GALICIA-VOLYN PRINCIPALITY AS A SOURCE OF IMAGERY IN THE GRAPHIC ART OF OLEXANDER DYSHKO

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the history of the Galicia-Volyn principality and the peculiarities of its imagery in the graphic works of the Volyn artist Oleksandr Dyshko. The creative portrait of Oleksandr Dyshko as a talented modern Volyn graphic artist, reinterpreter of the image of the Galicia-Volyn principality is highlighted, the ancient Russian themes and types of images in the graphic works of the Volyn artist are outlined, Matyrslav the Bird, Triglav, Pentarchy, Kolokrut, numerous signs of lands, castles, coats of arms, flags as key mythical images, signs and symbols, with the help of which the image of the Galicia-Volyn principality is reinterpreted in the works of Oleksandr Dyshko, are defined and described. The article analyzes the specifics of the reinterpretation of historical figures of the Galicia-Volyn principality of its different periods, including a number of leaders, princes, kings, saints, it is noted that they appear in the artist’s paintings both as separate figures and as elements of more complex compositions, stylized iconography, geographical and political maps, various plot compositions. The author proves that architectural and landscape themes are represented in the graphics of Oleksandr Dyshko by a number of paintings-reconstructions devoted to the history of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia by free, subjective fantasizing on the basis of historical facts, legends, legends, with the help of stylization elements, work with a very small stroke, extreme detail of the drawing, which creates a variety of visual effects and a sense of play of meanings. The scientific concept of the article reveals the unknown pages of the history of the Galicia-Volyn principality through the work of the famous Volyn artist, and has significant prospects for further art historical research. Since 2007, an attempt of artistic reconstruction of those distant historical events has been made by the members of the creative association «Kulya», one of the most active representatives of which was the famous Volyn graphic artist Oleksandr Dyshko. Since then, more than a hundred original creative works have appeared in the artist’s creative heritage, which are mainly black and white unique graphics of the pictorial history, which was reconstructed on the basis of legends, fables, approximate translations from sketches of Central Asian travelers of the IX-XIII centuries, Byzantine, Czech, Greek, Polish, German chroniclers of the early Middle Ages, and is a free, subjective, fantasy, being a kind of modern visualization of a little-known theme of the Volyn ancient past. The manner of Oleksandr Dyshko is surprisingly clear, rather strict, very detailed, clearly constructive and compositionally rational. A very important role in it is played by the acute attention to details – every line, angle, spot and even dot. The handwriting of Oleksandr Dyshko is well recognizable, it is repeated from one of his paintings to another and is perceived as definitely his own, author’s, not borrowed. One of its features is that the extremely detailed, though not devoid of conventionality, terrain painted by him in some way resembles computer games-strategies. The artistic reality of Oleksandr Dyshko is theatrical, dramatic in essence, like theater or cinema. The multi-spatial epic paintings-reconstructions of the artist evoke associations with two-dimensional and threedimensional images, forcing the viewer to cross the threshold into a completely different world, to reincarnate, to reinterpret the history that has passed.