JOURNALIST'S NOTEBOOK IN UKRAINE: Of psychics, spells and customs (01/14/96)

JOURNALIST'S NOTEBOOK IN UKRAINE

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

Of psychics, spells and customs

Just a few weeks ago, I attended what was going to be an exorcism of sorts in a new restaurant called Renaissance, scheduled to open for business in the spring in the center of Kyiv.

Let me explain what is a bizarre, beguiling, but true story. Ukrainian artist Ihor Tymchuk, 29, spent an entire year working on an epic Renaissance-inspired mural commissioned by a local businessman for his new eatery in the center of town. As the work neared completion, the talented young artist was told that his greatest life's achievement would be scraped and burned off the walls because it emitted negative energy and would bring misfortune to those around it.

It seems that a psychic - very popular in Ukraine, and in other Eastern European countries and former Soviet republics had decided that the art works were "dangerous" and had to be destroyed.

Sounds like a great way to get the attention of potential customers, an innovative advertising gimmick, a great ploy to get publicity and attract curiosity seekers before the opening of a restaurant, right? That's probably what Western advertising executives from the likes of Saatchi and Saatchi or Leo Burnette would say.

In Ukraine, however, it didn't even enter the minds of locals that this could be an advertising campaign (and after talking to the businessman, I am convinced that he was not using this incident as a way to attract customers). The culture revolves around so many superstitions, myths and old wives' tales that everyone I spoke to who is a native of this part of the world believed in the evil of the paintings produced by this young and talented artist.

As the Kyiv businessman, Alexander Mitulin, explained to me, in December one of his children fell seriously ill with an undiagnosed disease. After doctors were consulted and the boy's condition did not improve, Mr. Mitulin's wife called in a "babka." In this case, babkas are not the sweet breads baked especially around Eastertime but little old Ukrainian women who live in villages, wear "babushkas" (kerchiefs) and know how to chant, murmuring strange sounds in an even stranger tongue.

People who do not believe in conventional medicine and who don't have time to go the homeopathic route often turn to these women, who do indeed use home remedies, or brews, to effect various cures. (For example, one of my friends, who is a Ph.D. in computer science, or cybernetics, took her son to one of these babky to cure him of his stuttering. My friend claims that the woman, who is 90 years old and lives at the edge of a forest, broke an egg into a bowl of water, saw the forms the yolk took, and interpreted this to mean that there had been a spell cast on the boy. She chanted something and did some hocus-pocus, claiming to have removed the evil curse. Now the boy no longer stutters)

Anyway, back to the original story. The psychic, or babka, was brought into Mr. Mitulin's home, where she immediately saw two of Mr. Tymchuk's paintings, which Mr. Mitulin had bought some time ago. She labeled them evil and claimed they were emitting negative energy. She demanded that they be removed from the home if the family hoped to cure their son.

The "extra-sensor" also requested to see a photograph of the artist, after which she proclaimed him evil and said any of his creations would emit negative energy. Her recommendation was to destroy and burn the murals off the walls of the yet-to-be-opened restaurant.

Luckily, Mr. Mitulin, who had always respected Mr. Tymchuh's work and over a one-year period had never objected to the art he was creating on the walls and ceiling of the new restaurant, was a doubting Thomas. He called in a priest to bless the place and remove all evil spirits. But, to add fuel to the fire, the priest (we do not know which Church in Ukraine he represented) refused to bless "entangled naked bodies.''

Mr. Tymchuk was told to stop all his work. He was allowed, however, to have a viewing, so that at least some art lovers would enjoy his soon-to be destroyed masterpiece. A colleague of mine, a Western journalist, publicized this story among her Western friends and planned an "art happening" for a Friday night not long ago. She even convinced an Orthodox priest to come bless the restaurant.

Sure enough, more than 150 people came to the event, most of them the main question deciding the fate of this fantastic mural depicting human nudes, mythical birds, horses in cerulean blue, gray, rich brown and deep maroon hues. (See photo accompanying this column)

Needless to say, the people surveyed said it was a crime to destroy the work. The businessman, who had adamantly demanded that the interior be destroyed, started backing off (perhaps this was due to the fact that the scandal had inadvertently brought publicity, support and interest in the young artist's dilemma.) But no matter, the work has been saved and the businessman is looking forward to having a restaurant, scheduled to have a "European menu" catering to both locals and tourists.

Many of the Westerners who attended the event are still debating whether or not the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

I offer this food for thought: this is a country where no one shakes hands or passes goods over a threshold (after all you could he attracting evil spirits into your home); this is a country where single people do not sit at the corners of a table for fear they will never get married; this is a country where no one points to his body parts when describing another person's illness (for example, don't point to your thigh when describing an amputee's loss, because the same will happen to you); this is a country where people jingle coins in their pocket (even though there are no coins in this country now) when they see a full moon, so that they may become rich (if you challenge them, they will tell you this is the reason everybody is now poor in Ukraine); and this is a country where, if milk spoils overnight, it means that something connected with the devil is lurking about.

I rest my case.

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