poland; “Marina-2004”, Gallery «Maritime», Odesa, Ukraine; 2005 “International Salon of Independent Artists”, Paris, France; “Art Ireland” , Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master»); 2006 “Art Karlsruhe, International Art Fair”, Karlsruhe, Germany, (by Gallery «Triptych-Art»); “Art Ireland”, Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master»); “Art International Zurich”, Zurich, Switzerland; “Art Kyiv” , Kyiv, Ukraine; “The International Art Fair”, Puro Arte-vigo 2006 “Chelsea Art Fair”, London, United Kingdom, (by Gallery «Art Master»); “Art Ireland, Spring Collection”, Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master»); “Art Gratz, Akzenta Gratz”, Austria ,(by Gallery «In Art»); “Art Metz”, Metz, France, (by Gallery «In Art»); “Berlin Liste”, Berlin, Germany, (by Gallery «In Art»); “Art International Zurich”, Zurich, Switzerland, (by Gallery «In Art»); “Invitation on Akt”, Gallery «Tryptych-Art», Kyiv, Ukraine; 2009 “Sea-Ocean”, Municipal Gallery «Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine; “Contemporary Istanbul”, Istanbul, Turkey, (by Gallery «Tryptych-Art); 2011 “Process and Matter” Olexiy Khoroshko and Serhiy Savchenko Gallery «in Art, Berlin , Germany; “Christmass Paralononormal phenomenon”, «Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine; 2013 “New Art Fair”, «Gallery-73 ,Paris, France; International Art Competition “Art Revolution Taipei”, Taipei, Taiwan; 2014 “Spanish-Ukrainian exhibition of paintings”, Gallery «Cartel, Malaga, Spain; 2015 Festival “Parcour del’art”, project “Intimacy”, «Maison Jean Villard, Avignon, France; Festival “Parcour del’art”, project “Animation by Coproduction”, «Maison Jean Villard, Avignon, France; “Earth that…”, K. Bednarska, S. Savchenko, M. Uchman, O. Khoroshko, «Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine; “L’art fait Face”, «Maison De Internacional, Grenoble, France; “Mur Art”, Rzeszow, Poland; “First International Festival of printmakers”, Museum of Ukrainian Paintings, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine; 2016 “Author Project”. VlodKaufman & Serhiy Savchenko. In the frame of Week of Actual Art in Lviv, pilot project ”Leminarium", Lviv Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine “Intimates” Kamila Bednarska & Serhiy Savchenko, Novica, Poland; Gewalt, Macht, Herrcher, Kunstpreis Worpswede 2016, Berlin, Germany “JPS” ( Jump Point Search) Ukrainian-Polish group art project, installation of street miniature, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine, 2017 5-th Odesa Biennale of Contemporary Art, video-animation Yych-1 & Yych-2, Odesa, Ukraine; Ukrainian Modern Graphic (Ukrajinski Moderno Crtez), Gallery Zvonimir, Zagreb, Croatia; «Equally different, art project by «Art-huss,

Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine Trisiti vol. 3, festival of printscrean, Savchenko, Gallery, Gdansk Akademy of Arts, tuBaza, Gdansk, Poland; Art residences and symposiums: 2007 International Art symposium “Valmiera-2006”, Latvia; 2010 International Art symposium “Zelwa”, Zelwa, Poland; 2012 Residence “Red Gate”, Beijing, China; Residence “d’Clinic”, Lendava, Slovenia; Residency project “Ukrainian residence”, Slavsko, Ukraine, 2013 International Art symposium “Slovenia odprta za umietnost 2013”, Sinij Vrh, Slovenija; International Art symposium “V kregu pogranicza” , Jablonka, Poland, (by Gallery «Marzenie); International Art symposium, Olhon island, Irkutsk, Russia, (by Gallery «Art Dias); International Art symposium on «Knyazha Hora, Kaniv, Ukraine; 2015 International Art symposium “Slovenia odperta za umetnost-2015”, Sinji Vrh, Slovenia; 2016 International Art symposium, Novica, Poland; International Art symposium, Mallnitz, Austria; International art symposium in Gallery «Red Black, Kaniv, Ukraine; “XXI International Symposium of Paintings Lancut-Orelec”, Lancut, Poland, (by Gallery Marzenie); Polish-Ukrainian International group art project, “Intimate Portrait”, (co-curator); 2017 “Scifia”, the art symposium by White World gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine art residence by Catena, «Roots project, Berlin, Germany Polish-Ukrainian International group art project residency, “Intimate Autoportrait”; 2018 Art residence « Pirosmani project, Tbilisi, Alvani, Georgia, Art residence by Catena, Lviv, Slavsko, Ukraine, 2019 Art residence by Catena, «Cinema and identity, Berlin, Germany Istanbul Artist Residency, Istanbul; Performances, projects, and installations: 2001 Festival “Spring wind”, installation “Angel road” with I.Tverdun, Kyiv, Ukraine; 2006 International Art Symposium “Valmiera-2006, the installation «S.N.I.S.T. (Sounds and Not Important Small Things)”, Latvia; 2007 “Transformation of classical Avantgarde”, performance with V. Kaufman “Noc Kultury”, Lublin, Poland; 2008 Lviv Fashion Week, conceptual project “FIELD” with V. Kaufman, Expo center «Lemberg, Lviv, Ukraine; 2009 “Other” with O. Khoroshko, Week Of Actual Art in Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine; 2009 “Other” with O. Khoroshko, Gogol Fest, Kyiv, Ukraine; 2009-2017- “Three-angel” street installation, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine 2016 “JPS” ( Jump Point Search) Ukrainian-Polish group art project, installation of street miniature, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine, Week Of Actual Art in Lviv», pilot project “Leminarium” with V. Kaufman and S. Savchenko, Lviv National Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine; Curated and Co-curated events: 2007-2014 International Art Symposiums “Chervone-Chorne ”, «Knyazha Hora», Kaniv,

Ukraine, ( curating guest projects);2011 Art project “Christmass Paralononormal phenomenon” Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine; Art weekend “Galagany”, Kyiv, Ukraine;Ukrainian-Polish International group art project, “JPS” (Jump Point Search), installation of street miniature, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine 2017-18 Polish-Ukrainian International group art project residency, “Intimate Autoportrait”, 2017-19 Art residence by Catena, «Cinema and identity», Berlin, Germany;art residence by Catena, «Roots project», Berlin, Germany Theater stage design: 2017 “Garden of divine songs Wedding” – Lviv Municipal Theater, Artistic Research and Educational Center “Word and Voice”, Lviv, Ukraine.

“Lungs”, Lviv Academical Theater by Les Kurbas; Lviv, Ukraine “Kruten’”, First young theater of Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine Awards and honors: 1997 Certificate of recognition; European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz,Austria Diploma, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine; 1998 Diploma, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine, 1999 Certificate of recognition; European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz,Austria; Silver Medal and Certificate, European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz, Austria; 2001 4-th premium, Painting Triennial, Kyiv, Ukraine; 2008 First premium, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine; 2012 Winner of competition by «d’Clinic art residence», Lendava, Slovenia; Public collections: Ukrainian Museum of Fine Art, Kyiv, Ukraine; KMC “Dzyga”, Lviv, Ukraine; Khmelnickyy State Regional Art Museum, Khmelnyckyy; Ukraine, Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art named after Korsak, ”Chervone-Chorne”, Kyiv, Kaniv, Ukraine Book design: 2000 “Dog and his friends on the moon” Heorhiy Khymych, (2nd award of the Book of the Year-2000 National Contest) publisher: a-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha; 2012 “Protoplastykon” poetry of Piotr Bussold (BUSSI)

“OIL AND WATER, TRANGRESSION OF MATERIAL” text: Olena Grubb artworks: Serhiy Savchenko design: Serhiy Savchenko and Vasyl Savchenko print: Mandragory, dogital printing company production: Savchenko Gallery Savchenko Gallery Szafarnia 11, lokal. U10B 80-755, Gdansk +48 737794711 +48535196903 savchenko.gallery info@savchenko.gallery Lviv – Gdansk

2020