New art form invented by Ukrainians presented in the US

The Ukrainian artists presented a unique painting collection created in the technique of gessography in New York

Ukrainian Life reports.

The publication states it is a new art form invented by Lviv residents Oleh and Oleksandr Denysenko.

Oleksandr Denysenko, a film director and art visionary, is convinced that his father's artistic invention is Ukraine's contribution to world art, he told Ukrainian Life.

Gessography is an innovative combination of intaglio, sculpture, and painting.

The Denysenko exhibition, now on display at the Ukrainian Institute of America in Manhattan, is called ANTIQVITAS NOVA, which means "New Antiquity." The collection personifies the modern Ukrainian epic about the eternal struggle between good and evil.

The exhibition aims not only to present a completely innovative painting technique but also to call for opposition to russian military aggression in Ukraine, Denysenko said.

"Our great dream is that Ukrainian art is part of the world and Ukraine is part of the civilized Western world. And for it to become a reality, we must first overcome the 'barbaric russian bear,'" Oleksandr Denysenko said.

The collection's symbol is the painting Good Hunt. It depicts a slain bear – one of the symbols of the aggressor state, whose head was pierced with a spear crowning a trident – the main element of Ukraine's state emblem.

"In the painting Good Hunt, a trident grows from the occupier's skull pierced by a spear. It is an indisputable sign of the aggressor's fate, the response of the free and independent people of Ukraine.

The slogan of Ukrainians 'Wanting Peace; hints at a well-known truth: 'If you want peace, prepare for war,'" says Oleksandr.

"The Melody of Hope depicts a brave and inspired nation, whose vocation is to give hope to the world, to be the forerunner of the new, even despite the burden of responsibility that fell on its shoulders," say the artists.

Oleh Denysenko says gessography is his "journey through the art world, lasting more than thirty years." He stressed that there was no simple answer to how long he had created the collection presented in New York.

"The story of Picasso and his drawing on a napkin in a cafe immediately popped up in my head. The paintings in the exhibition have been made for several years, but the great work creating the paintings is measured by decades," said the artist.

The characters of Denysenko's works are magicians, mythical creatures, and biblical heroes. Almost the artist's every work is accompanied by calligraphic inscriptions.

Paintings created in gessography are unique in that they combine and rethink ancient techniques, engravings, sculptures, iconography, and painting.

"These are paintings that can be touched and read with your hands because gessography has borrowed the sensual relief of the sculpture. From graphics, it took sophistication and symbolic narrative: communicating with the plot, we know ourselves, the world, and ourselves in the world, master the chaos and create the meaning of our life.

From sacred art, gessography inherited the spirituality of levka, the traditional material of Byzantine icons, and from painting, it took its high emotions and colors," says Oleksandr Denysenko.

The central part of Denysenko's mission is the charitable component and support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Oleh and Oleksandr Denysenko joined the UCU Humanitarian aid initiative of the Ukrainian Catholic University, a co-organizer of the exhibition.

The artists are working on the cultural front together with the University, which has raised more than $3 million to overcome the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Denysenko's art also interested the charity auction organizers at Harvard, who visited the exhibition.

The exhibition of paintings in the heart of Manhattan, on the "museum mile" of Fifth Avenue, will run until July 15.