THE CREATIVITY OF THE UKRAINIAN ARTIST ANATOLY KRYVOLAP AS A SOCIO-CULTURAL PHENOMENON

Abstract

The relevance of the scientific study of the fine arts of Ukraine from the 1970s of the last century until now is determined by insufficient attention from art historians and cultural scientists to the problems of the development of visual art in the context of responding to the challenges of the first quarter of the 21st century. The lack of generalizing works in Ukrainian art history and cultural studies, which would reflect modern views on Ukrainian art of the specified period from the point of view of the peculiarities of social and cultural communications, is pointed out. One of the most objective studies that highlighted the general development of national art is the two-volume edition of Galina Sklyarenko “Ukrainian artists: from the thaw to independence”. In a message to the reader, the founders of the Brovdi Art Foundation, Nataliya and Robert Brovdi, the people who contributed to the publication of the books, wrote: “We sincerely believe that the started work will encourage and give impetus to new research that will help not only to deeply, systematically, and impartially reproduce the history of the art of Ukraine, but also to better understand its present, to define its role and place in the European and global cultural space” [3]. Even during the times of the USSR, Ukrainian art actively differed from the art of the Union republics. The cultural environment of Ukraine was much more intellectual compared to the art of other regions of the empire at that time. The number of museums, art schools, institutions of secondary art education, as well as art academies and art institutes was impressive in comparison with other territories. Despite the tragic pages of national history, which included times of destruction of Ukrainian culture – fine arts, literature, theater, closure of art organizations, struggle with avant-garde art, physical execution of the progressive circle of artists Mykhailo Boychuk, struggle with nonconformists, Ukrainian fine arts confidently developed, overcoming artificial obstacles. At each stage of the development of culture, artists were born, unique in terms of their talents, who formed a creative movement around them, which was not similar to official art. In 1975, Anatoly Kryvolap graduated from the Kyiv State Art Institute, a modern Ukrainian painter who played a significant role in the formation and development of contemporary art in independent Ukraine. Declaring himself as an original and unlike others artist in his manner, Anatoliy Kryvolap started in the cultural environment of Kyiv at the end of the 1970s – beginning of the 1980s. In 45 years, he became one of the most influential and most expensive contemporary artists of non-figurative painting and landscape. Many art critics and cultural experts consider Anatoly Kryvolap to be the progenitor of the “latest domestic landscape”. In fact, he was one of the first to turn to an artistic style that combined abstraction with national tradition, based on a Ukrainian motif. He turned to active and intense pure colors that are actually in nature. He managed to convey the colors of the surrounding reality in nature. Since the 90s of the last century, his work has acquired features of a fundamentally new imagery. The image became emotional, the colors were saturated, and sometimes even sharp. It is difficult to say whether this was a union with nature or, on the contrary, a rejection of the academic transmission of what was seen. Turning to one of the most important methods in the study of artistic processes and individual creativity of artists, the author of the article suggests continuing to explore the unique work of Anatoly Kryvolap, referring to an interview with the artist that took place in Kyiv in the artist’s workshop on June 29, 2025 and is kept in the author’s archive.