
ABOUT
One cannot constrain an artistic impulse within a canon for long. Those who crossed the boundaries of dogmas have always been called secessionists and heretics. The Soviet art of the second half of the XX century also had its abjurers – the ones who could not put up with the unshakable rules of social realism. Their art was silent and included the symphonies that were not played, poems and prose written to be stored in one’s desk, the artworks created elsewhere, away from artistic studios and the public eye, to be displayed only to a narrow circle of close friends. However, that art did not choose to be silent. That is why it is particularly important to return the art of the 60s to the contemporary cultural context.
Alexander Dubovyk is one such abjurer. Having departed from social realism, he creates the works pursuant to his own laws and logic. In his philosophical texts, Alexander himself explains his views on art, esthetic preferences and keys to understanding the symbols and signs of his works. In one of such texts he refers to the idea of José Ortega y Gasset: to read a piece of literature does not mean following the storyline step by step. Instead, one should look for the undertones that the author left untold. The works of Alexander Dubovyk also have their heroes – the signs and symbols. These characters, if one can call them so, exist in an environment of distortions, disruptions and holes. Mr Dubovyk himself calls this space «the consolidated reality» that has its own life and internal connections. Each element of the works of Alexander Dubovyk is supplemented by specific meanings and symbols. For instance, a horizontal line is the Earth’s orbit and a conventional boundary of the whole world, whereas a vertical line is an ecliptic of the Sun, the Tower of Babel and the tree of life…
That is why the artworks of Oleksandr Dubovyk evoke strong synesthetic feelings. Similarly to music, with its simultaneous movements of several independent voices that form one whole, the colour, form and space move interconnectedly in Dubovyk’s paintings. And they are all equal bearers of musical and artistic thoughts. Six canvases presented at the exhibition provide the full understanding of Dubovyk’s visual polyphony, his palimpsests, layers, interconnections of forms, structures and metaphors that are largely reminiscent of the music of late XX – early XXI centuries that emerged from the parts of phrases, unexpected citations, voices of incomprehensible worlds and consciousnesses.