DIKAREV VOLODYMYR

Laureate of the Planetary Renaissance Prize from Landmark Centre, Saint Paul, the USA (1996) and Minnesota State Fair Prize, Saint Paul, the USA (2004).

He was born in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region. From his early childhood, he showed a talent for painting, and at the age of 10, he entered the Berdiansk Art School, where he studied the basics of painting, sculpture, composition and art history at I. M Honcharenko. Admiration by works of Mexican monumentalists Jose Siqueiros, Diego Rivera and Jose Orozko from Berdiansk led Volodymyr Dikarev and his friend Heorhii Manziuk to the Uzhhorod State Art and Industrial College for the specialty "Monumental Art". At the college, his teachers were Hari Chuvalov, Ivan Manailo, Vilmos Berets, Sandor Petki and Volodymyr Demydiuk. Outside the school, a significant creative influence on the artist had the following artists P. Bedzir, Y. Kremnytska, F. Seman, V. Mykyta, A. Shepa, Edita and Mykola Medvetskyi. In his student years, he became interested in oriental philosophy and avant-garde art trends, which were banned in the Soviet Union, so spiritually close to him were his fellow students Myron Mykuliak, Katalina Hollo, Eldar Efendiiev, Hryhorii Manziuk and others.

After graduating from the college in 1968, he got a job at the Kyiv Complex of Monumental Art. Selected works: nine monumental mosaics, decorated on facades of buildings, gate "Arka Druzhby" in International Children's Camp in Berdiansk (1976); monumental mosaic on the main facade of the sanatorium "Joy of Life" in Truskavets (1980); a monument with elements of mosaic, Art Centre, Lviv (1980); mosaic design at the theatre in Kremenchuk (1985); Monumental sculpture in the International Children's Camp "Rainbow" in Kremenchuk (1985); monument and a mosaic panel in the International Children's Camp "Blue Pearl", Yalta (1986-1990); Monumental mosaic on the main facade of school No.5 in Boiarka, Kyiv (1994-1996).

The artistic trends such as symbolism and surrealism influenced the artist’s style of painting and graphic art. As the artist himself says: "I start the picture from the form, and end it also with the form. I adhere to the principle of the ancient Chinese people "Follow the Brush Movement". But whatever I paint, it's a little ironic. Perhaps it's like Chekhov's plays. He thought he was writing comedies, and at the theatres, they were performed like tragedies. But it is a viewer to decide."

Volodymyr Dikarov has been a participant in numerous collective art exhibitions since 1988. The author of 12 personal expositions: Kyiv (1989, 1992, 1996), Amsterdam (1991), Moscow (1995), St. Paul, the USA (1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007), Hudson, the USA (2002), Bloomington, the USA (2003), San Francisco, the USA (2006).

The artist is currently living and working with his family in St. Paul, the USA.

Oleksandr Nikitchuk