Michel Comte’s personal photo exhibition at Brucie Collections presents portraits, action shots and nudes of world-famous celebrities, including Mickey Rourke, Naomi Campbell, and Robert Downey Jr., among others. Comte learned photography all by himself while studying to be an arts restorer in Switzerland. He made his name taking pictures of actors, models, artists and sports stars for various glossy magazines. Working for the International Red Cross, Comte shot in war zones around the world. Photographs featured are available for sale. Brucie Collections, 55B Artema St., 353-1234, www.bruciecollections.com, Oct. 20-Dec.13
Artist Nikita Kadan is mad about advertising cluttering city streets in Ukraine. In the Collection Gallery, he presents a series of paintings and collages “On the Surface.” The project highlights landscapes and architecture you are missing because of ads.
Collection Gallery, 8 Pankivska St., tel. 287-3766, www.collectiongallery.com.ua,
Until Nov.7 (closed Monday)
M17 Contemporary Art Center looks at interior design in its retrospective exhibition “Design.” Exclusive decorations, lamps, sculptures, pottery, glass work and antiques from the 1900s to the 1970s as well as Art Deco, vintage and constructivism periods furniture are on display. The collection will be auctioned off on Oct. 30.
M17 Contemporary Art Center, 102-104 Gorkogo St. (Antonovycha), 596-2030, www.m17.com.ua,
Until Oct. 30 (closed Mondays)
Step inside the “Ideal World” of Ihor Karpenko in the Karas Gallery. His version of utopia includes bright photographs of smiling people having time of their life out of town and out of work. Escape the autumn blues with these summer shots and coffee in one of many nearby cafes.
Karas Gallery, 22A Andriyevsky Uzviz, 238-6531, www.karasgallery.com,
Oct. 28-Nov. 16
“Lightness” art project in the Tsekh Gallery is dedicated to Juliette Binoche. Painter Mykola Bilous met the famous French actor in April and decided to put his emotions on canvas. Check out his impressions of Binoche inspired by the film “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” an adapation of Milan Kundera’s novel.
Tsekh Gallery, 69 Frunze St., 068-118-5157, www.zeh.com.ua,
Until Nov. 20 (closed Sunday, Monday)
Kyiv Museum of Russian Art presents three unique svetavras of Galyna Moskvitina. A svetavra is a light oil painting without a traditional horizon line. The action unfolds in heaven, where there’s no gravity. The exhibition is called “Angels. Gods. Buddahs” in reference to a mixture of Eastern and Western Traditions in Moskvitina’s work.
Kyiv Museum of Russian Art, 9 Tereschenkivska St., 234-6218; www.museumru.kiev.ua,
Until Oct. 24 (closed Monday, Thursday)
The Small Gallery of Mystetsky Arsenal displays Zoya Orlova’s vision of kindergartens in Ukraine. The artist takes a hard look inside brick gazeboes – a permanent feature of children’s playgrounds. Their walls, covered with naive and creepy paintings copied from cartoons and children’s books, bring no calm to those crossing the threshold. Teenagers hang in them at night drinking, swearing and sometimes taking drugs. In the morning, they leave for children from the kindergarten to come in and play. Orlova sees the gazeboes as a stage for the absurd theatre of life.
The Small Gallery of Mystetsky Arsenal, Lavrska 12, 288-5140, www.artarsenal.in.ua,
Oct. 21-Nov. 15
