Olexander Gnilitsky on the “New Wave”: Artist in the late 1980s through early 1990s

Abstract

The early stage of creativity of Ukrainian artist Olexander Gnilitsky (1961–2009) has been studied in the article. It is shown that his works should be viewed in close connection with the historical and everyday context, taking into account the circumstances, time, social and creative environment. It is noted that the early stage of creativity, and eventually the final formation of Gnilitsky as an artist, took place at crucial times in the history of Ukraine—when the established canons of painting prescribed by the Soviet Totalitarian regime prove to be archaic and are subjected to shattering doubt by the younger generation of artists. It is emphasized that the Gnilitsky’s works of the period are characterized with subjectivism, citations, self-irony, cynical rethinking of literary subjects, the use of grotesque techniques, motifs of macabre eroticism. On the material selected for processing, a historical and cultural and art criticism analysis was carried out in the context of the formation of Ukrainian art in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where the artist’s personality seems particularly relevant, since it symbolizes the specificity of this art: from surprise to shock, from complexity to the grotesque, from incorruptibility to despair and even blasphemy. An attempt is made to show all the genuine, heroic sacrifice of a true master. This is particularly eloquent in relation to contemporary art, whose fundamental self-appraisal is fixated in the judgments and statements of its representatives. The general picture of Gnilitsky’s life and work, his personality fit perfectly into the ideal or, rather, the norm of the “avant-garde”, with both its artistic and philosophical definitions. Analyzing the artist’s works shows, in particular, his creative formation in the context of the “New Wave” movement and the “Paris Commune” group.