“A Farewell to Arms”

02

October

2018

On 17-30, September 2018 in Solochyn village, Transcarpathian region, it was held the fifth anniversary International Sculpture Symposium.

The jubilee plein air is followed by the art project “Transcarpathian Sculptural Path”, founded by Petro and Arpad Matl in 2013 based on their public organization “Pro Arte Munkacs”. The goal of the project is to install sculptures on the main squares of villages and settlements of the region in order to create a new international tourist route. This, in its turn, contributes to the development of rural tourism, preservation of the common history and maintaining friendly and cultural ties. 

The main sponsor of the fifth Symposium was the sanatorium “Kvitka Polonyny”, where the artistic camp was located. This is not surprising since in 2003-2004 the artist Petro Matl created an entire sculpture park for this health complex.

To the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the organizers set the theme of the symposium “A Farewell to Arms” – after the name of the autobiographical novel by Ernest Hemingway. Strange enough, but over thousands of years, people take up arms again and again.

Six participants of the plein air from different countries depicted their vision, experience and comprehension of this topic in their works.

The Belgian artist Thierry Lauwers knows what war and weapons are from his own experience. He is a former paratrooper and commando, who spent five years in the “hot” spots of Africa as part of the French Legion. His biography is extremely interesting and multifaceted. He took part in more than 200 sculptural symposiums, and the sculptures made by him decorate the world’s capitals from Argentina to Nepal. His sculpture, made of stone, is called “Faces”. The work is divided into two parts, where the bottom is the Great War of 1914 – 1918, the countries that took part in it, the landscapes of the Earth cracked by bombs. And in the upper front part, we can see a face – a collective image of all the people of the planet. On the back, there are open hands of greeting and swearings like a symbol of the united Europe and nations that can live in peace and harmony.

An interesting vision of the theme was presented by Richard Litvinyuk from Poland by his sculpture made of wooden boards – “Mill of Peace”. According to the author, relations between nations are similar to a kind of “meat grinder”, and to achieve Peace, it is necessary that all images and claims of the past “to grind” in human grindstones and people must build strong peace relations, especially in Transcarpathia – the region where five frontiers converge. By the way, Richard Litvinyuk takes part in our symposium for the second time, and the sculpture "The Bridge", made by him in 2017, went from Ukraine to the Hungarian border town Tarpa.

The art camp is usually visited by the well-known sculptors, but this time the organizers invited a student from Hungary. Tamas Dani used a subject, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose – this is a bowl without one fragment and bottom. As a symbol, the bowl is life, and this sculpture brings up a philosophical question: “What is the point of destruction, war and devastation?”

A girl looking at an endless horizon. The wooden sculpture “Gloria” of the Iranian artist, but now a resident of Kharkiv Saeid Ahmadi conveys an image of hope. The author created a series of works "Open Sky" stored in numerous countries (Turkey, Germany, Korea). Now the largest of them is in Transcarpathia. In the sculpture itself, there are many symbols, but the main idea – to convey not the dream of flying, but the revelation of a soul that life does not end even with death. Saeid Ahmadi also took part in the Symposium for the second time at the invitation of the Matl's family. In 2017, he performed a stone sculpture “Friendship”.

“Girl with grapes” – a sculpture of the Ukrainian Nadiia Otriazha says that after any war there will be life, there will be fruits and peace. Nadiia works with different materials: she combines glass, ceramics, stone and bronze in her works. Participant in numerous sculptural plein airs and symposiums. Her life is a movement.

Another representative of Ukraine, Transcarpathian Endre Hidi (junior) presented “Stone Bud”. The author wanted to show that, despite all the difficulties and problems that occur in our lives, we can create something positive, good, and always find the right way out of the situation. The artist took part in the project “Transcarpathian sculptural path” for the third time. His previous works “People's bridge” and “Ilka” have already occupied a prominent place in the Transcarpathian villages. 

The symposium ended and the sculptures created during this time would find their new homes. Which villages will receive a gift is not known since the village council undertakes to create a modern and high-quality decorated area for sculpture.

Text and photo: Oleksandr Nikitchuk
© Art & Culture Foundation Brovdi Art