You're reading: Steel flowers of life and death in Mystetsky Arsenal

Imagine a wild meadow covered with flowers suddenly attacked by a burning sun. Plants wither in a flash. The soil becomes gray and clear, resembling sand.

This is “Blackfield,”
a floor installation of a 17,000 steel-etched flowers by world famous British
artist Zadok Ben-David, and a central display at Ukraine’s biggest annual
sculpture salon. It opened its doors for a fifth time in Mystetsky Arsenal on
Sept. 13.

“Blackfield” is part of
the large-scale project SimpleLines, which comprises other installations by the
artist like “Blackflowers” and arguably his best known piece “Evolution and
Theory,” created in 1999. According to Ben-David, it took him 10 days to
prepare the works for exhibition.  

The installation’s petite
plant sculptures are based on images from 19th century Victorian encyclopedias
and are colorful on one side but black on the other. The artist calls this a
game of notions:  take a couple of steps
and darkness turns into light. The question, he says, is which is the main one
– is Life the reverse of Death, or is it the other way around.

The otherworldly,
dualistic installation features wonderful botanical illustrations, deftly made
by the sculptor himself with a special machine of his own design and manually
painted. Ukrainians may find it similar to “cut art.”  A fellow participant of the salon, Ukraine’s
Viktor Sydorenko, compares Ben-David’s works to the traditional art of
vytynanka, cutting figured decorations from paper. That’s why Sydorenko is sure
they will not seem foreign to the exhibition’s visitors. 

Ben-David further
developed the floral theme in “Blackflowers,” which was only finished on the
eve of Kyiv sculpture salon. He substituted his usual stainless steel with hand
cut aluminum and reduced the number of plant sculptures to 52, albeit making
them much bigger in size. The thoroughly detailed flowers also have artificial
shadows laying by their side, which overlap with the natural ones produced by
the light of lamps. Thus, Ben-David reflects upon notions such as perception
and perspective. Like his metal flowers, people project images created by their
surroundings that do not correspond to who they actually are. Shadows, the
artist argues, can be more trustworthy.   

“Evolution and Theory,”
bracing an area of 400 square meters covered with a thin layer of sand,
contains 250 hand-cut aluminum sculptures of scientific drawings from 19th century
encyclopedias. Amidst metal items illustrating experiments on currents,
gravity, speed and anatomy, are walking figures of anthropoid apes and early
ancestors of Homo sapiens. The two groups, dissimilar in size, are also diverse
in their nature: Evolution is an ongoing process, while revolution means sharp
fundamental breaks. However, the radical and gradual go hand in hand, just as a
constantly evolving mankind revolutionizes science over and over again.
Likewise, despite completing the installation in 1999 the sculptor has
continued to add on figures.

Though Ben-David may be
the best known artist at the exhibition, he is not the only one. The salon at
Mystetsky Arsenal includes works by 58 contemporary Ukrainian sculptors,
including both prominent and promising artists. Sydorenko presented the biggest
sculpture of this salon – a half-naked figure of a plump woman that is four
meters high, made from fiberglass. The artist merged images of Kyiv’s famous
gigantic statue called “Motherland,” or Rodina Mat, and “Praying Mother of God”
religious artworks, where the Virgin Mary has her hands lifted up to the level
of her head. Think it looks weird? Not at all, says Sydorenko. He says this
symbolizes modern Ukrainians, successors of an ancient Christian culture who
also bear a Soviet legacy.

Oleksander Sukholit is
another interesting character. Sometimes known called the “living classic of
Ukrainian sculpture,” he decided to make several works right there on the spot
in Mystetsky Arsenal. Mykola Malyshko made the installation “You’re here
now,” compiled of nine moving wooden sculptures surrounded with everyday
things like dresses or buckets. But the sculptor salon has more pleasant
surprises in store.

Sculpture Salon in Mystetsky Arsenal, Sept. 13 – 29.

Lavrska str. 12

11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Hr 50

For detailed information visit website www.artarsenal.in.ua

Kyiv Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected]