Author Archives: admin

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DISTURBED SPACE. 2024

bronze, h-35cm.

The Disturbed Space series explores the impact of human conflict on space and matter. Each sculpture represents a materialized space between human figures engaged in struggle. The central voids are formed by the intense collision of bodies, while the bronze volumes capture and preserve this space as a frozen imprint of an invisible event.

On the lateral surfaces of the sculptures, fragments of human bodies emerge — traces of the participants in the conflict, whose positions and movements have defined the boundaries and structure of the captured space. The wounds and ruptures in the material become a metaphor for the marks that struggle leaves in the environment and in memory.

The series focuses not on the external gesture, but on the internal shift — the moment when the energy of confrontation and the tension between bodies resonate with the fabric of spatial reality, leaving voids and imprints that transform into sculptural form.

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DISTURBED SPACE. 2024

bronze, h-65cm.

The Disturbed Space series explores the impact of human conflict on space and matter. Each sculpture represents a materialized space between human figures engaged in struggle. The central voids are formed by the intense collision of bodies, while the bronze volumes capture and preserve this space as a frozen imprint of an invisible event.

On the lateral surfaces of the sculptures, fragments of human bodies emerge — traces of the participants in the conflict, whose positions and movements have defined the boundaries and structure of the captured space. The wounds and ruptures in the material become a metaphor for the marks that struggle leaves in the environment and in memory.

The series focuses not on the external gesture, but on the internal shift — the moment when the energy of confrontation and the tension between bodies resonate with the fabric of spatial reality, leaving voids and imprints that transform into sculptural form.

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from the series DISTURBED SPACE. 2024

bronze, h-35cm.

The Disturbed Space series explores the impact of human conflict on space and matter. Each sculpture represents a materialized space between human figures engaged in struggle. The central voids are formed by the intense collision of bodies, while the bronze volumes capture and preserve this space as a frozen imprint of an invisible event.

On the lateral surfaces of the sculptures, fragments of human bodies emerge — traces of the participants in the conflict, whose positions and movements have defined the boundaries and structure of the captured space. The wounds and ruptures in the material become a metaphor for the marks that struggle leaves in the environment and in memory.

The series focuses not on the external gesture, but on the internal shift — the moment when the energy of confrontation and the tension between bodies resonate with the fabric of spatial reality, leaving voids and imprints that transform into sculptural form.

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from the series DISTURBED SPACE. 2024

bronze, h-35cm.

The Disturbed Space series explores the impact of human conflict on space and matter. Each sculpture represents a materialized space between human figures engaged in struggle. The central voids are formed by the intense collision of bodies, while the bronze volumes capture and preserve this space as a frozen imprint of an invisible event.

On the lateral surfaces of the sculptures, fragments of human bodies emerge — traces of the participants in the conflict, whose positions and movements have defined the boundaries and structure of the captured space. The wounds and ruptures in the material become a metaphor for the marks that struggle leaves in the environment and in memory.

The series focuses not on the external gesture, but on the internal shift — the moment when the energy of confrontation and the tension between bodies resonate with the fabric of spatial reality, leaving voids and imprints that transform into sculptural form.

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from the series DISTURBED SPACE. 2024

bronze, h-35cm.

The Disturbed Space series explores the impact of human conflict on space and matter. Each sculpture represents a materialized space between human figures engaged in struggle. The central voids are formed by the intense collision of bodies, while the bronze volumes capture and preserve this space as a frozen imprint of an invisible event.

On the lateral surfaces of the sculptures, fragments of human bodies emerge — traces of the participants in the conflict, whose positions and movements have defined the boundaries and structure of the captured space. The wounds and ruptures in the material become a metaphor for the marks that struggle leaves in the environment and in memory.

The series focuses not on the external gesture, but on the internal shift — the moment when the energy of confrontation and the tension between bodies resonate with the fabric of spatial reality, leaving voids and imprints that transform into sculptural form.

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VESSEL

h-210 cm. bronze. Sydney, Australia

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from the series FUSION, 2022

bronze, h-70cm.
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When talking about the war in our country, I don’t mean just the act of war as such, but also the images and narratives that I am now groping for. I don’t think anybody can estimate the extent of its destructive effects or the date of its ending with any degree of accuracy, but it seems appropriate to document its effect and to describe the state into which the war is remoulding our society.
Social documentation of these changes is all we can talk about now. The flames of war, after all, change us into different people: initially scared and shocked, we have become mobilized and efficient, often devastated but still capable of overcoming our fears and with full faith in ourselves. As everything changes, a dense sediment forms. We witness the anthropologic mixing of our nation into a new fusion.
This show marks the beginning of my new series, entitled Fusion. These sculptures are made of bronze, a colored alloy of several metals. Continuing my method of working with “reverse volume” or counterforms, I reveal human figures by making them collide with the masses of molten metal enveloping them.
I chose the method that allows me to document the outlines and spaces around people through sculptural forms, giving me an opportunity to reflect on the nature and properties of our environment in these difficult times. I explore the relations between people and their surroundings, tackling the issue of personal freedom during military aggression and information campaigns.
I see this series of sculptures not as independent works but as a process of revelation, a tool that helps me to document dynamic interactions of an individual with the changing environment. The human shapes at the center of these sculptures are devoid of recognizable individual features, and that was a conscious choice. These images are universal prototypes I created with virtual modeling software. These are prototype personalities that have every possibility and dynamic of change open to them. Much like in quantum mechanics, a neutral image carries all possible potentialities that can come into being depending on circumstances, the environment and the surrounding space.
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Nazar Bilyk

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from the series FUSION, 2022

bronze, h-220cm.
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When talking about the war in our country, I don’t mean just the act of war as such, but also the images and narratives that I am now groping for. I don’t think anybody can estimate the extent of its destructive effects or the date of its ending with any degree of accuracy, but it seems appropriate to document its effect and to describe the state into which the war is remoulding our society.
Social documentation of these changes is all we can talk about now. The flames of war, after all, change us into different people: initially scared and shocked, we have become mobilized and efficient, often devastated but still capable of overcoming our fears and with full faith in ourselves. As everything changes, a dense sediment forms. We witness the anthropologic mixing of our nation into a new fusion.
This show marks the beginning of my new series, entitled Fusion. These sculptures are made of bronze, a colored alloy of several metals. Continuing my method of working with “reverse volume” or counterforms, I reveal human figures by making them collide with the masses of molten metal enveloping them.
I chose the method that allows me to document the outlines and spaces around people through sculptural forms, giving me an opportunity to reflect on the nature and properties of our environment in these difficult times. I explore the relations between people and their surroundings, tackling the issue of personal freedom during military aggression and information campaigns.
I see this series of sculptures not as independent works but as a process of revelation, a tool that helps me to document dynamic interactions of an individual with the changing environment. The human shapes at the center of these sculptures are devoid of recognizable individual features, and that was a conscious choice. These images are universal prototypes I created with virtual modeling software. These are prototype personalities that have every possibility and dynamic of change open to them. Much like in quantum mechanics, a neutral image carries all possible potentialities that can come into being depending on circumstances, the environment and the surrounding space.

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Nazar Bilyk

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from the series FUSION, 2022

bronze, h-210 cm
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When talking about the war in our country, I don’t mean just the act of war as such, but also the images and narratives that I am now groping for. I don’t think anybody can estimate the extent of its destructive effects or the date of its ending with any degree of accuracy, but it seems appropriate to document its effect and to describe the state into which the war is remoulding our society.
Social documentation of these changes is all we can talk about now. The flames of war, after all, change us into different people: initially scared and shocked, we have become mobilized and efficient, often devastated but still capable of overcoming our fears and with full faith in ourselves. As everything changes, a dense sediment forms. We witness the anthropologic mixing of our nation into a new fusion.
This show marks the beginning of my new series, entitled Fusion. These sculptures are made of bronze, a colored alloy of several metals. Continuing my method of working with “reverse volume” or counterforms, I reveal human figures by making them collide with the masses of molten metal enveloping them.
I chose the method that allows me to document the outlines and spaces around people through sculptural forms, giving me an opportunity to reflect on the nature and properties of our environment in these difficult times. I explore the relations between people and their surroundings, tackling the issue of personal freedom during military aggression and information campaigns.
I see this series of sculptures not as independent works but as a process of revelation, a tool that helps me to document dynamic interactions of an individual with the changing environment. The human shapes at the center of these sculptures are devoid of recognizable individual features, and that was a conscious choice. These images are universal prototypes I created with virtual modeling software. These are prototype personalities that have every possibility and dynamic of change open to them. Much like in quantum mechanics, a neutral image carries all possible potentialities that can come into being depending on circumstances, the environment and the surrounding space.
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Nazar Bilyk

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REVELATION, 2021

h-210 cm. bronze
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Revelation
Revelation documents the artist’s reflections on the environment surrounding every person. It is our environment that defines our choices and models our worldview, affecting our life no less than our DNA.
At the center of the composition is an empty space in the shape of a human figure, and it is this emptiness that gets equated with personhood. It wouldn’t have existed and wouldn’t have been visible to us if not for the rounded vertical mass of heavy metal that reveals its presence. This mass is the surrounding space, the corpus of preconditions and circumstances that define us.
The human figure in this sculpture is created based on what it isn’t: it is revealed by its environment. In the absence of real volume, the volume we deal with is imaginary, and it has to be filled with values, ideas or a worldview.

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from the series SPACE AROUND, 2021

h- 240 cm. resins, marble, fiberglass, stainless steel.
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In the work Surrounding Space, the creative process unfolds backwards, not as an expression of an idea but as the very process of reflection. The artist engages in an experiment, seeking to trace the outline and document the space surrounding his characters in sculptural forms, and to consider the very nature and qualities of this space. Exploring the relations between individuals and their surroundings, he addresses the issue of individual freedom when confronted with social and cultural influences. Nazar Bilyk treats the sculpture not as an independent work but rather as the process of revelation, an ancillary method to document the dynamics of an individual’s relations with the sacred, social or cultural environment: “I pour liquid white plaster into a space where it enfolds emptiness, revealing human presence. The human figure becomes ambivalent: on the one hand, it is the center, the essence that defines the space, but at the same time, it is an instrument of that revelation rather than an object.

”This principle describes both the idea behind the work, and the artist’s method. The artist invites his viewers to use their imagination to deduce the image from the space surrounding the “nonexistent sculpture” of a human being without focusing on the sculpture as such. The viewers are encouraged to complete the creative process in their own mind, independently, by engaging with the space that defines the image, and thus is the main object of the artist’s interest.

Human portraits at the center of the Surrounding Space are not individualized: they are markedly stripped of all signs of individuality. These portraits represent various projections of a universal mask that the artist saw in modeling software. This is a prototype of an individual that carries all potentialities and the dynamic of change. Similarly to the laws of quantum mechanics, this neutral image is a vessel of manifold potentialities that can become manifest depending on the conditions of their environment or the surrounding space.

Natalia Matsenko

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SPACE AROUND, 2019

“Space around” is devoted to the interaction of people and the environment, the study of the specifics of the construction of form and its perception by our consciousness. On the one hand, the sculpture is focused on the image of the person. On the other – human outlines dissolve in the ideal shape of the sphere, and within it – in space. Turning to the counterform, the artist concentrates his gaze on the inner world and looks through it at the environment, looks inside the very process of creation, slightly pulling back the veil of mystery, but leaving room for the assumptions.

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MONUMENT TO JOURNALIST PAUL SHEREMET. KIEV

Thinking about the solution of the memorial sign to Pavel Sheremet, I did not want to come up with anything especially. And on the contrary, get rid of the so-called “artistic solutions” as much as possible. And the very place where the car with Pavel was blown up gave the idea of ​​a future memorial sign. It was here at the crossroads that the explosion took place. Therefore, I went through the documentation and links about the tragedy and suggested placing a white marble stele at the intersection of these streets.
The crumpled sheet of paper is a symbol of the tragic death of Pavel Sheremet. The white color of the leaf is the field of the statement of the journalist, his life … And when he was enlarged to the size of a man’s height, he became his personification. The deformed inscription in the center of the monument can only be read from the facade. Taking a step to the side, we will see the nervous breaks of the letters, hiding the name of the journalist from the audience.
The memorial sign was symbolically unveiled at 7.45 a.m. on July 20, 2020, exactly during the explosion 4 years later.

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FEMALE PORTRAIT, 2020

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”
Resins, marble, h-77cm.

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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QUOTS 2019

SMACH 2019. Constellation of art, culture & history in the Dolomites.

The work “Quotes” by Nazar Bilyk is a reflection on what determines the personal feeling of the homeland at a time when most of its attributes are losing their significance.
Is identity formed by place of residence while it is so easy to change cities, countries, continents? Is experience formed by the environment when personal connections are inferior to virtual ones? What creates genetic memory and cultural code of society when the information field is no longer limited by physical boundaries?
Perhaps now, as never before, personal boundaries of the inner homeland are becoming more and more subjective and impermanent. These are “the quotes” in which a modern man seeks to incorporate changeable values, trying to outline their shaky boundaries. But it seems that “the quotes” only indicate the illusory nature and the impossibility of creating one’s own image of the home

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FEMALE PORTRAIT, 2018

FROM THE SERIES “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-68cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

FROM THE SERIES “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-36 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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SPACE AROUND, 2018

h- 250 cm. metal, fiberglass, resins. Polyurethane paint.
Business-center «Toronto», Kiev

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FEMALE PORTRAIT, 2018

FROM THE SERIES “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-65 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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SOLO EXHIBITION “IMAGINARY DISTANCES” 2018

2018 Gallery ArtJamp

Nazar Bilyk’s “Imaginary Distances” project is a fundamental introspection with a purpose of finding the answers to the basic questions of our existence. What do we know about people we consider close at the certain stages of life? Does it make sense to dive behind the scenes of human anatomy and familiar social masks? What is hidden in ourselves, and how to see it?…

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WALLS OF THE CAVE (Cappadocia) 2018

resins, 78 x 105 cm

The fourth hall of the exhibition is a key to understanding the context of the whole project. The exhibition at the Picture Gallery was preceded by the artist’s journey to one of the most interesting and picturesque places in the world, the Turkish Cappadocia. This is a land of magnificent forms of volcanic rocks and numerous cave temples. The place where Christian hermits lived for centuries and where Nazar Bilyk was lucky to live in one of the former cave cells for a few days. According to the ancient testimonies, for a true ascetic a wretched small cell becomes equal to the whole universe. The result of the artist’s reflection on this topic was a very intimate and at the same time powerful work that combined the relief image of the cave ceiling, as well as a photograph of the starry sky over the unforgettable Cappadocia. This room adds an additional layer of interpretation of the sculptural heads that are presented in the other parts of the project, because if you look closely, their quirky forms somewhat resemble quaint Cappadocian landscapes.

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SEVERAL DIRECTIONS, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES” digital print, exposition at National museum “Kiev Art Gallery“

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PORTRAIT, 2018

FROM THE SERIES “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-32 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

FROM THE SERIES “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-32 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-32 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-32 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-45 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-38 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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ACCESSIBLE PORTRAIT, 2018

from the series “IMAGINARY DISTANCES”

Resins, author’s technique, h-60 cm

Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

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PORTRAIT WITH A DIFFERENT PLANE, 2018

resins, fibreglass, metal, paint, 286х186 см

The counter-relief of A Portrait with a Different Plane, which was included in the project, Imaginary Distances resembles the Rorschach spots, where the negative proof contains the positive image. The positive image in Nazar Bilyk’s project is contained in a water mirror placed at the sculpture’s pedestal. The symmetry of indentations and protrusions of another self-portrait is hard to discern: it’s more of a projection of the artist’s inner state, “the manifestation and monumentalization of the subconscious” in his physical parameters. Bilyk stresses that “this figure provides impetus for free associations, and the viewer can see any arbitrary image in it; in a way, it is a test based on assumptions and guesswork.” The artist found inspiration for the project in Cappadocia (mo¬dern Turkey), with its unique volcanic landscape. Having found himself in this gigantic natural landscape, he saw parallels between his own experiments and the universal natural laws of form-creation. The discovery was so intense that he retreated from human presence, so only the walls of the cave abandoned by its ancient residents and the starry sky above had witnessed his thoughts. Imaginary Distances, Nazar Bilyk’s most persuasive and personal artistic statement at present, were the product of this unique experience.

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Valeriy Sakharuk

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SOLO EXHIBITION “IMAGINARY DISTANCES” 2018

15.12.2017 – 01.15.2018 National museum “Kiev Art Gallery”

Nazar Bilyk’s “Imaginary Distances” project is a fundamental introspection with a purpose of finding the answers to the basic questions of our existence. What do we know about people we consider close at the certain stages of life? Does it make sense to dive behind the scenes of human anatomy and familiar social masks? What is hidden in ourselves, and how to see it?…

Bilyk’s exhibition is an attempt to talk about doubts and quest, disillusionment, and faith in the post-secular world. Of course, there are various cultures of talking about such a problem, but still, at a certain level, such a conversation can only take place between the one asking and the main interlocutor, who, unfortunately or fortunately, is extremely silent.

Nazar Bilyk is not the one to fervently preach on the streets, his path is a documentation of very complex internal processes and an attempt to reflect subjective inner experience in the language of modern plastic art. Artist’s works, rather, present the viewer with the abyss of the world and the human soul, than give answers and instructions about everyday life. These are meditative works imbued with an unusual synthesis of the traditions of Eastern Christian mysticism and asceticism and contemporary fine arts. Surprisingly, the ancient heritage of “techniques of self” is extremely interesting and relevant in the present world. Overcoming of narcissism, simple self-restraint, challenge to consumerism and cultivation of the “inner human”, all this basic spiritual gymnastics gain particular relevance today. Attempting to talk about such things in the language of contemporary art is a difficult, but unambiguously interesting task. However, in order for this conversation to be really fruitful, according to Nazar Bilyk, it is very important to know how to distance yourself.

In the modern world, we often forget about distance. We are accustomed to the fastest means of covering it. Rapid transport, mobile communication, social networks give a sense of total proximity to anything and anyone. The theory of six handshakes says that every two human beings on Earth are divided only by a short chain of common acquaintances. We, the inhabitants of the metropolis, rarely look into the blackness of the night sky and even more rarely think over the cosmic loneliness of everyone who was born under this sky. Nazar Bilyk’s project is about the inevitability of absolute separation and, at the same time, possibility of closeness paradoxically related to it. Distance longing for closeness, between person and person, between person and cosmos, internal isolation in order to know oneself, society and the universe are the main subjects of study of the artist.

The exhibition is built on the principle of separate statements, which ultimately converge into a single and multilayered narrative. In a sense, “Imaginary distances” is a site-specific project, because it is in a very dynamic interaction with the specific space of the halls of the Kyiv National Picture Gallery. The exhibition begins with a series of amorphous sculptural objects, remotely reminiscent of human heads. These plastic structures, at first glance, make the impression of shapeless and heartless Golems. The general sense of derealisation is amplified by the large-scale portrait of the artist, where instead of the face we see only a blur. What is it? The world through the eyes of someone with serious visual impairment? In a sense, yes, but it’s not about the physical inability to see. For Bilyk, this radical defocus becomes a prerequisite for moving the spotlight from external to the internal. Only careful examination of the distorted heads reveals behind the outer layer completely different, classical anthropomorphic images. These are etude sculptural portraits of friends and relatives of the artist, created during the last fifteen years. All this time they stood on the shelves of the artist’s studio, and finally they were captured here with translucent plastic. Over time, this kind of process eventually happens in our memory. According to Nazar Bilyk, such “lamination” documents personal memories and shows that knowledge of even a close person is always vague and incomplete, and can only be obtained by getting rid of perception stereotypes.

The second part of the project is a monumental work, an emotional self-portrait, in which it is hard to find recognizable physical features of Nazar Bilyk himself. This is a huge fossilized X-ray shot of something absolutely indistinct, and at the same time, very corporal and abstractly detached. The mighty boulder reflects in a dark mirror plane of water and transfers the viewer to another reality of pristine Chaos, which gives birth to the world of disturbing and deep self-study of the artist. In the next room the head again, but this time it is a macro focus on one portrait, which is the only one from the whole series to be filled with very transparent plastic. In this generalized image of a human a certain existential optimism and a chance to know the unknowable finally emerge.

The fourth hall of the exhibition is a key to understanding the context of the whole project. The exhibition at the Picture Gallery was preceded by the artist’s journey to one of the most interesting and picturesque places in the world, the Turkish Cappadocia. This is a land of magnificent forms of volcanic rocks and numerous cave temples. The place where Christian hermits lived for centuries and where Nazar Bilyk was lucky to live in one of the former cave cells for a few days. According to the ancient testimonies, for a true ascetic a wretched small cell becomes equal to the whole universe. The result of the artist’s reflection on this topic was a very intimate and at the same time powerful work that combined the relief image of the cave ceiling, as well as a photograph of the starry sky over the unforgettable Cappadocia. This room adds an additional layer of interpretation of the sculptural heads that are presented in the other parts of the project, because if you look closely, their quirky forms somewhat resemble quaint Cappadocian landscapes.

In the last part of the project, two main leitmotivs of the exhibition are merged: spiritual and physical landscape, imaginary and geometric distance, internal and real Cappadocia. Having completely experienced detached self-immersion, we again find ourselves in front of a dark, powerful relief. But this time it is not only a self-portrait of the artist, but the whole universe, in which one wanders around endlessly on the path of spiritual search: a terribly beautiful desert of closeness.

text Alisa Lozhkina

art menegment Irina Yuferovа

advice and inspiration Anastasia Shchukina

http://artukraine.com.ua/a/nazar-bilik-stati-blizhchim-do-samogo-sebe/#.WmB0Ua5l-b

https://www.obozrevatel.com/society/nazar-bilik-podorozh-do-nezvidanih-glibin-osobistosti.htm

https://lb.ua/culture/2017/12/22/385606_uyavni_vidstani_nazara_bilika_u.html

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SPACE AROUND (anamorphosis) 2017

Resins, fibreglass, paint, h- 175 cm

 
My work “Space Around”, which explores the relationship between human and the surrounding space, has become the very subject of my further study and citation, where I work with the theme of reality perception illusion. The allusion I used is a phenomenon of Anamorphosis, an optical distortion of reality. “The Ambassadors” by Holbein the Younger served me as an example.
Using 3D modeling, I changed the usual form of sculpture and mixed two planes of reality in one work. This idea interested me and gave birth to a new “encrypted form”. Various experiments on the transformation of shape of the existing sculpture gave me experience of working with my own optics. The new work revealed to me viewer’s ability for undistorted vision of content, code, the very reality that is presented in front of them in abstractly altered forms of sculpture, and can be accessed from the point of “correct vision.”

 

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WALKING ON WATER, 2017

Resins, foto, 20х20 сm

 
Biruchiy 2017 pulled me out of the city rhythm as never before. I wanted to get distracted and stay by the sea, so this year’s work is very much related to the main environment of the Biruchiy island, the sea.
“Walking on the Water” is about the biblical tale of a miracle. About its possibility in our lives. About our desire and hope for it. That’s why I set up a small laboratory on an island, to turn a liquid substance into a solid matter, which one could walk on. This is a model that came out of my experiments and reflections on miracle. A miracle is a change in the natural course of events and violation of known laws. Recently, we use this word less and less, because technical progress, discoveries and experiments can assert us in our own “divinity.”
My reflections on miracle were not only about the general phenomenon, but more about the aspect of a miracle that prompts a person to strive for something. The work touches on a theme of miracle as a very important need in life, realization of which is always sought by many of us, dreaming of something. The desire to realize the impossible alters reality, disagreement with nature and belief in supernatural actually reveal our deepest aspirations.

 

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PORTRAIT OF WELDER NICHOLAS, 2015

stainless steel, 100 х 750 см

On a piece of rusty metal, I drеw a portrait of a welder who, from year to year, helped artists to do their work on residence Biryuchiy. A sign of gratitude, which together turned into a work of art. Welder Kolya welded his portrait.

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SCARS, 2017

Resins, fibreglass, metal, 320 х 250 х 154 см

 
Making heroes into monuments is a form of historic justice rooted in post-Soviet mentality. In “Scars” sculpture, the author takes up the theme of memory and works on a documentary image of a not-yet formed monument to the warrior. The exhibited “piece of a big monument” is an independent memorial sign which tries to document and comprehend war while it is still ongoing.
Installation view, Lviv Art Palace

 

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MARK, 2016

Resins, fibreglass, paint, d-100 cm

 

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PAGES FROM PHOTOALBUM, 2016

Residence in Poland, Klimentowice

 
Collages on the walls of abandoned rural school in Poland.
With school learned almost everything: desks, boards, old furniture … Stayed left a shelled paint, dust, noise and lack of children. This is not new for us and clear example of the flow of life in the big city. In the attic you can find old photos and wall newspapers .. Sterlos almost everything slowly fades from memories of past pupils, even the memory of your own childhood ….

 

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SPACE AROUND, 2016

Resins, fibreglass, paint, h-86 cm

 
Nazar Bilyk’s “The Space Around” continues the general line of the sculptor’s art. It is dedicated to the interaction between human and surrounding space, the study of specifics of the form creation and its perception by our mind. On one hand, this work is anthropocentric, it focuses on person’s image, but on the other, the human outline dissolves in an ideal shape of a sphere, and along with it, in the environment. Using the counterform, which precedes the appearance of form in sculpture, the artist pays attention to the inner world and sees the external world through it, looks into the process of creation itself, slightly pushing the veil of secrecy, but leaving room for speculation.

 
Natalia Matsenko

 

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MEMORY CONSTRUCTOR, 2016

Polymeric materials, glass. 40×40 cm

 

Nazar Bilyk presented the project for “Memory Constructor” monument. The monument is a four-metre cube crafted out of dark metal. It represents a scaled-up copy of a children’s construction set for assembling kit models of military machinery and human figures. Anyone willing can use the set to put together their own army for use in games, be it for defence or attack.
The project is a means to capture, preserve and carry information about the distinct historical path that we are going through at this particular moment. Through this project Bilyk touches on a number of pressing subjects. The accumulation of social memory is among them.
Amassing social memory through personal one we satisfy our essential need of self-identity and the national idea. The project conveys the potential to avoid ideological colouring of the monuments that are memorials to the tragic events experienced by every Ukrainian. It presents a way to fit within the universal ideas of preserving peace, which is essential for human advancement.
Another subject raised by Bilyk is one of flat surfaces, grids through which we view the world: monitors and screens. It is via these surfaces a certain perspective on the events is transmitted for us. While we have already learned to approach all information with a pinch of scepticism, we are still unable to distance ourselves from it. Like receivers we are triggered to absorb it. In his distinctive manner the author plays with form, counter-form and flat surfaces to emphasize the 3D nature of the real world. A certain secure territory is put within a cube, surrounded by conventional armaments, and it is up to us to construct the reality and the memory of it.
Much like every scale model, “Memory Constructor” acquires its meaning the moment it is assembled.
Nazar Bilyk leaves it up to each and every of us, whether to assemble the kit model or leave it the way it is locked within the monument.
Ultimately, we are presented with a project for an anti-war monument. The delicate openwork of the cube’s metal sides exposes the arbitrariness and fragility of the boundaries that separate the cube’s protected inner territory from outside world. The interpretation of the monument will always be naturally dependent on the current political agenda. Will it carry the memory of national hatred, or will it convey the knowledge about the inviolable principle of non-violent resolution of conflicts? Much will depend on the consciousness of future generations. Having stood the test of time, the monument will allow forming the memory about the importance of the land, on which it stands.

 

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CHANCES, 2015

Concrete piles, paint, 60 х 60 см

 
Work “Chances” made out of the basement of the unfinished house on the island Biryuchiy, Ukraine. BIRUCHIY contemporary art project.
Some Thoughts on the laws of chance ….

 

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POINTER, 2015

Granite, h-160 cm

Boulder installed by a sculptor at the crossroads of forest roads, near the city of Irshansk, points out to the passerby choosing the path as in a fairy tale. On the right you will go …. on the left you will go …
Its version of the direction has this sculpture with the name “Pointer”

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ALL GOLD OF THE CITY, 2015

Granite, gold, h-160 cm

Zhytomyr land is rich in minerals, is extracted, granite, amber, titanium, and more. Work “All the gold of the city”, a monument to the riches of Ukrainian land. A large piece of granite is nothing more than a metaphorical gold for the residents of a small town Irshansk.

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“PROMONITION: UKRAINIAN ART NOW” SAATCHI GALLERY, LONDON, 2014

Saatchi Gallery presents the largest survey of Ukrainian contemporary art to date
Exhibition aims to provide a broad introduction to the diverse and energetic nature of Ukraine’s art-scene through showcasing over 70 works by 38 artists…

The exhibition took over one entire floor of the Gallery and features work that has been made recently, but mostly pre-dates the social unrest and upheaval that Ukraine has experience during 2014. However, the title acknowledges that since the early years of the new millennium, the work of many Ukrainian artists has tended to reflect, or even predict in an uncanny way, the growing challenges, issues and questions concerning their nation’s future identity and stability.
Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now showcases an exciting group of artists who are relatively unknown outside their homeland. Some of the artists featured in this exhibition have established reputations in Ukraine, while others are recent graduates. The work of these two generations of artists provides an arresting insight into the future of contemporary art in Ukraine and is set to play a key role in shaping our understanding of the culturally rich but complex environment in which they practice their art.

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GREAT AND GRAND, Misteckij arsenal, 2013

The exhibition “GREAT AND GRAND” represents the 1000 most prominent artistic works from collections of 35 artistic, historical and archaeological museums of Ukraine…

The project demonstrates the brightest pages of the history of Ukrainian art from ancient times to the present and outlines the very way of forming Ukrainian identity. The major goals of the Great and the Grand Exhibition are the awakening of the historical and cultural memory of Ukrainians, the strengthening of the sense of commonality of civilization experience and the unity of historical principles and ideological landmarks, the awareness of the involvement of everyone in the prominent pages of the past, and hence the responsibility for creating the present.

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SOLO EXHIBITION, Black Square Gallery, Miami, 2011

Location: Black Square Gallery, Wynwood District 2248 NW 1st Place (on the cross with 23rd St), Miami, FL 33127 Regular Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm.

Location:
Black Square Gallery, Wynwood District
2248 NW 1st Place (on the cross with 23rd St),
Miami, FL 33127

Regular Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm.

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RAIN, 2010

bronze, glass, h-190 сm

The very name of the work, “Rain”, is fairly general and conditional. A male figure with a drop on its face, raised to the sky…
Formally all is quite simple and clear. But the metaphor used here, its very content, reveals my personal reflections about human. First of all, the work is dedicated to his inner dialogue, which he has with himself, it is a kind of questioning, a search for meaning, revealing the internal unresolved issues that arise throughout the life of each of us. In seeking an answer to them he raises his face to the sky.
A drop of water is a symbol of dialogue, which connects a man with his Creator and with all the diversity of life. The form of the human figure is dictated by the simplest interpretation: it has a loose and porous structure, similar to the drought-parched ground when it greedily absorbs water. Besides, here I play with scale, making a drop fantastically large, thus prompting and reminding the person that as a part of nature, they are no more significant than an insect.
In addition to the above, this is my understanding of the gravity of human interaction with environment in their indissoluble coexistence.