Volodymyr Yershikhin is an an artist known since the New Ukrainian Wave. In many respects, this exhibition is a continuation and creative development of the ideas and aesthetic findings of the artist for the last few years.
For a classical art viewer V. Yershikhin’s works may appear quite provocative or frivolous. However, those who are close to the New Wave of Ukrainian art will joyfully recognize the powerful breath of irony of postmodern discourse.
In this exhibition one can see the images of people transformed into signs. Only gender and a type of action remain recognizable. Discarding individual features, the artist emphasizes the masses, which is amplified by multiple repetition of similar humanoid signs. That is, in comparison with his previous works, the author shifts the focus of his creative attention from the phenomenon of fetishization of brands, to the devaluation of individual traits in modern society. This is a world of cyber-generalizations where events exist in the form of schemes, signs and markings. These are digital arrays of information, a database in which any personal thoughts and feelings are lost. In these works modern times are very similar to prehistoric ones, when the individuality of each person was not yet realized, and people perceived themselves only on the basis of belonging to a certain collective, occupation or action.
With this new exhibition, the author notes the existence of a depersonalized world around us, dominated by collectivism with its attributes of statistical generalizations enhanced by computer technology. This is a world of signs and schemes, the world of a new, super-modern and, as well, prehistoric savagery is a world of mass consciousness. However, there is no didactics in the works presented, only a statement that is detached from emotions: humanity is alive, the intersection is expanding, cyber technologies are conquering the world, and artists are finding new ideas and forms of a sober view of reality for the sake of self-awareness and society.
G. Vysheslavsky
For a classical art viewer V. Yershikhin’s works may appear quite provocative or frivolous. However, those who are close to the New Wave of Ukrainian art will joyfully recognize the powerful breath of irony of postmodern discourse.
In this exhibition one can see the images of people transformed into signs. Only gender and a type of action remain recognizable. Discarding individual features, the artist emphasizes the masses, which is amplified by multiple repetition of similar humanoid signs. That is, in comparison with his previous works, the author shifts the focus of his creative attention from the phenomenon of fetishization of brands, to the devaluation of individual traits in modern society. This is a world of cyber-generalizations where events exist in the form of schemes, signs and markings. These are digital arrays of information, a database in which any personal thoughts and feelings are lost. In these works modern times are very similar to prehistoric ones, when the individuality of each person was not yet realized, and people perceived themselves only on the basis of belonging to a certain collective, occupation or action.
With this new exhibition, the author notes the existence of a depersonalized world around us, dominated by collectivism with its attributes of statistical generalizations enhanced by computer technology. This is a world of signs and schemes, the world of a new, super-modern and, as well, prehistoric savagery is a world of mass consciousness. However, there is no didactics in the works presented, only a statement that is detached from emotions: humanity is alive, the intersection is expanding, cyber technologies are conquering the world, and artists are finding new ideas and forms of a sober view of reality for the sake of self-awareness and society.
G. Vysheslavsky
