Ivan Shutiev was born October 28, 1933, in Uzhhorod, Transcarpathian region. In 1955 he finished Painting department of the School of Applied Arts in Uzhhorod. In 1962 Ivan Shutiev joined Ukrainian National union of Artists. In 1975 he was given high title of Honored Artist of Ukraine and later in 2004 - People's Artist of Ukraine. Ivan Shutiev have partiocipated in numerous exhibits held in Ukraine, in the leading European cultural centres and other countries. His names is well known far from Transcarpathia. "Prayer in wood" is a wondeful collection of paintings by Shutiev, depicting unique archaic wooden architectural monuments of Transcarpathia. The main character of these canvases is Church. The wooden temples are seen the best to present the peculiar history of this land as well as to unfold the soul of the highlanders and their high skill in creating of wood. Individualism, beauty and perfection of ancient Transcarpathian wooden churches inspired artist to create cycle "Prayer in wood". Ivan Shutiev decided to reveal, through his own talent, the wealth of local folk art and to infuse his own canvases with a sense of the epic grandeur of the Carpathian landscape. The architectural treasures of Transcarpathia lessened in the 20th century. That makes Shutiev's paintings a colourful prayer for the preservation of the wooden sanctuaries. |
Andriy Vorobets is a talented craftsman of folk art, who gained the highest level in woodworking. Over the last twenty years the aim of his work is to rebirth woodenchurches of Transcarpathia. He makes miniature models - exact copies of cult constructions - of fur-trees and cones. Andriy Vorobets had resently celebrated his seventieth anniversary with unusual achievement - seventy wooden temples made without any nail. Architecture has been of interest to local master since childhood. For a while Andriy Vorobets lived and worked far from his native land. Though his life was not easy, when coming back to Transcarpathia, where he belongs to it was in wooden church architecture that his artistic and creative talent found an outlet. Having started with ordinary building, Andriy Vorobets became a famous master of folk church arcitecture. Models of wooden temples made by him are deseinguished by a clealy defined geometrical form, an outline according to idealized rules, a wonderful sense of proportion and high taste. Craftsman-architect fully uncovered constructive and artistic potentialities of wood. Chary geometric carvind in his models accentuates the beauty of the trimmed wooden surface. Under the influence of stone construction in cities the basic architectural style throughout Transcarpathia gradually changed and new types of building emerged. Today 118 wooden churches are preserved in the region. Tiny wooden models of archaic temples render to us the technical and artistic way of thinking of the ancient times and stress on the importance to preserve these symbols of our presence in the world. |
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