Artists

Oleg Gryshchenko

Born 1985 in Zhitomir, Ukraine. He lives and works in Kyiv. Gryshenko received a degree inmonumental painting from the Kosiv College of Applied and Decorative Arts and a Master of Fine Art from the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kyiv. He is a lecturer at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture’s department of graphics and a co-founder of the art group VAL.

As a printmaker, Oleg Gryshchenko continues a language rooted within traditional Ukrainian decorative arts and transforms it through the use of fragmented texts and sometimes by exposing his prints to nature, laying them outside for a restricted period of time.

Recent exhibitions:

2013 – “Memoria”, Group exhibition, Ya Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine

2012 – “Book dinner”, Group exhibition, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine

2012 – “NEOFOLK Project”, Group exhibition, GOGOLFEST, Kyiv, Ukraine

2012 – “Landscape shielded by the picture ”, Group exhibition, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv

2012 – “Two”, solo exhibition, Ya Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine

For the exhibition of the 20 shortlisted artists for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2013 Gryshchenko creates a project called The Great Ukrainian Wall, a large-scale woodcut print matrix, combined with 4200 printed sheets from the 200 prints forming the original woodcut, which the audience is invited to take home. The overall image of Great Ukrainian Wall combines a study of Ukrainian traditions, literature, landscapes and personal memories. It could be a metaphor for the challenge that faces Ukraine, to re-discover and preserve a national heritage without holding back social, cultural and political change.