"DETERMINO/antithesis" - signification of
the significant, as the main priciple of V.Bazhay's cognitive game.
(Art Palace, Lviv, 2000 - "SoviART" Center, Kyiv, 2001)
It is strange that after 500 years of art history, except the terminologic explanation nobody can say for sure what painting is, why it was invented and what is its destination.
We talk on painting as on an old and well-known truth (but more exactly as on the myth) - define masterpieces and not-masterpieces, study differences between artistic technology of different schools, we talk about the brush-stroke thickness, about psychology of expressive canvas but nobody does not look at painting as on the global phenomenon, as on the type of art, which is already through 1000 years dominate upon the world of art.
As far back as 70's art critics have noted certain voltage in relations between traditional painting and new types of art, such as performance, installation, video-art, ansamblage and others. Image of painting was shaded slowly and disappeared in the light of the flowering word. The process of verbal euphoria commenced by O. Potebnia, F. de Sossuire and L. Wittgenstein has influenced upon modernists. But could they, easy-going surrealists, cubists, dadaists and abstract artists who were sure in harmless future of mankind, be aware of that, that a word, represented in their manifestoes will become their end??? Before the second world war could not, but afterwards it was already to late. "It seems in seeing object, I can construe (translate) that object within many seemingly complete 'languages' of perception. Another person seeing the same object can may construe a similar number of 'languages', none of which need necessarily coincide with mine" - wrote in 1968 Ian Burn, who formed the Society for Theoretical art and Analyses in New-York. Words and language grow and were developed until hatch from British "Art & Language" and American "Journal of Conceptual Art".
"8. When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond the limitations.
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10. Ideas alone can be works of art
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16. If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art not literature, numbers are not mathematics".
"Sentences on Conceptual Art"
Sol LeWitt, 1969.
Nobody couldn't see a future conflict in these words. And explosion took place
"Why I need paint on canvas, if I can just write about and not to use them?" That was one among popular questions of the representative of conceptual art. Sounds logic Why anyone must paint if he can just describe the idea of painting on piece of paper.
To put it in another way we may say that from the historic point of view painting lost its relevance and was perceived as antiquity and decorative media.
The main reason of such perception we can notice in global commercialization and informatization of society and art environment. Fashion and scandals of the new types of art (pornography in photo- and video-art, strangeness in performances and happenings, grandiosity of installation, ugliness and poverty of Arte-povera) ousted the painting. The auditorium of its admirers also changed. From now, abstract painting - is luxury and prestige for millionaires, whereas middle class still call for "circumses and panem" of new media in art.
One of the main particularities of conceptual art was an activ theoretic and historic investigations in the field of art and painting Thence we have an interest in theoretical texts on painting Texts replace painted canvas.
There is nothing extraordinal in this. Different media always were replaced one by another. Thus, painting changed sculpture on early-christian Europe and Arabic East, the same is with painting which changes now under the pressure of new dynamic media of Ars Electronica. Inter-medial replacements never considered as the death of one of the arts. Painting is de-terminizing, it becomes casual under the influence of new media development.
There is amazing parity between opposition media, which has been established in the core of triad. The essence of each element of triad was partly emphasized by Plato as "eidos - demiurg - matter", which was equal to three types of existence in later neo-platonic philosophy - "nous - psyche - kosmos". This statement was soon transformed in Hegelian triad of "thesis - synthesis - antithesis". Each object, each process and phenomenon, as in our case painting, has its basic principle, source moment (thesis), its opposition and disclaimer (antithesis) and unity of oppositions in one (synthesis).
In our case Vasyl Bazhay's exhibition is clearly located in the frames of worldwide triad. Its elements emerge in texts (thesises) - determinations of painting as type of art, paintings (antithesises) and in exhibition itself (syntheses of oppositions) De-termino brings us to the conclusion of certain im-plication, makes determinists from us, i.e. representatives of philosophical trend on legitimate relationship between the phenomena of material and spiritual world. The position on causality which, first or last brings us to the consequences is the central position of determinism. Other reference of painting's im-plication on Bazhay's exhibition we will find in semantic side. There are two interdependent elements before us - signified (texts) and that what is signify (paintings). Such variable dichotomy is a base of significance and a mechanism which allows us to classify the painting, as semiotic structure. Due to semiotics of exhibition space one can perceive elements of given dichotomy as simple signs. For the method of origin on the exhibition we distinguish two their types - instrumental (paintings) and organic (quoting, as a source of paintings' comprehension).
In all artist's exhibitions we are impressed by those purity, harmony and consistency which he uses during the work with his paintings. The idea about the exhibition as self-sufficient work of art creates premises of intellectual action. Not only artists but also art critics and theorists are enforced to think about Vasyl Bazhay's exhibitions. All these people have unique chance to create a definite art theory at the ground of presented material.
As in previous exhibitions the problems of dichotomy, opposition, antilogy and collision of different elements are the main principles of artist's creation. But what is opposition, antilogy and collision; they are only one of variable aspects of harmony which was already described by Plato and Aristotle.
In his exhibitions Bazhay is at the same time the creator, the critic and curator This is his environment and inside of it he is Bazhay!
Roman Hankevycz
art critic
