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The First International Festival of Contemporary Art will take place in Kiev, Ukraine from May 12 till August 30 2016, in the public space called Mural Social Club. As a part of a large-scale art event more than 30 artists from around the world will create about 30 murals and several installations in Kiev, Odessa and Chernihiv. The festival is organized by NGO Sky Art Foundation and curated by Oleg Sosnov and Yulia Ostrovska.
“Our mission is to popularise art in Ukraine. We support decentralisation of urban culture – creation of art pieces not only in the city centre, but also in its outskirts, as well as in smaller towns. About 80% of artworks created during the first Mural Social Club are located in the residential areas of the cities” Dmytro Palienko, founder of Sky Art Foundation.
International street artists invited include Li-Hill, Rodrigo Branco, Evoca1, Fintan Magee, Borondo, Fikos, Zio Ziegler, Agostino Iacurci, along with local artists such as Aec Interesni Kazki, Roman Minin, Sergey Radkevich, Sasha Korban will take part in the project together with Ukrainian masters of classical painting, such as Oleg Tistol, Mykolay Matsenko and Matviy Weisberg.
The Festival was opened by New York based street artist Li-Hill, who decorated the building of the Cultural Arts Center “KPI” (Kiev) with a large-scale mural.
Fikos decorated a 16-floor high building in the capital of Ukraine. The name of the artwork is ‘Earth and Sky’.
“People you see are the personifications of the earth and the sky. The piece became the biggest artwork in history of the Greek art since ancient times” Fikos.
Borondo created his rendition of one of the oldest Cathedrals in Europe, the Saint Sofia Cathedral.
Sergei Radkevych is the first Ukrainian participant of the Mural Social Club Festival. His art piece called ‘Fragments of Hope’ became a manifesto against violence and cruelty.
“The main characters of the mural are two hands breaking a sword. This is my manifesto against violence and cruelty, a call to mutual understanding. The mural also has an encoded Braille text that says Hope” Radkevych
Agostino Iacurci paints a giant plant titled ‘Water Please’.
Famous Russian street artist Marat Morik had decorated one of the walls of Odessa with his art piece. The new mural in Odessa called “A Long Game” is about chess game, but it also has a hidden meaning.
“My brother is a talented chess player, that’s why I know a lot about the game since I was a kid. With my artwork I’ve tried to show that in everyday life we usually get tired of long negotiations, dialogues, relations. And when we need to make a quick and right decisions we suddenly are not able to do that. In certain way my piece tells of the clash of mind and logic” Morik
Brazilian street artist Rodrigo Branco painted his first mural in Chernigiv and Kiev for his second piece.The artist was inspired by artworks of Ukrainian photographer Oleksandr Glyadelov
“It was an interesting experience for me. I loved to work in Chernigiv. People are amazing as well as the architecture of the city. My art piece is about the energy of Ukrainians” Rodrigo Branco
Australian street artist Fintan Magee created his fourth mural in Kiev painting a 17-floor high building with the large-scale painting of a girl. The title of the artwork is ‘The visionary’.
“For me street art and muralism have an important social purpose, and that is to bridge a gap between the general public and the gallery. If the art institutions become too focused on creating art for an educated elite they will become disconnected from the general public. That’s why I was so excited to work in Troeshyna, the neighborhood that is geographically disconnected from the centre of Kiev so it’s important that we also work here, this way we can integrate art into people’s everyday lives” Fintan.
Italian artist Millo is known for painting large-scale murals, paints a nine storey building.
“It is called “Love Runs the World”. It’s a message of peace in a city zone where there are just blocks and blocks and blocks for kilometers. Someone may say that it’s just a small flower in the concrete, but many flowers do a small garden” Millo.
Millo, Mural Social Club Street Art Festival, Kiev. Photo credit Maksim Belousov
Elian, decorated Kiev’s secondary school #219 with his mural. The art piece named “Slight Presence of Transparency“ is situated on Obolonskiy Avenue, 2-B.
“Unlike my recent work, I haven’t used transparency effect of the primary colors for this piece, only a slight presence in grey. My search is developed on the behaviour of pure colours and overlapping. The white background is almost non-existent, the wall is saturated with figures that respond to a central point. None basic geometric element is present, but the hardness of the transverse lines give a sense of geometry. This piece establishes the debate about the importance of empty spaces (air) in a composition” Elian.
Apart from murals and installations, Mural Social Club Festival will also see a number of indoor exhibitions at Sky Art Foundation art space, as well as an extensive educational program featuring workshops and seminars by renowned street artists. The project is supported by city councils of Kiev, Chernigov and Odessa.
Check back at a later date for more murals from Mural Social Club Festival!!
