The Ukrainian Institute of America announced a group exhibition of 18 artists from Ukraine, “Iconart: Visions of a World Unseen”.
The artworks – both representational and abstract – visualize ties between rituals of medieval religious iconography and current interpretations of the sacred. This special group of artists is brought together through shared origins in Ukrainian spiritual culture and their respective intimate experiences. Their works are centered on the creation of images of the “world unseen”: a Sinner in search of Paradise, Man in search of God, Heroes and Seducers, Saints and Traitors, and God in search of Man.
Most of the artists are exhibiting for the first time in the United States. Spanning multiple generations, some commenced their creative practices forty years ago working outside of official (then Soviet mandates), while others entered the Ukrainian art arena in the past decades, influenced by contemporary culture and recent political events.
Exhibiting artists include: Olexander Antoniuk, Olexander Bryndikov, Ivanka Demchuk, Oleh Denysenko, Petro Humenyuk, Olga Kovtun, Olga Kravchenko, Ivanka Krypyakevych-Dymyd, Olexander Kudryavchenko, Ostap Lozynsky, Mykola Molchan, Danylo Movchan, Uliana Nyshchuk-Borysyak, Natalia Rusetska, Yuriy Smolsky, Yaroslava Tkachuk, Luba Yatskiv, Roman Zilinko.
The Ukrainian Institute of America, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the art, music and literature of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Diaspora. It serves both as a center for the Ukrainian-American community and as America’s “Window on Ukraine”, hosting art exhibits, concerts, film screenings, poetry readings, literary evenings, children’s programs, lectures, symposia, and full educational programs, all open to the public. Founded in 1948 by William Dzus, inventor and owner of the Dzus Fastener Company in West Islip, The Ukrainian Institute is permanently housed in the Fletcher-Sinclair mansion at 2 East 79th Street at Fifth Avenue, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark and protected as a contributing element of the New York Metropolitan Museum Historic District.
The Iconart Gallery (Lviv, Ukraine) established in 2009, specializes in the contemporary artistic interpretation of spiritual topics, reconsidering this important issue in a today’s cultural context. In the past five years the gallery has developed a network of artists throughout Ukraine, with a substantial body of work. It is the only gallery of contemporary sacred art in Ukraine that focuses primarily on the spiritual, religious dimensions of contemporary art. Since its opening in 2010 the gallery has organized more than 60 exhibitions and events that were dedicated to the spiritual problems of modern Ukrainian culture, and have presented works by several generations of artists of various styles and techniques. All of these works are inspired by Christian culture and personal spiritual experience of the artists.
There will be an opening reception on March 20, 6 – 8pm. Exhibition hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 12 – 6pm, or by appointment.
For further information and photographs, contact Olena Sidlovych at (212) 288-8660 or