Author- Iryna Baltaziuk “The Sacred in the Symbols of Ukrainian Painting at the Turn of the 21st Century”. Roczniki Kulturoznawcze. Annals of Cultural Studies journal. –Institute of Cultural Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. – Vol 12, No 2 (2021). – P. 143–156.
Abstract
Contemporary art as a measure of social consciousness becomes a reference point for finding the boundary between the sacred and the anti-sacred, the aspect that acting as a mirror becomes a reflection of reality, and only at first glance, it speaks of identity but is not true in its essence. Through the semantic key of the symbols of mirroring and reflecting, in the knowledge of the true picture, from divine emptiness to holy fullness, a dialogue of contemporary Ukrainian artists with Kazimir Malevich is formed. The most powerful example of this dialogue is created in the works of Ukrainian classics Oleksandr Dubovyk, Oleksandr Roitburd, and Oleksandr Klymenko. On this path, artists are helped by the heritage of the Ukrainian ethnos, which harmoniously combines the memory of Trypillia culture, national symbols, traditions of icon painting, the school of Mykhailo Boychuk and much more.
This article focuses on the sacred in the symbols of contemporary Ukrainian painting that absorbs the most characteristic signs, codes, and ciphers of the previous centuries, transferring spirituality into the 21st century. The transformation of religious symbols into contemporary ones, in consequence of building a discourse with mass culture, generates them into a new cultural code. The semantics of mass culture gives the visual material that forms the sacredness of the 21st century, which exists on the border of the material and the spiritual, as a reflection of the myth. The works of art by Nina Murashkina, Andriy Tsoy, and Mykyta Tsoy are a striking example of that. The sacred in which the mystery of real life is concentrated can endow thinking with a true, rather than an imaginary essence and provide a tool for solving the problem of individuality, freedom, and existence, which the new century is filled with.
Keywords: contemporary art, symbol, sacred, truth, artwork, artist.
Roczniki Kulturoznawcze
Focus and Scope
Annals of Cultural Studies were created in 2010. They are related to the Institute of Cultural Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and enter into the issue of all aspects of culture, with particular emphasis on the arts and religion, in order to make a modest contribution to the understanding of man and his cultural activities. The Annals are characterized by a distinct philosophical foundation and a multidisciplinary approach.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18290/rkult21122-9
Roczniki Kulturoznawcze · ISSN 2082-8578 | eISSN 2544-5219
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