Exhibition of works by Volodymyr Makarenko (Makar) from Paris — report
We present you the works of the Ukrainian artist — painter, graphic artist, born on July 26, 1943 in Novopushkarivka, Dnipropetrovsk region.
Volodymyr Makarenko (Makar)
Volodymyr Makarenko (Makar) is a graduate of the Dnipropetrovsk Art College (1963) and the Leningrad Institute of Applied Arts (1969).
This appreciated painter received the first prize at the Biennale of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1975.
At that time, together with Feodozij Humeniuk, he organized the first Ukrainian non-conformist exhibition.
It took place in Moscow in a private apartment. In 1976, he had his first individual, professional exhibition, which took place at the Galerie Hardy in Paris.
A few years later, in 1979, Makarenko emigrated to the West and settled in Paris.
The themes of most of his work are very personal, as are his imagery and vocabulary, which often reflect his Ukrainian heritage and Ukrainian history and literature.
His works, mainly watercolors and oils, reveal his childhood dreams (e.g. Souvenir de ma mère, 1973), nostalgia for his homeland (Melancholy Evening in Kiev, 1975), erotic fantasies (Symbole érotique, 1975) and interest in metaphysics (the series “Buste métaphysique”, 1974-1975).
Makarenko also paints still life and figurative compositions, often with religious themes, such as the Annunciation (La Rencontre, 1972), Palm Sunday (1978, 1983) and the Holy Trinity (1982). In works such as Three Dreams (1982), he transformed the traditional composition of icons into a secular, symbolic statement that can be interpreted as the speech of a woman or Mother Ukraine.
Since 1981 he has had many individual exhibitions in France, Germany, Switzerland and North America, e.g. in Toronto (1982, 1983, 1991) and Chicago (1983).
Today we have the honor to host his paintings at the NOWYCIA Foundation in the Lemko Region.
