ПІД ЗВУКИ СИРЕНИ. ОГЛЯД НА ВИСТАВКУ «РИСУНОК» АРСЕНА ШПАКА У ЛЬВОВІ

Abstract

This review is dedicated to the debut exhibition of Lviv artist Arsen Shpak. The exhibition called "Drawing" opened in Lviv, at the Vinyl Club music space, on June 25, 2022. For connoisseurs of the art of drawing, the artist offered thirteen of his own graphic works. The exhibited objects are an exclusively new series of the author's works and were shown for the first time. The work on their creation is largely due to the beginning of the full-scale open invasion of the Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In my review, the first thing I talk about is the identity of the author, which includes short biographical notes, the stages of his formation, first of all, as an artist, as well as a restorer, which contributes to a better understanding the peculiarities of his work. The proposed text presents the first description of Arsen Shpak's drawings. Attention is focused on the material of his works, performance technique, and analysis of plots. The exhibited objects were created by the author with a graphite pencil on drawing paper, formats A3 and B2. The author demonstrated drawings in passe-partout and anti-frames. His works are characterized by conciseness and simplicity of forms, which are realized through the use of geometric structures. Geometry permeates all drawings, even in the case of anthropological subjects. Eleven works are devoted to female subjects and two to exclusively geometric figures. Female images are characterized by clearly expressed gestural aspects, which are manifested in the cheekbones, features of the gaze of the depicted, as well as masculine features. The works, primarily anthropological, are characterized by sacred interspersions, which are transmitted through the halos above the heads of his characters. Analysis of Arsen Shpak's works proved that the presented graphics were significantly influenced by the tragedy of war, as it was embodied in the emotionality of his heroes, in part, their sadness, pain, and longing, but at the same time with a sense of victory in the fight against evil. Publishing his work to the general public opened up prospects for the artist's further searches and their embodiment in new works.