Fourteen diverse artists represented in "Art at the Institute 1991-1996" (03/14/99)

Fourteen diverse artists represented in "Art at the Institute 1991-1996"

by Olya Shevchenko

NEW YORK - An exhibition currently on view at the Ukrainian Institute of America brings together a rather disparate group of artists among whom a common thread may at first appear difficult to identify.

There is, however, a connection: the 14 artists included in the exhibit "Art at the Institute 1991-1996" have all been represented in exhibitions organized and curated by the late Daria Hoydysh between the years 1991 and 1996, while she was the director of the arts program at the institute.

The commemorative exhibition was curated as a tribute to the late Mrs. Hoydysh, to her dedication to the arts, and her commitment to artists, and as a reflection of her belief in the importance of a strong and sophisticated Ukrainian presence on the cultural scene of New York City.

The diversity found in the exhibition attests to the willingness of Mrs. Hoydysh to embrace a broad range of media and stylistic proclivities. She did not limit herself to the traditional parameters of fine art, as demonstrated by exhibitions she organized of Masha Archer-Muchin's jewelry designs, Yaroslava Gerulak's ceramic sculptures and Loren Ellis' photographic paintings.

She chose to exhibit not only renowned, established Ukrainian artists such as Jacques Hnizdovsky, Sviatoslav Hordynsky and Luboslav Hutsaliuk, but also artists in varying stages of their careers such as Ihor Barabakh, Severyn Barabakh, Anya Farion, Nikolai Perepelitsa, Arcadia Olenska-Petryshyn, Christina Saj, Marko Shuhan and Ilona Sochynsky.

As a result, the well-known and beloved landscapes, portraits and still life paintings of Hnizdovsky, Hordynsky and Hutsaliuk hang alongside more experimental work created by a new generation of talented artists.

Her openness to differing stylistic expression is neatly illustrated by a comparison of the two sculptors exhibited. In a manner reminiscent of the tradition of Greco-Roman sculpture, Ms. Farion idealizes the human form in a work such as "Small Pink Torso," while Mr. Perepelitsa defiantly manipulates the human form to very different expressive ends, as illustrated by his work "Transphysics of the Body." Ihor Barabakh also concentrates on the human body in his representational yet enigmatic painted depictions of truncated male torsos.

The basis of Ms. Saj's paintings is figurative as well, though heavily influenced by an interest in x-rays and a strong commitment to iconography interpreted through a modern idiom, as seen in her painting "Faith, Hope and Charity."

Ms. Sochynsky's elegant abstract paintings suggest the influence of collage and incorporate elements of photo-realism, as in "The Flight." The work of Ms. Olenska-Petryshyn originates in nature and is characterized by a colorful and stylized interpretation of desert flora.

On the more abstract end of the stylistic spectrum represented in this exhibition are the untitled richly painted expressionistic paintings of Mr. Shuhan and "Virtual Jungle,"an installation of fluorescent kaleidoscopic designs by Severyn Barabakh, exhibited under black light and accompanied by rhythmic music.

The exhibit "Art at the Institute 1991-1996" will run through March 20.

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