“Among all the projects I have done, this one is special for me, because it is a joint exhibition with my father. Until now, there are very few of his works, and even if one work remained, it would be enough for the event. The last works created by my father, dated from 1972 - the time of my studies in the eighth grade of the RCSU named after him. VOL. G. Shevchenko. My father will not be here soon.”

Are the eight milestones of creative life a lot or a little? It is little if you do not remember where you are from, if you have uprooted yourself from your native environment; much - if everything is created and experienced as in the picture smear after brush of paint layers and complements each other. In the exposition of the exhibition “MILESTONES”, the artist Oleksandr Babak does not forget about his growing up, the progress to artistic mastery from children's sketches, which were checked by the first drawing teacher — his own father, to works decorating the walls of museums and galleries.

“At the exhibition, I plan to exhibit my father's work, from here, as if from the middle of a spiral, and the story will begin. Milestones in the work of the artist, then there are certain important results that are offered to the attention of the viewer. Instead, the pauses between individual projects in the exhibition, especially when it comes to retrospection, are created for the author himself. To remember the journey.”

Alexander Babak interweaves different periods of life, reflects on memories, people, places that met along the way; aptly notices the spiral nature of time. Clearly verified cycles of creativity, markers on the map close to the heart, bright painting and graphic sketches make up the structure of the exhibition and reflect the character of the artist and his works. And the exhibition of paintings by the artist's father really allows you to call this exhibition “family”.

“It is important for the family exhibition that it will take place here, because exactly 66 years ago, at ul. Repina, 4 (now Tereshchenkovskaya), I was born. And soon the parents got a room in a communal apartment on the same street, but on the other side of Shevchenko Boulevard, in a house next to the museum. My father often took me here. You can imagine that my first acquaintance with art happened precisely in these walls.”

A retrospective of Alexander Babak's work is accompanied by quotes from his book of memories of his father, studies, love of music, and native places. These sketches in prose, like the words of songs, accompany the works and help to cover the artist's idea to the fullest.

The exhibition “MILESTONES” is part of the large-scale long-term museum projects “Modern Art” and “Family Art Tradition”. Their goal is to show the development of contemporary Ukrainian art through the creativity of artistic families.


The full cost of the ticket is 200 UAH.

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