Meeting of the KONSHU board during the war
Members of the board of the Kyiv organization met for the first time since the start of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war of aggression. Life goes on and institutions have to work - even in an extreme situation. As Winston Churchill, who went down in history not only for his outstanding statesmanship but also for his aphorisms, said, "War is war, and lunch is on schedule."
On the morning of Palm Sunday, Kyiv came under another rocket attack, and the idea of whether to go to a meeting in such conditions crept in. Worth it, and how. Time has shown that online meetings will not completely replace direct contacts.
The members of the KONSHU board, which are representatives of 9 creative sections, were incredibly happy to meet each other. Everyone had their own stories about their experiences, everyone was touched by the painful topic of survival during the war. Many problems have accumulated, and the leading art organization of the capital must find ways to solve them. There are various issues on the agenda, but the main ones are to form ways to support the state, preserve the creative potential of the organization, find ways to finance, determine a certain format of work in martial law.
The meeting took place in the Union's gallery gallery, where an exhibition of posters was held on the theme: "Breakfast was war" (curators Honored Artist of Ukraine Andriy Budnyk and Yulia Trokhimchuk). At present, she has already gone to the newly liberated from the enemy's northern border of Ukraine, to the gallery "Romen" in Romny, Sumy region. Then this exhibition will fly to the US capital.
So many artists left the capital, had to discuss and solve pressing problems in a limited circle. The main thing is to support those who are under occupation, who are forced to live in bomb shelters, who are in the status of immigrants. The newly elected chairman of the Union, Honored Artist of Ukraine Volodymyr Kutnyakhov was congratulated on the anniversary in online format. In agreement with him, we heard Ruslan Kutnyak about the current situation in our creative circle, and Viktor Konoval promptly informed about the creative project "Heroes of Ukraine", created with the support of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko for its further implementation in the twin cities of Ukraine. In support of the injured members of KONSHU, who found themselves in a difficult situation, it was decided to organize an exhibition and sale of paintings.
The subject of discussion was the situation with membership fees and finding ways to finance the gallery "Artist", which is on the verge of closure, because there are no profitable activities, and utility bills have not been canceled. There was also a question of improving the work of the union site, which is desirable to reform both in terms of saturation of information about the activities and activities of KONSHU, and in terms of providing this information using modern formats of the Internet resource. After all, "the word is a weapon", which should not be forgotten, especially in times of severe trials that Ukraine is facing today.
It was impossible to get around this topic - the insidious invasion of our land by a neighboring state. Opinions on this issue were expressed by Ivan Pylypenko, Volodymyr Balyberdyn, Alisa Zaboy, Larysa Pisha, Konstantin Kosarevsky, Viktor Baryba, Halyna Dyugovska, Oleksiy Rogotchenko, Valery Gubenko, Karina Kravets, Valentyna Yefremova. Despite the fact that everyone felt, experienced and is experiencing the consequences and horrors of the aggressive actions of racist barbarians, many members of the Union have already begun to work creatively, to express their own reaction to current events in Ukraine. Angela Kuszczyk has opened a personal exhibition in Warsaw, and a joint exhibition of Polish and Ukrainian artists is being held in Lodz in support of Ukraine, with the participation of CONSU member Svitlana Anoshkina.
Art has always been at the forefront. We know many examples of world-famous artists who engrave the horrors of war in their works. Suffice it to mention "The Apotheosis of War" by Vasily Vereshchagin, who showed the "result" of military battles with a composition with a mountain of skulls of fallen soldiers. Or a series of works by Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya… These and other artists at different times through their work have drawn the attention of mankind to the brutal consequences of war.
And today these horrors of war, revealing to the whole world its true greedy and envious essence, its ugly face of a sadistic rapist, was brought to us by racist Muscovy, destroying and plundering the prosperous land of Ukraine. I am convinced that the people who raised an army that came with the mood to kill, plunder, destroy - have no place in the structures of civilized society.
Today we are rewriting the history of our country, the events of which will undoubtedly bring significant changes to the existing world order. Therefore, the task is not only scholars, historians, writers, publicists, but also artists to become chroniclers of these events. After all, artists have in their creative arsenal a unique means of expression - imagery, something that through the visual memory of the viewer can affect emotions and subconscious as well as music or poetry.
Therefore, we will make every effort to remain in artistic images, on canvas and in sculpture, those high spiritual values that distinguish our people from the barbarians who encroached on our land and the desire of its people to determine their own future.
Valentina Romenska (Efremova)
