“Art is the birth of secrets, not a statement of truths” SS
Savchenko’s works are energetic, intrigue with a sculptural solution, original logic or anti-logism. S. Savchenko’s free transition from abstract to figurative painting, from spontaneous improvisations towards the program cycles of canvases – these movements are determined only in an unexplained way the author himself of subconscious impulses, vividly signals the rhizome way of reflection on existence.
Olga Petrova,
The Oeuvre of Serhiy Savchenko in the Configuration of Rhizome Contemporary Art 2014, the 10 edition
“On account of everything said thus far, it comes as no surprise that his work is prolific to the extreme, in what regards not just the numbers but more critically the many paths he has undertaken. Savchenko’s oeuvres do not just range easily from the abstract to the figurative and all the way back, but rejoice in the many possibilities offered in-between; and yet, in spite of it, there seems to exist a basic need to leave an “expressionist” trace of himself at the core of all of his paintings, like a reactionary cry of allegiance to his own self.”
Antonio Luis Ramos Membrive
“Serhiy Savchenko and the enduring resistance of vision”, 2017
More works in: www.savchenkoart.com
CV
“When you exhale, you almost always inhale later. You don’t inhale only once in a lifetime.” S.S.
Serhiy Savchenko
Born in Lviv, Ukraine.
Education:
1989-1991 Lviv College of Decorative and Applied Arts named by I. Trush.Metal department .
1992-1998 graduated from the Lviv Academy of Arts. Glass department
Works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, video, animation, street sculpture, object.
Participates in international residencies, workshops, and art events in Ukraine and worldwide.
Founder of the Savchenko Gallery and Savchenko Foundation in Gdansk, Poland.
Lives and works in Lviv, Ukraine and Gdansk, Poland.
Selected solo exhibitions:
1994 Museum of Ethnography, Lviv, Ukraine;
1996 Lviv Historical Museum, Ukraine;
Gallery «Sparkasse, Bad Leonfelden, Austria;
Lviv Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine;
Gallery «RDCV» Prague, Czech Republic;
1997 Gallery «Laurier, Toronto, Canada;
«Pavlovsky Arts and Crafts»Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands;
1998 «Gallery-36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
1999 «Gallery-36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2000 “Black-transparent”, «Gallery–36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
Gallery «Appia, Grenoble, France;
2001 «Gallery-36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
Gallery «GaliavBordeaux, France;
2002 Gallery «Dzyga Lviv, Ukraine;
Gallery «Galia Bordeaux, France;
Gallery «Appia, Grenoble, France;
«Gallery-36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
«Gallery-68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
2003 «The Laurier Gallery, Toronto, Canada;
«Maritime Gallery, Odesa, Ukraine;
2004 “Photo-paintings”, Gallery «Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine;
Gallery «Appia, Grenoble, France;
Gallery «Quedar, Strasbourg, France;
Gallery «Maritime, Odessa, Ukraine;
«Gallery-36, Kyiv, Ukraine;
«Gallery-68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
«Peace and color art Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
2005 Gallery «Dzyga Lviv, Ukraine;
Gallery «A-House, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Drawings from the land”, Gallery «Maritime, Odesa, Ukraine;
«Gallery-68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
2006 Gallery «Appia, Grenoble , France;
«Peace and color art Gallery, London, United Kingdom;
«Gallery-68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
2007 Gallery «E.M., Kollum, Netherlands;
Gallery «Tryptych, Kyiv, Ukraine;
Gallery «Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine;
«Peace and color art Gallery, London, United Kingdom;
Gallery «Maritime, Odessa, Ukraine;
Gallery «Arte plurali , Audincourt, France;
«Gallery-68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
2008 “Big Red Mama”, Gallery «Volga, Moscow, Russia;“New Works”,
Gallery «Kunst-und Kulturraum , Zürich, Switzerland;
Gallery «A-House, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Chorus”, Gallery «Bottega, Kyiv, Ukraine;
«Peace and color art Gallery, London, United Kingdom;
“Chorus”, Gallery «Volga, Moscow, Russia;
“Prints”, Gallery «Maritime, Odessa, Ukraine;
Gallery «Appia, Grenoble, France;
«Gallery–68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
2009 “Lisov-44”, Gallery «Tryptych, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Graphic works”, Gallery «Nine by Five, Fremantle, Australia;
“Zviri Zvychayni”, Gallery «Bottega, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Landscapes”, «Gallery -68, Copenhagen, Denmark;
“New works”, «Peace and Color Gallery, London, United Kingdom;
“Singing heads”, Gallery «In art, Berlin, Germany;
“Zviri Zvychayni”, Gallery «Volga, Moscow, Russia;
2010 “Day of Knowledge, Gallery «Green Sofa, Lviv, Ukraine;
“Ethno”, Gallery “Tryptych”, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2011 “Paintings”, Gallery «Uzhgorod, Uzhgorod, Ukraine;
“School fiction”, Gallery «Detenpula, Lviv, Ukraine;
“Back to color”, Gallery «Tryptych-art, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2012 Solo exhibition with Ustym Fedko in Casa de Teatro, Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic;
“Paintings of Serhiy Savchenko”, Regional Art Museum in Khmelnyckyy, Ukraine;
2013 “Process and Matter”, «Scherbenko art center, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2014“Intimacy”, Gallery «Tryptych-Art, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Intimacy”, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine;
“Intimacy”, Gallery «Red Black, Kaniv, Ukraine;
2015“Erotica in landscapes” by Serhiy Savchenko, “From pragmatism of Malevich to Godless case”by Alyaksandr Zabavchik. Gallery «Anarkhia, Kopavogi, Iceland;
“Earth” – Graphic, Paintings. Gallery «Tryptych Art, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Not My Shadow, Not my Body?”, Gallery «Ye, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine;
“Le Gens”, Gallery «Hebert, Grenoble, France;
2016 “Dispersion”, Gallery «Tryptych Art, Kyiv, Ukraine;“Public Relations” Serhiy Savchenko & Coproduction, Gallery «MEF, Izola, Slovenia;
“Author Project”. VlodKaufman & Serhiy Savchenko. In the frame of Week of Actual Art in Lviv,
”Leminarium, Lviv Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine
2017 “That will never come..” , Kamila Bednarska &Serhiy Savchenko, Gallery Tryptych Art,Kyiv, Ukraine,«Returning with the arrow, Plac Izolanov, Izola, Slovenia
«Serhiy Savchenko and the enduring resistance of vision. «White World Gallery, Kyiv,Ukraine,
2018 “Savchenko”, Galerie “Hebert”, Grenoble, France
2019 «Ruin And Reproduction by Serhiy Savchenko and «Dying Warriors by Erik Mai, Savchenko Gallery, Gdansk, Poland;
“You are what you look at”, Savchenko Gallery, Gdansk, Poland
2020 Kamila Bednarska/ Serhiy Savchenko “As compensation for us love remains …” , Savchenko Gallery, Gdansk
2021,”Disinfected”, Art project by Olena Dats’ and Serhiy Savchenko, Olena Dats’ Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine,
Selected group exhibitions:
1992 Gallery «Lviv Picture, Lviv, Ukraine;
1993 Art Gallery named after A. Sheptitskiy, Lviv, Ukraine;
Gallery «Sparkasse, Rohrbach, Austria;
“Spring 93”, National Museum in Lviv, Ukraine;
1995 “Club of Ukrainian Artists”, Prague, Czech Republic;
“Lviv’s Signatures” «OR-Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“3-d International Symposium of Art Glass”, Lviv, Ukraine;
1996 “Art club”, Khmelnytsky Art Museum, Ukraine;
“Hutir-II”, Khmelnytsky-Lviv, Ukraine; “Art-Fair”, Kyiv, Ukraine;
1997 Gallery «UCAF, Toronto, Canada; First International Gallery, Charlotte, USA;
“Proposition”, Museum of Ethnography, Lviv, Ukraine;“Autumn Salon”, Lviv National Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine;
1998 “Robinzonada”, Khmelnytsky Art Museum, Ukraine;“Europe’Art”, Geneva, Switzerland;
Triennial of painting, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Vysokyy Zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine;
“Art Fair”, Rotterdam, Netherlands;
1999 “International Art Festival”, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2000 “Kunsthalle Austria Bank”, Vienna, Austria;
Gallery «Persona, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“East-West”, Gallery «City-N, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2001 “Force line”, Gallery «City-N, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine;
“International exhibition”, «Todayji Temple, Nara, Japan;
2003 “Silver Square”, Przsemysl, Poland;
“Bacchanal of painting”, Gallery «Marina, Odesa, Ukraine;
2004 “International painting Symposium”, Zelwa, Poland;
“Marina-2004”, Gallery «Maritime, Odesa, Ukraine;
2005 “International Salon of Independent Artists”, Paris, France;
“Art Ireland” , Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master);
2006 “Art Karlsruhe, International Art Fair”, Karlsruhe, Germany, (by Gallery «Triptych-Art);
“Art Ireland”, Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master);
“Art International Zurich”, Zurich, Switzerland;
“Art Kyiv” , Kyiv, Ukraine;
“The International Art Fair”, Puro Arte-vigo
2006 “Chelsea Art Fair”, London, United Kingdom, (by Gallery «Art Master);
“Art Ireland, Spring Collection”, Dublin, Ireland, (by Gallery «Art Master);
“Art Gratz, Akzenta Gratz”, Austria ,(by Gallery «In Art);
“Art Metz”, Metz, France, (by Gallery «In Art);
“Berlin Liste”, Berlin, Germany, (by Gallery «In Art);
“Art International Zurich”, Zurich, Switzerland, (by Gallery «In Art);
“Invitation on Akt”, Gallery «Tryptych-Art, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2009 “Sea-Ocean”, Municipal Gallery «Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine;
“Contemporary Istanbul”, Istanbul, Turkey, (by Gallery «Tryptych-Art);
2011 “Process and Matter” Olexiy Khoroshko & Serhiy Savchenko
Gallery «in Art, Berlin , Germany;
“Christmass Paralononormal phenomenon”, «Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine;
2013 “New Art Fair”, «Gallery-73 ,Paris, France;
International Art Competition “Art Revolution Taipei”, Taipei, Taiwan;
2014 “Spanish-Ukrainian exhibition of paintings”, Gallery «Cartel, Malaga, Spain;
2015 Festival “Parcour del’art”, project “Intimacy”, «Maison Jean Villard, Avignon, France;
Festival “Parcour del’art”, project “Animation by Coproduction”, «Maison Jean Villard, Avignon,
France;
“Earth that…”, K. Bednarska, S. Savchenko, M. Uchman, O. Khoroshko, «Museum of Ideas,
Lviv, Ukraine;
“L’art fait Face”, «Maison De Internacional, Grenoble, France;
“Mur Art”, Rzeszow, Poland;
“First International Festival of printmakers”, Museum of Ukrainian Paintings, Dnipropetrovsk,
Ukraine;
2016 “Author Project”. VlodKaufman & Serhiy Savchenko. In the frame of Week of Actual Art in
Lviv, pilot project ”
Leminarium, Lviv Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine
“Intimates” Kamila Bednarska & Serhiy Savchenko, Novica, Poland;
Gewalt, Macht, Herrcher, Kunstpreis Worpswede 2016, Berlin, Germany
“JPS” ( Jump Point Search) Ukrainian-Polish group art project, installation of street miniature,
Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine,
2017 5-th Odesa Biennale of Contemporary Art, video-animation «Yych-1 & Yych-2, Odesa,
Ukraine
Ukrainian Modern Graphic (Ukrajinski Moderno Crtez), Gallery «Zvonimir. Zagreb, Croatia;
«Equally different, art project by «Art-huss,
Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 Trisiti###3, festival of PrintScreen, Savchenko, Gallery, Gdansk Akademy of Arts, tuBaza, Gdansk, Poland
Istanbul Artist Residency -2020, Istanbul, Turkey.
Art residences & symposiums:
2007 International Art symposium “Valmiera-2006”, Latvia;
2010 International Art symposium “Zelwa”, Zelwa, Poland;
2012 Residence “Red Gate”, Beijing, China;
Residence “d’Clinic”, Lendava, Slovenia;
Residency project “Ukrainian residence”, Slavsko, Ukraine,
2013 International Art symposium “Slovenia odprta za umietnost 2013”, Sinij Vrh, Slovenija;
International Art symposium “V kregu pogranicza” , Jablonka, Poland, (by Gallery «Marzenie);
International Art symposium, Olhon island, Irkutsk, Russia, (by Gallery «Art Dias);
International Art symposium on «Knyazha Hora, Kaniv, Ukraine;
2015 International Art symposium “Slovenia odperta za umetnost-2015”, Sinji Vrh, Slovenia;
2016 International Art symposium, Novica, Poland;
International Art symposium, Mallnitz, Austria;
International art symposium in Gallery «Red Black, Kaniv, Ukraine;
“XXI International Symposium of Paintings Lancut-Orelec”, Lancut, Poland, (by Gallery Marzenie);
Polish-Ukrainian International group art project, “Intimate Portrait”, (co-curator);
2017 “Scifia”, the art symposium by White World gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
art residence by Catena, «Roots project, Berlin, Germany
Polish-Ukrainian International group art project residency, “Intimate Autoportrait”;
2018 Art residence « Pirosmani project, Tbilisi, Alvani, Georgia,
Art residence by Catena, Lviv, Slavsko, Ukraine,
2019 Art residence by Catena, «Cinema and identity, Berlin, Germany
Istanbul Artist Residency, Istanbul;
2020,Rebart-simposium, Possnitz, Austria.
2020 Participation in BAIR Buccara art residence project.
Istanbul Artist Residency -2020, Istanbul, Turkey.
Performances, projects, and installations:
2001 Festival “Spring wind”, installation “Angel road” with I.Tverdun, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2006 International Art Symposium “Valmiera-2006, the installation «S.N.I.S.T. (Sounds and Not
Important Small Things)”, Latvia;
2007 “Transformation of classical Avantgarde”, performance with V. Kaufman “Noc Kultury”,
Lublin, Poland;
2008 Lviv Fashion Week, conceptual project “FIELD” with V. Kaufman, Expo center «Lemberg,
Lviv, Ukraine;
2009 “Other” with O. Khoroshko, Week Of Actual Art in Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine;
“Other” with O. Khoroshko, Gogol Fest, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2009-2017- “Three-angel” street installation, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine
2016 “JPS” ( Jump Point Search) Ukrainian-Polish group art project, installation of street
miniature, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine,
Week Of Actual Art in Lviv, pilot project “Leminarium” with V. Kaufman and S. Savchenko,
Lviv National Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine;
Curated and Co-curated events:
2007-2014 International Art Symposiums “Chervone-Chorne ”, «Knyazha Hora, Kaniv, Ukraine,
2011 Art project “Christmass Paralononormal phenomenon” Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine,
Art weekend “Galagany”, Kyiv, Ukraine;Ukrainian-Polish International group art project, “JPS”
(Jump Point Search), installation of street miniature, Museum of Ideas, Lviv, Ukraine
2018 Art residence by Catena, Lviv, Slavsko, Ukraine,
2019 Art residence by Catena, «Cinema and identity, Berlin, Germany
Stage design:
2017 “Garden of divine songs Wedding” – Lviv Municipal Theater,
Artistic Research and Educational Center “Word and Voice”, Lviv, Ukraine.
“Lungs”, Lviv Academical Theater by Les Kurbas; Lviv, Ukraine
“Kruten’”, First young theater of Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine
2020 Stage design on performance “Yiddish prince “ Teatr Atelier im. Agnieszki Osieckiej w Sopocie
Awards and honors:
1997 Certificate of recognition; European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz,Austria
Diploma, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine;
1998 Diploma, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine,
1999 Certificate of recognition; European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz,Austria;
Silver Medal and Certificate, European Art, section Austria. European Academy of Arts, Linz,
Austria;
2001 4-th premium, Painting Triennial, Kyiv, Ukraine;
2008 First premium, “Vysokyy zamok”, Lviv, Ukraine;
2012 Winner of competition by «d’Clinic art residence, Lendava, Slovenia;
Public collections:
Ukrainian Museum of Fine Art, Kyiv, Ukraine;
KMC “Dzyga”, Lviv, Ukraine;
Khmelnickyy State Regional Art Museum, Khmelnyckyy; Ukraine,
Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art named after Korsak,
”Chervone-Chorne”, Kyiv, Kaniv, Ukraine
Book design:
2000 “Dog and his friends on the moon” Heorhiy Khymych,
(2nd award of the Book of the Year-2000 National Contest) publisher: a-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha;
2012 “Protoplastykon” poetry of Piotr Bussold (BUSSI)
now in gallery
Paintings
PAINTINGS
Empty rooms.
One day, and it happens to everyone, there comes a moment when everything around loses its filling. Only the shells of things remain to be under real. These outlines no longer care about restraining the value of the object, because the value is like wine from a bottle has split somewhere. Along with the value, the value of these objects disappears. Then we witness the arbitrary decapitation of the senses and forms that we needed before.
Landscapes
Kiss
“Universal loneliness is a modern collective drama that remains incurable. Compensation for love is oppression that aims to prevail, to bring balance, to swing the scales in the other direction.
Serhiy Savchenko in a conversation with Olena Grabb. Gdansk – Istanbul, September 2020
Greek cosmogonic theory states that our universe arose from chaos. Chaos contained the absolute of all dichotomies and opposites, integrity, and separation. In the period of Chaos, all antagonists existed simultaneously, because they did not know such a concept as time. Chaos is divided into two basic elements – earth and light and eternal darkness. The third fundamental element of cosmogony was Eros. Aristotle and Plato argued that it was Eros who became the force that united the antagonists and brought them out of the passive state of allegorical Being into the active state of Creation and therefore of joint creativity. This is how life was born.
In a series of works by Serhiy Savchenko “Kiss”, universal loneliness as a passive state of Being as opposed to the active state of Creation. The kiss of Eros, the touch, the communion is contrasted with disunity, coldness, eternal incurable darkness in the hope that Eros, by the power of his primordial love, which we will later see in all without exception, religious, philosophical and mystical treatises of humanity, will revive us from chaos.
Olena Grubb
MAAB Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Ruin & Reproduction
“War destroys and wipes out any kind of individuality.
Savchenko’s paintings are about the city’s recognizable landscape that is transformed into a monotony of ruins that has no personality anymore. This is symbolic and inherent in today’s world: demolishing and equalizing personality as such.
From a conversation with the artist Olena Turyanska
Ruin is a term with several meanings.
Every government or country writes a story in its own way, so the story should not be understood but felt.
A series of works that is based on original photographs of destroyed cities after World War II: Dresden, Coventry, Warsaw, Kiev, Hiroshima and Gdansk. 6 works, 6 cities, 6 stories, 6 ruins.
Destroyed cities created with oil and water-based paints, so conflicts between these two opposing substances cannot be avoided. The endless conflict of oil and water in the physical world should perhaps be the main key to reading this series. A conflict that sooner or later is doomed to historical fixation and reconciliation. Probably, the photos were taken from a high-flying airplane; it is always at altitude that the horizon line relative to the landscape is the same.
All the works are diptychs, and there is the impression as if the eerie landscape is contemplated from the window of a tall, mythical building. An emotional, sensitive look at the dramatically set design of history by viewing the annihilated centers of civilization. A picture of the world that makes it possible to bring up to date the vision of a story that needs to be felt, not just understood.
Serhiy Savchenko, resistance against death. Olena Grubb, MAAB Sotheby’s Institute of Art
This series of works is a kind of multimedia objects and is already the end result of the main action that takes place during their creation. That is why I almost always shoot a video when the oil paint is still wet «alive», making its way through the acrylic already hardened skin. Instantly, when the paint finds its way out, I often find it important. Later, the process of creating a future work composition is equally interesting. Because even after the matter of the paint determines itself on the plane of the painting, it is often very interesting after drying. These «eruptions» seem to reveal their true essence and verify the picture not as a flat surface, but as a body, with all its inner layers.
Seemingly invisible
“The city as an agglomeration architecture is the world’s countless lines that thanks to the laws of perspective quickly
move away. They only exist thanks to the specific vision of people, each of which has its own exclusive horizon
line and it only defines one unique point of convergence. Works from the series “Seemingly
invisible” tell the story of the city’s image thanks to the number of perfectly arranged opportunities
and constructive probabilities “.
