Novosphere by Volodymyr Klyzuko The Koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia by Alexander Khantaev Still the River Flows by Volodymyr Klyuzko Girl by Alexander Khantaev

Bezpala Brown Gallery and Yara Arts Group present:

Carpathian Photo Patterns
an exhibit of photographic art
by Volodymyr Klyuzko and Alexander Khantaev
inspired by the Ukrainian Hutsul Koliada

December 17- December 29, 2013
Bezpala Brown Gallery, 17 Church Street (@Front) Toronto, ON

Opening on Tuesday, December 17, 6 - 9 pm
The opening will feature a special concert by the Koliadnyky with trembitas (mountain horns) and a holiday cocktail. Koliada is an ancient winter ritual that is still practiced high in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. There, Koliada is considered to be the most important event of the year. The old songs are incantations that assume the magical power of words: "What is said, will be so."

VOLODYMYR KLYUZKO, an artist from Kyiv, will show his “Photo Patterns”, a kaleidoscopic interpretation of life in the Carpathian Mountains. Klyuzko utilizes a photo remix technique to transform representational photography into non-representational geometric patterns. This approach views the tradition and aesthetic of the Hutsul people and their Carpathian Mountain landscape through repetition, which helps transcend linearity. The photographs exist in the medium of the singular and the multiple, adding three-dimensionality to both the subject matter of the multiple images inter-spliced together and the separate image pattern that the multiples create. This work is an attempt to rethink the everyday automatic routine of life through folk art. Yet, what underlies this endless repetition is the concept of a realistic infinity in which the repetition of the quotidian creates an infinite set of everyday objects.

ALEXANDER KHANTAEV is an artist and photographer born in Siberia who studied at the University of Irkutsk. His work has appeared in numerous publications in Ulan Ude, Buryatia, as well as in Moscow, Kyiv and New York. Khantaev has been documenting the Hutsul Koliada since 2003, attracted to its traditions as basic blocks of communication between generations. When through the years many people touch the same material, it becomes highly polished and crystalizes. Through his lens, Alexander Khantaev captures this organic essence.

The Koliada related events in Toronto will culminate with performances of
“Midwinter Night: Sacred and Profane Rituals”
December 27-29
at the Harbourfront Center
with a special premiere on
Friday, December 27th at 8 PM.
There are also performances on Saturday (3 pm and 8 pm) and Sunday (3 pm)
at Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Center.(416) 973-4000
For more info: http://www.brama.com/yara/midwinter-to-press.html

This project was created by New York’s Yara Arts Group  in collaboration with the Koliada Project and  the Ukrainian Culture Festival.

Since its founding in 1990, Yara Arts Group has created 28 original theatre productions based on materials from the East. New York critics have called Yara’s theatre pieces: “good theatre that builds an alternate world that allows us to re-learn and reflect upon the great questions at the core of our being human.” Yara began its collaboration with traditional artists from the Carpathians in 2003, and has developed performances in Kyiv, Philadelphia, Edmonton and New York, as well as theatre pieces “Koliada: Twelve Dishes”, “Still the River Flows”, “Winter Sun” and “Midwinter Night” at the world renowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Photographs and video of the koliada ritual in the village of Kryvorivnia have been exhibited at the RA Gallery in Kiev, La Galleria, Ukrainian Institute in New York, Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs and a major art installation at the Ukrainian Museum in New York.

The Koliada events in Toronto are made possible by funds from the Shevchenko Foundation, the Ukrainian Credit Union and the Olzhych Foundation. Media sponsor Kontakt. Yara Arts Group’s participation is made possible by the Coca-Cola Company and the friends of Yara Arts Group.