Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the etchings of Yu. Maistrenko-Vakulenko on non-religious themes, made in 1990–2010.Research methodology. The study of the works by a new generation of Ukrainian artists, which was fully formed after 1991, is just beginning. This applies, in particular, to Yu. Maistrenko-Vakulenko, one of the most expressive contemporary Ukrainian graphic artists. Her works attracted the attention of art critics in the late 1990s. Such esteemed researchers as O. Fedoruk, O. Avramenko, O. Tytarenko wrote about her. But the vast majority of materials about the artist are the articles in catalogues for exhibitions or in periodicals.Results. The most famous parts of Yu. Maistrenko-Vakulenko’s oeuvre are etchings, levkas and collages on religious themes: the triptych The Last Supper (1998), the cycle Jesus, the God of Human (2000), the series The Temples of Ukraine (2003) and The Wooden Churches of Ukraine (2014–2015) and others. But no less interesting are the non-religious, symbolic works of the artist. They are characterized by the capacity of the symbolic images used, as well as the unexpectedness and even a certain creativity of their interpretation and application. At the same time, the artist actively uses both traditional images from myths and fairy tales, and their purely author’s comparisons and combinations.The etching The Blessed World Born of Lotus (1998) suddenly “decomposes” one of the most popular esoteric symbols: the petals of a mystical flower are the wings of sirins, and the core is a tower that “grows” from a gap in space. The etching The Spindle of Destiny (1999) offers no less than the “author’s” image-symbol, which combines the features of a woman, a butterfly, a spindle (or a tower turned upside down!) and an aqueduct. Its designation is to transmit to Earth the water and the will of Heaven. In general, the image of the aqueduct (options: arch, bridge, even the autobahn!) has become for the artist one of the most beloved, sought and at the same time extremely flexible and capacious. It is the basis of the series about the Tower to Heaven, which uses with good effect the biblical story, and stylistically related to it, but rather secular etchings The River of Life and The Garden of Human Hopes (all 2002). The similar composition is in one of the most subjective etchings by Yu. Maistrenko-Vakulenko My Family (2003), where universal reflections on personality, genetic code and cultural code are combined with intimate family stories. A very similar structure is guessed in the etching The Fire-Bird and Cosmic Egg (2014), created much later, where well-known characters of Ukrainian (more broadly, Slavic) fairy tales turn into almost surreal images.Novelty. An attempt is made to examine the scientific publications on Yu. Maistrenko-Vakulenko’s oeuvre.The practical significance. The research is part of the individual planned theme of the author Ukrainian Graphics of the Second Half of the 80s of the 20th Century — 10s of the 21st Century: Between Self-Identification and Globalization and the general planned theme of the Department of Fine Arts and Decorative Arts of M. T. Rylsky Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Ukrainian Culture in the Context of National Humanitarian Discourse and European Studies.Conclusions. In the end, it should be noted that the symbolic and religious graphics of the artist are very closely related, their themes and images are constantly “intertwined”, mutually “feeding” and enriching each other.

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