CONSULTANT ON UKRAINIAN CONTEMPORARY ART
“Anatoly Krivolap is a painter with an unusual and amazing talent. He skillfully combines the brightness of colors with the pastel of the plot, and the softness of color with the deep content of the canvas. He is a recognized master in working with rich, deep, sometimes desperate and unrestrained, and sometimes incredibly quiet shades that convey the mood of a half-moment. His work hereditarily embodies the national color tradition, which determined the fame of painters from Ukraine throughout the world.
The works of this artist are close and understandable to everyone - from a professional connoisseur to an ordinary observer, because this is exactly what real, sincere and timeless art is. At the same time, Anatoly’s canvases are not simple, they force the viewer to devote their time to contemplating them, to think, to launch the internal mechanisms of the imagination, analyzing the system of interconnected signs, symbols and elements with which the artist fills his works full of expression and expressiveness. It is this bright, bold, profound art that will determine the culture not only of tomorrow, but also of the future.” – Igor Abramovich, March 2015, Kyiv
Denis Belkevich
MANAGING DIRECTOR, RED ART GALLERIES
“Anatoly Krivolap is an incredible, powerful, original artist. I would call him "Ukrainian" with a big caveat: his work is of international class and should belong to world art history. Today there is a lot of talk about how Ukraine should be presented on the external art market, what image the country should receive in the information consciousness. In my opinion, the hallmark of Ukraine should be the color - as the bearer of the idea of a country with a long history and diverse territory. In this regard, the non-figurative painting of Anatoly Kryvolap, capable of capturing the eye with a combination of two or three colors, better than others reflects the message that should bring Ukraine to the international arena.
The demand for an artist of this level and message is only confirmed by his market performance: Krivolap is a record holder both in official international sales (Philips, $186,000 for The Horse. Evening, 2011) and in sales to foreigners within the country (charity auction Red Art Galleries, $41 thousand for the work "March Evening", 2013). The third threshold, which the artist was the first to reach, was the first public re-sale among Ukrainian authors, which took place at Philips in 2014 (a year after the sale at Sotheby’s for $61,000, an untitled winter landscape was successfully sold at Phillips for $108,000). Anatoly also has the lowest percentage of unsold works - only 5%, in excess of the estimate of landscapes reached 300% at the blow of a hammer. The only thing missing in this “marketing portfolio” is a solo exhibition abroad, which will launch the next ones, and a contract with a major international gallery.
Anatoly Krivolap is often compared with Gerhard Richter - a non-figurative phenomenon of our generation - I can say one thing about this: there was a time when the work of a German cost less than the current Krivolap, there was a time when exactly the same. It was at this stage that they were seriously taken up abroad, and today tens of millions for Richter do not surprise anyone. Anatoly's potential, in the opinion of many people to whom we showed him in the West, is even higher, because the German "takes out" landscapes from himself, and Krivolap - from nature. And it is infinite and limitless. – Denis Belkevich, April 2015, Kyiv
Eduard Dymshits
Candidate of Art History, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine, collector
“The works of Anatoly Kryvolap are valuable both from an artistic and investment point of view. As an art critic and connoisseur of beauty, I can say with confidence that today he is the best Ukrainian colorist. And paintings by famous masters of color, from Titian and Rembrandt to Rothko, have always been highly valued on the world art market.
As a collector and professional, I can emphasize that Kryvolap confidently has the status of "the most expensive contemporary Ukrainian artist." His works are successfully sold at the world's leading auctions for a lot of money. Accordingly, the artist has no reason to dump and reduce the cost of his own work, because there will always be collectors who want to buy his paintings.
As a result, investing in a picture of Kryvolap is a justified step in terms of art and finance. After all, if you are lucky enough to become the owner of a painting by Anatoly Krivolap, then in the future your artistic acquisition will only rise in price. – Eduard Dymshits, January 2015, Kyiv
Jennifer Kahn
Art critic, independent curator
“Krivolap is undoubtedly a representative of both the local and international art scene, relying in his work on local and color traditions of painting, thanks to which he successfully represents his country to a foreign audience. Thanks to the impressive, absolutely modern color, he managed to bring his country to a new, previously unattainable level. Bright and powerful, although pastoral and calm, his paintings could become a national symbol of the Ukrainian present, also woven from contrasts and contradictions. Kryvolap's canvases, distinguished by long horizon lines and huge volumes of luminous and sparkling sky, create new traditions, defining the place of Ukraine in the 21st century.
Krivolap's latest works have become a real innovative breakthrough for him as an artist. According to the artist himself, during the first fifteen years he worked in a lyrical manner with figurative themes, and then for another ten years he tried to find the harmony of colors in abstract compositions. It wasn't until 1990 that he found his emotional voice, achieving what he calls a kind of meditation. This is the nirvana of a mature artist - after decades of searching, when he polished his look, skill with a brush and composition, now Crooked Paw is in the timeless state of his third creative stage, which for him is equal to a sense of universal harmony. – Jennifer Kahn, December 2014, Brownsville, Texas
Olga Palnichenko
Art critic
“Krivolap’s landscape painting balances on the verge of figurative and abstract, which from a coloristic point of view allows us to compare the author with representatives of American abstract expressionism (Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning) and the French Informel style (Serge Polyakov), but echoes of realistic perception make him related to Ukrainian landscape school (Adalbert Erdeli).
His landscape is tied geographically only by the name, the author does not give us a specific topographical landmark. Krivolap, demonstrating a holistic view of the world and nature, has remained true to his motives for almost 20 years, so the seriality in his work seems quite natural and understandable.
Krivolap's canvases are documentary evidence of the eternity of nature and its colossal power. That is why the presence of a person in his landscapes is very intelligent and unobtrusive. The history of the development of relations between man and nature by the master still has a positive connotation - nature dominates in its power. And for the artist, this is the only unshakable truth.
The main means of communication between the artist and the viewer is color, but the dialogue mediated by color cannot initially be painless. After all, only when the emotional perception of the canvas turns into a meditative one, the interaction of the color field with the outside world is created, for which the viewer becomes an intermediary. - Olga Palnichenko, April 2015, Vienna
In March 2016, the most successful Ukrainian artist Anatoly Kryvolap opened a large painting exhibition "Museum Collection" within the framework of the CultprostirHub project. "Maestro of the brush" presented more than 60 paintings. Among them are those that are kept in private collections, and completely new ones - landscapes of the Ukrainian Carpathians. One of the significant events within the framework of the exhibition was the presentation of the Anatoly Kryvolap Prize, which the artist establishes to support talented youth. Anatoly Kryvolap tops the rating of the most successful Ukrainian artists. From 2010 to 2015, 18 paintings by him were purchased at domestic and international auctions for the amount of 771,180 USD.
Anatoly Krivolap at the opening of the exhibition of paintings "Museum Collection"
We talked with Anatoly Dmitrievich about the creation of the Museum of Modern Art in Ukraine, about the mission of art in Ukraine during the war in the East, support for young artists, and also about the dreams of the most expensive domestic painter.
Opening of the exhibition of Anatoly Krivolap "Museum Collection"
Anatoly Dmitrievich, are you worried about the opening of a new project for you?
Before the exhibition, I always worry. After all, the exposition "Museum Collection" for me is a kind of gratitude to Ukrainian collectors. Since the 15th century, when art was only sacred. Collectors became devotees to popularize many unknown artists. For 25 years, not a single museum in Ukraine has made purchases of paintings. In addition, there is still no Museum of Modern Art in our country. In fact, Ukrainian art only rests on collectors. That is why my exhibition encourages us all to unite in a club in order to solve the global issue in the future - the creation of a modern platform in our country, a museum of private collections. Despite the fact that Ukraine is currently going through difficult times, I believe that now is the time for this.
Now, in addition to paintings from private collections, you also present new works. Tell about them.
Yes, there are new jobs. I recently returned from the Carpathians. He lived there for a month, looked through all the states of nature: from winter to spring and almost to summer. For the first time I lived there for more than a month, I was able to work with a new topic for me. In general, now I present collectible works. Of course, this is the minimum part that this space contained. I hope that when the museum of private collections appears, it will be possible to demonstrate the entire scope of work. Also, I'm wondering how it all looks in frames, which I've never made. I'm just now interested in this issue. After all, the picture after the sale continues the life of the collector, and this is a different taste, interior, place, frame.
They call you "Maestro of Color". Do you agree with this statement?
You know, it's hard to judge yourself. I have worked with color all my life. It's hard to even explain how unpredictable he is for me. Color is a matter of life, and how well it turns out, I do not intend to evaluate.
After selling paintings at auctions, did you have to raise prices in Ukraine?
The fact is that such a situation developed in 1992. Paintings were bought abroad, but in Ukraine no one was ready for such prices. The situation has changed since 2005. Now Ukrainian collectors have a lot of my paintings. Of course, I do not set the highest prices, because I sell paintings for an adequate price, more relaxed, I would say.
Tell us about the process of creating a new work.
You know, creativity is such an unsolved mystery. Nobody can ever define it. First, the picture appears in front of you, and then the process of its embodiment takes place. Sometimes, on the contrary, you start to just write. You work for a long time. And then, suddenly, what you imagined before, you see in a completely different state, in which you could not even imagine. I call it a special state. I also have a simply professional state when I paint a normal, ordinary picture. But those happy occasions when there are some special works, they are unexpected for me.
Are there any pictures that you personally don't like?
If I don't like something, I immediately redo it. There are better jobs out there. I often return to them if I see improvements. But I do not allow pictures that I would not accept myself. I am my own artistic advice.
Have you thought about what else you can hit Ukraine, the world with? Will there be something more ingenious than already written?
I repeat, this is a phenomenon of creativity. He either comes or he doesn't. It cannot be scheduled. You can plan a professional series of works, but a phenomenon cannot. I will write as I have written all my life. I will draw, and then as God wills.
How and what are you inspired by?
The main thing for me all my life is paint. I first saw oil paints when I was probably ten years old. Their smell captivated me, it was like a drug. I sat in drawing lessons, sniffed, inhaled it. It was in me. Now it’s enough for me to see the paint and, that’s it, I’m included in the work. I don't need any stimulants, doping. Looking at the paint, I already see something, I have a presentiment. The palette of colors is so rich, there are so many things in it. It is enough just to touch it - it already excites to creativity, to work. It is fantastic.
How are you looking for plots for future paintings?
I pass through myself the state that is recorded in my subconscious. This is a total relaxation system. And when I start writing, I suddenly feel that I find myself in that state that is familiar to me, which I lived through, felt. Therefore, it remains only to arrange feelings already in color compositions.
Tell us about the award for young artists that you are organizing now?
Remembering the history of art: talented young people who studied at art academies were very often poor. Sometimes the students didn't even have a place to live. Professors took them to their homes. There have always been prizes at art academies. The most talented artists were sent to study in Italy, Paris - this is such a world practice. In Ukraine, unfortunately, there is no such award. I wanted to stimulate the academic learning of students. This is the basis for art - to determine the best productions or interesting works. A team of specialists will work on this, and I will allocate funds. So that Ukrainian artists can also see Parisian and Munich museums. After all, I know for myself that this is the dream of every student. I hope that I will be able to persuade collectors to increase the financial premium. I will allocate 5 thousand dollars for the project. The winner will receive a ticket to the museum from me, and the hotel will also be paid.
Anatoly Krivolap at the opening of his exhibition "Museum Collection"
Which of the young artists do you follow? Are there people who really deserve attention?
Of course, I look closely ... However, I still think that this is all none of my business. The artist is always subjective, so I do not want to influence. For this, there are art historians, professors, people who do this professionally. I don’t want to subconsciously impose my stereotypes in this matter.
Has the war in Ukraine influenced your work?
Art is divided into social and simple art. Contemporary is a social art that responds to all events in society. And there is art that the artist is engaged in, as if not getting into this topic. Of course, as a person, as an artist, I am worried. I see how everything that happens in our country is already reflected in my new works. You can compare those works that were before the war and after ... It has a very strong influence, because a person is not a machine. Especially a creative person.
In this difficult time, what mission should art fulfill?
Its own... The same mission that it has been fulfilling since the very beginning of mankind, since the appearance of rock paintings. Times change, everything changes. Art is not politics. Art is something that brings people together, allows you to better understand and feel each other. Aggression does not affect those people who are well versed in art.
How would you describe your own style? How did you come to him?
It was hard and long. The landscape, as a style, is minimalistic. And the landscape, which conveys nature, is contemplative, meditative. I just take the patches of color, combine them in a way that minimizes the images. I make only a hint in order to dissolve in this color and experience the feelings that it evokes. This is roughly how it can be explained.
Many Ukrainian artists go to the West. Why are you staying in Ukraine?
I can't imagine my life without Ukraine. Nostalgia is innate. When I work abroad, I simply can’t stand it for more than three days. Of course, I can afford to live in another country, but why? I think our country is the best, but some moments are not very successful. Ukraine has never been lucky with power. At all times. We have everything: land, people, but unfortunately the government does not work out. When this barrier is overcome, then Ukraine will be completely different. A successful state will be built. I want my children and grandchildren to live here. And I don’t blame those who come from Ukraine, but I don’t understand either. Despite everything, I am sure that our country is very interesting. Everything is already dead abroad and it is not interesting for me at all. I couldn't work there. I associate my creativity exclusively with Ukraine.
What does not suit you in Ukraine?
What is now is a movement that does not know where it will lead. Movement is decisive. Only time will tell which direction we go. The same is true in art.
You said that you worked in the Carpathians for a month. Did you manage to unravel the color code of the Carpathians?
I'm still on my way to it. I will feel when the puzzle is fully completed. I think I will go there again soon. Sometimes it takes a long time to get used to the right state. I have traveled to Egypt many times. Been there twice a year. It wasn't until my fourth year that things began to take shape. There was an impulse in the subconscious. Started writing. Suddenly it dawned on me that there was sky and water that had never known snow and frost. I realized that they cannot be written in blue, as we write here. He began to write the sky like sand. I came out with a good series that had nothing to do with Ukrainian landscapes. The Carpathians should be a steppe familiar to me since childhood.
I know that you are still painting the temple.
Yes! For me it was an unexpected experience. I agreed on the condition that it would be complete creative freedom. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone for it. Here I am uncontrollable and dangerous. They brought me an icon. I rewrote it. Of course, he did not deviate from the canons, but he framed everything in pure color.
Maestro, what is your hobby?
I love cars… I drive 200 or more kilometers. I can ride like this at night and even during the day, if there is space or I am in a hurry. My car is Porsche. This is a beast. A car designed to fly. I get the same adrenaline when I paint pictures.
Anatoly Dmitrievich Krivolap (Ukrainian Anatoliy Dmitrovich Krivolap; b. 1946) is a Ukrainian artist, a master of non-figurative painting.
Born September 11, 1946 in Yagotino. Anatoly's first textbook on painting was a faded pre-war book with drawing lessons, which he found in the library in Yagotyn.
In 1976 he graduated from the faculty of painting of the KSHI.
The first collector of Krivolap's works is the Polish collector Ryszard Vrublevsky.
From 1992 to 1995 Anatoly Kryvolap actively participated in the activities of the "Picturesque Reserve", an art group known in the history of modern Ukrainian art. In the 2000s, he moved from Kyiv to the village of Zasupoevka near Yagotin, where he still lives and works.
Anatoly Krivolap is considered the most "expensive" contemporary artist in Ukraine - in October 2011, at the Phillips de Pury & Co auction in London, his work "Horse. Night" was sold for $124,343, and the painting "Horse. Evening" June 28, 2013 went under the hammer at the auction Contemporary Art Day Phillips for 122.5 thousand pounds ($186,200).
On February 9, 2012, the list of winners of the Shevchenko Prize 2012 was announced. Anatoly Kryvolap won in the nomination "Fine Arts" (for a series of 50 works "Ukrainian Motif")
Anatoly Krivolap is an abstract artist who has gone through a difficult path from figurative art through fauvism to his own style. Creativity Krivolap develops within the framework of the modernist tradition of perceiving the world through color. As a true modernist, Anatoly Kryvolap sees himself at the forefront of Ukrainian art. And if the avant-garde artists of the beginning of the last century shocked a society accustomed to traditional figurative painting with a new expression of shining colors, then at the beginning of this century the struggle continues, but not with the inveterate tradition, but with the new destructive tendencies of mass society and globalism.
The global art market is increasingly interested in Ukrainian artists. Their paintings are not yet included in the list of the most expensive, but the potential is great, experts say. We invite you to get acquainted with the most expensive works of contemporary Ukrainian artists.
Artist: Anatoly Krivolap
Picture: “Horse. Evening"
Cost: $186,200
The work of the Ukrainian artist in 2013 went under the hammer of the Phillips auction. Starting price for the canvas “Horse. The evening “was 76 thousand dollars. According to the results of the auction, it became the second most expensive among those sold, after the work of the American Keith Haring. The canvases of Anatoly Krivolap are recognizable due to their monochrome and bright colors. “Having developed a keen sense of color over the years, the artist became famous for his latest nostalgic thoughts on the Breadbasket of Europe,” says the Phillips auction catalogue. The canvas was painted in the village of Zasupoevka. According to the artist, it was especially difficult to choose shades. Although when Crookedpaw said that he had mastered over 50 shades of red, this challenge was special. The horse had to not stand out too much from the background and at the same time not merge with it. For sale at auction, the painting was in a private collection in Europe, and was also exhibited at the Mystetsky Arsenal in 2012. The painting is part of an open series of works launched in 2005. It has 14 more paintings.
Artist: Vasily Tsagolov
Picture: “Who is Hurst afraid of”
Cost: $100,000
Vasily Tsagolov is a Kiev artist, well known abroad. He actively responds to many trends in society and art. He did not ignore Hirst as one of the most famous, commercially successful artists in the world. The main theme of Hirst's work is death, an application for its philosophical and religious understanding. Tsagolov subtly, ironically plays up this moment in the film “Who is Hurst Afraid of”. In 2009, the PinchukArtCentre hosted an exhibition by Damien Hirst. Simultaneously with it, Vasily Tsagolov in the Kyiv gallery "Collection" exhibited this painting of his. On the canvas, a cowboy with pistols in both hands, goes forward, shooting right and left, leaving behind graveyard crosses. The image of a gangster, which occupies the entire space of the picture, painted from a lower angle, dominates the viewer so much that it is perceived as an allegory of commercial art, imposing its tastes, way of thinking and lifestyle on us. The work was acquired by a Ukrainian collector.
Artist Alexander Roitburd
Painting: “Farewell, Caravaggio”
Cost: $97,179
Odessa Alexander Roitburd is one of the founders of Ukrainian postmodernism. His work is exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Goodbye Caravaggio was sold in 2009. The picture was painted under the influence of the abduction from the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art of the famous painting by Caravaggio “Kiss of Judas, or the Taking of Christ into custody”. The canvas was the beginning of a series of monumental works “Roitburd vs Caravaggio”. The exhibition of the same name was held in April-May 2010 in the Kyiv gallery "Collection". According to the artist, such a game with the masterpieces of the classics helps to reveal a new meaning in them.
Artist Ilya Chichkan
Painting: “It”
Cost: $79,500
The representative of the New Wave in Ukrainian art Ilya Chichkan is known all over the world. His most recognizable works are associated with the representation of famous people in the form of monkeys. In the summer of 2008, Ilya Chichkan's painting "It" was sold in London. The sale took place at Phillips de Pury, the third most important auction house after Christie's and Sotheby's. It was a secondary sale: the painting was put up for auction by a collector, not by the artist himself. “I didn’t get any of this,” Chichkan said. Actually got a reputation. If a painting is exhibited by a collector and it is sold, then its author has commercial potential.
Artist Oleg Tistol
Picture: “Coloring”
Cost: $53,900
The work of the artist Oleg Tistol is classified as neo-baroque. His painting "Coloring" went under the hammer at Phillips in 2012. The buyer wished to remain anonymous. The picture was created at the Ukrainian Fashion Week event. During the defile of fashion designer Anastasia Ivanova, the guests drew on canvas with colored markers.
The artist must be poor, hungry and lead a wild life - all this is not about the painter Anatolia Kryvolape. “There are just artists in life. They have a pose, clothes that attract attention, a special facial expression. You look and see: this is an artist, but they are artists more than artists. And this is also cool, there may be good masters among them, but this is a different style, ”reflects one of the most sought-after and most expensive domestic contemporary painter.
The style of Krivolap himself is denim shorts and a shirt, this is how he welcomes guests in his house in the village of Zasupoevka, not far from Yagotin. The 66-year-old artist has been living and working there for many years, he does not go to Kyiv very often and only on special occasions.
The search for harmony
"How are my days going? In everyday life, ”Krivolap jokes. His day starts at nine in the morning, after tea or coffee - several hours of work. “If I’m not in the mood to go to the workshop, then I get into the car and drive around the neighborhood, watching,” says the painter. He has a weakness for sports cars, but on rural roads he prefers a massive jeep. Sometimes a car is replaced by a bicycle and a swim in Lake Supoy, on the shore of which stands Krivolap's house. Then - a full-time work day, the artist can stand behind the canvas and eight hours in a row. In the evening - rest in a hammock, here Krivolap watches the sunset, how the clouds change color, the moon rises. Then he transfers everything he sees to the canvas.
“When you start a painting, it pulls like a magnet. I worked, then rested for an hour, swam - and again to the workshop, looked, corrected. And so all the time, until you bring it to mind, ”Krivolap explains his creative method. Sometimes the picture is obtained even at the sketch stage, and it turns out even better than it was intended. And sometimes it takes years to return to the canvas. “To be specific, from two hours to thirteen years,” the artist clarifies. “This is work with conditional colors, which should convey both lighting, and space, and my personal state.”
An obligatory item in the schedule of the artist's working day is an evening check of the work done during the day. “When it gets dark, I turn on the light and look. If I don't like how a painting looks under artificial lighting, I redo it. In the morning I'll see what happened again. In daylight and artificial lighting, colors are perceived differently, but harmony must always be maintained. After all, all museums work with artificial lighting, and we spend most of our time at home with it, ”explains Krivolap. If the harmony is not preserved, the picture will look dark, and the colors will not convey the mood, or “state”, as the artist calls it, which the author put into the work.
Neither when Krivolap painted abstractions, nor before, nor after reviews of his work, positive or negative, was the artist interested. “Once I decided on my own style, someone constantly didn’t perceive me,” he says. - Recently, at an exhibition, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk approached me and said: “I really want your work, I like it, but I can’t, it exhausts me, takes away my strength.” And that’s okay, perception is always personal.”
With his corporate style - expressive landscapes painted with bright colors on large-scale canvases - Krivolap decided in the early 1990s. Prior to that, he managed to experiment with different directions, among his works there are both classical still lifes and nude portraits, then for a decade and a half the artist painted abstract paintings. “And when I felt that my hand was working, and everything was standing inside, I realized that I was doing formal things, I felt uneasy,” the artist recalls. Over the decades of his artistic career, Krivolap had several serious creative crises, then he threw everything and rethought his work alone. To wait out the last crisis, Krivolap bought a dacha. “At first I looked closely, then I began to write sketches,” says the artist. - I have always painted landscapes, but earlier they were my warm-up before abstraction. And then I saw the moon rising, I noticed what color it was, how nature was changing, its state. You will never feel it in the city.” Krivolap's passion for landscapes continues to this day. Now he is thinking about how to transfer the rainbow to the canvas, and plans to paint more autumn landscapes, he is interested in their complex color and minimalism.
