Silent protest
The National Art Museum of Ukraine opened an exhibition dedicated to the 70s of the last century called "Silent Protest of the 70s". Eugene Bereznitsky - curator of the exhibition. The exposition included more than 100 works by Ukrainian artists. The exhibition will be open from September 20 to October 20, 2013.
The first exhibition of 1970s artists "Silent Protest of the 70s" opens in the National Art Museum of Ukraine. The exposition will include more than 120 works, most of which the public will see for the first time. Approximately 70% of the exposition belong to the private collection of Bereznіtsky family.
The project presents the phenomenon of Ukrainian art of the 70s of the 20th century and opens up to the viewer one of the least researched periods in the history of Ukrainian culture. The 1970s were the time of Parajanov and Stus, the era of giant constructions - ChNPP, BAM - and the industrialization of Siberia. This is the period of internal emigration of Soviet citizens, the time of fartsovshchiks, "Beatles" hairstyles, worn jeans and reel-to-reel tape recorders with recordings of Volodymyr Vysotsky (whose semi-official concerts gathered thousands of listeners).
"Silent protest..." is a mirror of the times, an opportunity to remember "how it was", feel nostalgia and understand what the generation of the 70s lived with.
"The 1960s, rich in events in domestic and foreign policy, hopes for social and political changes in the USSR and the subsequent brutal disappointment gave birth to a new type of worldview, characteristic of the 1970s," says project curator Eugene Bereznitsky.
"The Іntelligentsia was no longer eager to actively protest against ideologies of "equalization" and grayness. Artists turned to personal experiences and reflections, focused on the study of individuality that stands out from the "gray mass". This generation created a new aesthetic: experiments with the form and technique of drawing, the use of color to convey the feeling of the object became a new approach to the reflection of the world around, and not by the method of its photographic transmission. A kind of "quiet revolution" took place, which gradually destroyed socialist realism from the inside."
Avoiding sharp social and political topics, representatives of the new creative elite preferred lyrical landscapes and still lifes, abstract forms or play with various art styles of past eras. At the same time, quotations from folklore, the use of mythological and literary images gained importance in culture. Seventies artists took part in official exhibitions, but many of them went underground, created their own environment and found their audience at "apartment exhibitions".
"Silent Protest of the 70s" will present paintings and graphic works by more than 20 authors, including Vladislav Mamsikov, one of the successors of the "strict" style, master of lyrical painting Zoya Lerman, Odessa nonconformist Oleg Sokolov, founder of "panic realism" Petro Belenok, master of still life Valentin Reunov and others.
The exhibition will be open from September 20 to October 20, 2013.
https://vogue.ua/ua/gallery/events/otkrytie-vystavki-tikhijj-protest-70-kh00142.html