Peculiarities of the interpretation of the sacred theme in the "plastic-associative" works of Mykhailo Dzyndra

Abstract

Based on the application of the principles of a systematic approach, comparative-historical, formal-stylistic, semiotic, and hermeneutic methods of analysis, the artistic features of the interpretation of the sacred theme in the work of Mykhailo Dzyndra during the period of “plastic associations” and in later reminiscences of “plastic-associative” form creation in the artist’s work are analyzed in the current study. The essence of the master's “plastic-associative” method is revealed. It is established that creations of sacred content occupy a prominent place in his “plastic and associative” work of 1967/68–1974. It is found out that the peculiarities of their figurative and plastic solutions are the “extra-canonical” dialogue with the religious tradition, its intimate lyrical living, the use of the sacred theme as the “point of entry into the plane of the national”, the association of the form with a wide range of cultural contents, the expression of the traditional through the innovative formal means. Emphasis is placed on the inspiration of the works of sacred theme by the experience of Cubism, visible in the geometrization and destruction of the forms of the human body with the subsequent constitution of a new artistic reality based on the interaction of lines and planes. It is unfolded in this study that the works of the analyzed thematic group are characterized by the use of plastic findings of O. Arkhypenko (internal spatial caesuras, counterforms, polychromy, active interaction of forms with space) and artistic techniques of P. Picasso. It is demonstrated that the features of M. Dzyndra’s compositions on a sacred theme are the contrasts of statics and dynamics, lines, scales, volumes, the expressiveness of silhouettes, the symbolic significance of colors. Focus is placed on the extreme figurative and plastic generalization of a number of images by the sculptor and their elevation to “paradigm images’. It is noted that a feature of individual works is the “transformation” of semantics and plasticity during a circular survey, which intrigues and captivates the viewer. It is highlighted that a prominent place in the analyzed group is occupied by ironic, grotesque images, based on the perception of the sacred through the prism of folk religiosity, in the tonality of fairy tales and folklore, the combination of the ordinary with the supernatural, and the introduction of the depicted image into the personal emotional world. The statement is argued that by syncretism of the everyday, earthly and mythical, by recreating the supernatural as routine, they become consonant with the “magical realism”, in particular with the stories of Gabriel García Márquez. It is discovered in this study that a significant part of the works of the sacred theme is characterized by the “requirement” of a natural space for exhibiting and revealing additional aspects of the images on a landscape background.