30 may 2022, Flor Linckens
Charity Exhibition for Ukraine
Now that the news sites are mainly filled with stories about Schiphol Airport, inflation, school shootings and princess Amalia's choice of study, it is easy to forget for a moment what should remain one of the most important headlines: the war in Ukraine, which has lasted nearly a hundred days at this point, after the brutal invasion by Russia. The humanitarian consequences are unprecedented and pose a serious threat of famine in the southern hemisphere because the export of 22 million tons of Ukrainian grain is being obstructed.
Chrysalid Gallery in Rotterdam puts the war back on the agenda in a charity exhibition with work by four artists from the gallery: Yelyzaveta Gaydukova, Natalia Grezina, Liviu Bulea and Vladimir Radujkov. The exhibition will be on display until June 25. With the proceeds, the artists hope to make a contribution and to help the citizens of Ukraine.
Natalia Grezina, Trophy "Hundred Years' War", 2019, Chrysalid Gallery
Liviu Bulea, Cityscape, 2019, Chrysalid Gallery
Some of the works in the exhibition focus directly on the precarious political situation in Ukraine, which has been problematic for several years now. For instance in the work 'Putin is a dickhead' (2022) by Yelyzaveta Gaydukova. This sentence has been chanted since 2014 by fans of the football clubs Metalist Kharkiv and Shaktar Donetsk, as an expression of the desire for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. One of the other artists, Natalia Grezina, grew up in Crimea, which she first experienced in the post-Soviet period and since 2014 as a territory that was annexed by the Russians. In her practice, she looks at topics including censorship, nationalism, imagery, trauma and collective memory as well as the literal and destructive consequences of war on the physical earth.
Yelyzaveta Gaydukova, Putin is a dickhead, 2022, Chrysalid Gallery
Vladimir Radujkov, NOISE 03, 2021, Chrysalid Gallery
