When Ukrainian artist Anatoliy Kryvolap sold two of his paintings for more than $320,000 altogether at the Phillips de Pury & Co auction in New York in 2011, his success was a surprise for many.
However, art experts and dealers saw it coming.
“High prices for Kryvolap’s paintings are the result of his talent, experience and correct financial strategy,” says Yevhen Karas, owner of the Karas Gallery in Kyiv.
Kryvolap, 68, is by far not the only Ukrainian artist to have financial success abroad. The prices for the works of Oleh Tystol, Oleksandr Roytburd, Oleksandr Zhyvotkov, Pavlo Makov and Arsen Savadov have sometimes reached $100,000 or more on international auctions.
Roytburd, who sold his “Good Bye, Caravaggio” painting for $97,000 at the Phillips de Pury & Company auction in 2009, says that some of his “more felicitous” paintings were sold much cheaper.
“It is not like the oil market. You will never know what will be popular,” Roytburd said, adding that good sales depend on the marketing strategy.
He says he never sold a painting himself, leaving the sales to the manager “because artist’s job is creation.”
According to the gallery owner Karas, European art critics and collectors are interested in Ukrainian contemporary artistry.
“Since 2005 they (foreigners) have been actively visiting Ukrainian galleries, exhibitions and buying our modern artistry,” he says.
However, interesting Ukrainian artists often remain unnoticed by potential foreign buyers because of the lack of developed network of contemporary art institutions that would present the artists to clients.
“A brilliant group of gifted artists such as Yuriy Pikul, Vlada Ralko, Oleksandr Babak, Artem Volokitin or Vasyl Bazhay is still underestimated today,” Karas says.
To present his or her paintings at international biennales or exhibitions an unknown modern Ukrainian artist has to break through hardships to the stars.
“First of all, the artist has to reach a high level of creativity. Second, he has to find a gallery, art dealer or curator, who would be able to present his paintings at international events,” Karas says.
Roytburd believes that an artist must be well-paid.
“An artist doesn’t have to be poor to create,” Routburd says. “Poverty can generate anger and desire to prove something to the world; however it restrains from implementing ideas.”
Mykhaylo Vasylenko, a co-owner of the Golden Section, a Ukrainian auction house, believes that many artists have high chances to enter the international market in the next couple of years as external interest toward modern Ukrainian artwork grows.
“Nowadays in Europe and North America there are nearly 20 collectors of the contemporary East European Art, including Ukrainian art,” he says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
