Temporary exhibitions

BURYAK Borys - Podvirne / Ukraine -1953
Borys Bouryak, Emeritus Painter from Ukraine, active member of the Academic Senate of the International Academy of Modern Art in Rome, is an important charismatic figure in Lviv art. For more than 30 years we have learned about his multifaceted work through group and personal exhibitions in various cities in Ukraine as well as in Austria, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy where his talent of colorist painter has a great reputation.

The painter was born on 10.25.1953 in the village of Podvirne in the Chernivtsi region where, from his early childhood, he discovered the wonderful and beautiful world of art. The path of Borys Bouryak is, in many ways, characteristic of the Lviv Art School of the second half of the 20th century. Like most of the students of the Ivan Trouch School of Fine Arts in Lviv (1970-1974) and the Academy of Fine Arts (1974-1979) he had a passion for the masters of the Renaissance era. He was overwhelmed by the solo exhibitions of Roman Selsky officially exhibited in the Lviv exhibition halls. He was very interested in the art of Baltic and Armenian painters as well as forbidden and inaccessible art such as the work of the French Pierre Bonnard, Georges Rouot and Nicolas de Staël.


The complex of impressions and certain artistic cues received gradually transformed into its own pictorial system. The painter considers that the duty of a painter "is not to paint spots of color, but to think with these spots". For the author, color "is not a pure color" but "a complex substance". The latter is formed during the fine-tuning of the painting, the application of the layers of "smoothing", the use of watercolor paint and the so-called "body painting", reflexes and invoice effects. While recognizing the overwhelming importance of the initial composition, the author tries to avoid a constant pattern during his subsequent work. He works with emotional, dynamic and lively impulses in correspondence with the inner need, both his own need and that of the canvas which changes constantly to become independent afterwards and to begin his life in infinite associative contacts with the public. Then, in the painter's work appear compositions that can be called significant works. Among the latter are notably "The dedication to the Stauropigiac Brotherhood of Lviv" (1986), "The dedication to the Mohyla Academy of Kiev" (1987), "We bake the bread" (1988), "The dedication to Mykhaylo Boytchouk "(1988)," Byzantine "(1988)," The tears near Krouty "(1990)," The architects of ancient Lviv "(1990)," The traditional evenings of the young people of the villages "(1995) and" The builders of ancient Lviv ”(1997-2009)… In addition, the author finds favorite motifs to which he returns several times over a long period:“ The theme of the Cossacks ”,“ King Danylo ”,“ The dialogues "," The women "," The flowers "and" The still lifes ".

The professionalism of the painter evolves all the time in a systematic persevering work. Speaking of his important artistic work, we can also say that Borys Bouryak is one of the Lvivian artists who really contributed to the training of new generations, to the transmission of experience in accordance with modern and post-modern thought of the 20th century and the beginning. of the 21st century.

In this respect, his participation in the creation of ideological foundations and the organization in Lviv of the Ukrainian Artists' Club is no accident. This one-of-a-kind arts group played a very important role in the troubled 1990s, a time of transition from a stagnant totalitarian environment to the principles of free and independent artistic thought.

B. Bouryak became the second president of the Ukrainian Artists' Club (after V. Skolozdra) and really contributed to its activity. It was probably around this time that his certainty grew of the importance of educating a new generation of Ukrainian artists and of the enormous creative potential of contemporary Ukrainian art. His educational activity gave wonderful results and created a new wave of young Lvivian painting guaranteeing the continuity of the generations. The painter is always concerned with the young talents who follow him, thus helping to expand and enrich the pictorial school of Lviv.

Today, often remembering his first masters from a distance of years, he probably does not realize when he himself becomes a "master". His wealth today is not only his own successes but also those of his followers. He has real authority, he actively continues to create works by perfecting life experience and his own beliefs. Their materialization will be the new paintings awaiting their publication ...

DEMTSIU Mychailo - Ukraine - 1953
Rarely has a painter magnified color with such generosity and emotion. What some consider to be a component of the work of art, Mychailo Demtsiu has erected it into absolute matter which he models a bit like a sculptor in clay. He draws from it the strength of his subjects, the balance of his compositions and the richness of his expression. Painter, watercolorist, sculptor and ceramist, he explores multiple techniques that come together to give life a vision that is at once optimistic, sensitive and powerful.

Born on January 2, 1953 in Lviv, Ukraine, Mychailo Demtsiu studied fine arts in his hometown. A vocation born out of a fascination with the landscapes of the Crimea and the Black Sea that he discovered during his military service. After his studies, he stayed regularly in the Carpathians, another region which left a deep imprint on his work and enriched its human dimension through scenes of everyday life and portraits, especially female ones.

Since then, his inspiration has lingered on all that life and the world offer images worthy of interest, with a predilection for maritime landscapes (Black Sea, shores of Brittany and Spain), views of cities , characters, still lifes and an essential component of his work: folklore. Through it, Mychailo Demstiu affirms his belonging to a cultural identity and his attachment to Ukraine and its traditions, this country where he still resides and which remains implicit in each of his works.
Close to expressionism, Demtsiu's painting is constructed in large areas that are as if sculpted in the paste. A touch full of vitality comes to organize this amalgam of colors which favors warm tones and declines intense reds, deep blues, incandescent or even acid yellows. Light is omnipresent which gives this universe the appearance of mosaic or stained glass. And under the apparent simplicity of the forms, a synthetic vision is revealed which, with just a few touches, evokes things with astonishing precision and awakens a whole register of sensations, contrasts and emotions.

Among the other achievements of Mychailo Demtsiu, we will stop at the watercolors which, even if they do not have this consistency specific to oil, are nonetheless chromatic fireworks. We should also mention the motifs he has been creating since 2004 for the Rosenthal porcelain factory, his collaboration with the Dirix stained glass workshop in Taunusstein / Wiesbaden, as well as the many projects he leads in collusion with children. Finally, in November 2009, Mychailo Demtsiu will participate for the third time at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.
Didier Paternoster

DEMTSIU Mychailo - Ukraine - 1953
Rarely has a painter magnified color with such generosity and emotion. What some consider to be a component of the work of art, Mychailo Demtsiu has erected it into absolute matter which he models a bit like a sculptor in clay. He draws from it the strength of his subjects, the balance of his compositions and the richness of his expression. Painter, watercolorist, sculptor and ceramist, he explores multiple techniques that come together to give life a vision that is at once optimistic, sensitive and powerful.

Born on January 2, 1953 in Lviv, Ukraine, Mychailo Demtsiu studied fine arts in his hometown. A vocation born out of a fascination with the landscapes of the Crimea and the Black Sea that he discovered during his military service. After his studies, he stayed regularly in the Carpathians, another region which left a deep imprint on his work and enriched its human dimension through scenes of everyday life and portraits, especially female ones.

Since then, his inspiration has lingered on all that life and the world offer images worthy of interest, with a predilection for maritime landscapes (Black Sea, shores of Brittany and Spain), views of cities , characters, still lifes and an essential component of his work: folklore. Through it, Mychailo Demstiu affirms his belonging to a cultural identity and his attachment to Ukraine and its traditions, this country where he still resides and which remains implicit in each of his works.
Close to expressionism, Demtsiu's painting is constructed in large areas that are as if sculpted in the paste. A touch full of vitality comes to organize this amalgam of colors which favors warm tones and declines intense reds, deep blues, incandescent or even acid yellows. Light is omnipresent which gives this universe the appearance of mosaic or stained glass. And under the apparent simplicity of the forms, a synthetic vision is revealed which, with just a few touches, evokes things with astonishing precision and awakens a whole register of sensations, contrasts and emotions.

Among the other achievements of Mychailo Demtsiu, we will stop at the watercolors which, even if they do not have this consistency specific to oil, are nonetheless chromatic fireworks. We should also mention the motifs he has been creating since 2004 for the Rosenthal porcelain factory, his collaboration with the Dirix stained glass workshop in Taunusstein / Wiesbaden, as well as the many projects he leads in collusion with children. Finally, in November 2009, Mychailo Demtsiu will participate for the third time at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.

Didier Paternoster