ART CRITICISM FROM TETIANA SHAPARENKO, DIRECTOR OF DNIPRO ART MUSEUM

ART CRITICISM FROM TETIANA SHAPARENKO, DIRECTOR OF DNIPRO ART MUSEUM ABOUT «PERCEPTION» EXHIBITION OF ARTIST ANATOLIY MENKIV

Our Prydniprovia land is rich by talented persons, and the great cohort of painters plays a special part among them. There is no doubt that their inspirational pictures bring joy to visitors of museums and art galleries both within Ukraine and beyond its borders. All leading painters from Dnipro city made a name for themselves by numerous exhibitions and creative project long ago and seriously. Anatoliy Menkiv – graduate of Dniropetrovsk art school and Ukrainian academy of printing – is no exception. Dnipropetrovsk museum of arts and Dnipropetrovsk branch of the Union of designers managed by Anatoliy all this time are thrown together by almost ten years of the fruitful creative cooperation. Anatoliy belongs to the most intelligent and creative representative of design industry not only in Dnipropetrovsk region, but in Ukraine generally. He is the author of many works on design represented at various exhibitions and festivals both within Ukraine and globally.

His the most considerable achievement is promotion of Ukraine globally by organization and holding of the International design festival «COW» uniting designers from over 30 countries of the world since 2004. In particular, he established and implemented numerous social projects and education activities, exhibitions of social poster, lectures and workshops, having engaged globally known famous designers from Ukraine and world. So in 2010 at his initiative the project «Global-scale campaign Poster against death penalty» (100 posters from 100 countries) was implemented; in 2014 – International poster campaign «We, people of the world, say «NO war!».

In March 2015 Anatoliy initiated voluntary movement oriented to giving classes of art therapy to injured fighters from the area of anti-terrorist operation in Dnipro military hospital and launched the project «Art-Desant» in Regional clinical hospital named after Mechnikov. These classes work well and facilitate the control of posttraumatic syndrome. Exhibitions of works of injured fighters were presented within 2015-2017 yrs at the various exhibition platforms of city.

Anatoliy is an author who shows his individuality, creates genre artistic paintings the motifs and ideas for which he finds during travels and fills them with his philosophical meditations on the world. Crucial part in imaginative spirit of his pictures is assigned to special mysterious and original method used by author. Surface texture enriched with various embossing strokes creates additional light-and-dark effect. Mastering authors technique perfectly and at the same time combining both coloristic riches peculiar for painting and use of motifs with psychological metamessage, the painter introduces its possibilities into imaginative solution of pictures. We see the steppe, we walk along the seashore and quire streets of resort city on Cyprus Island filled with the midday sun together with painter; we focus on his memories.

Every painter has own character, style, sense of beauty that he tries to convey to his viewers. And Anatoliy succeeds in it; his creative achievements in combination with public activity, high professionalism and national attitude give grounds to perceive him as a real patriot of his native land.