Iconart

Iconart is a modern sacred art gallery in Lviv, founded in 2010. The gallery specializes on the contemporary artistic interpretations of the subject of sacred and gives a platform for exhibitions for painters and iconographers. Iconart partners with Ukrainian artists as well as with foreign creators, organizes exhibitions and conducts inter-institutional artistic activity. The gallery exhibits various artworks, in particular paintings, graphics, drawings and sculptures which in different ways reflect on the theme of sacred art.

Location

Iconart gallery is located near the Rynok square, on Virmenska 26 st. Two moderate showcases owned by the gallery are situated on what used to be an old front door of the tenement built in the historicism manner with the Renaissance revival style construction of facades. In the alcove – tympanum of a portal of the main entrance, you can see the bas-relief of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Inside the gallery, an authentic interior was preserved and restored. The gallery comprises of two parts, each with its function. First part is an exhibition hall where about each month is a new showing. The second part works as a gallery collection display where you can see and purchase icons, artworks and other artefacts.

Activity of the gallery

Left to right: Taras Dobko (pro-rector of Ukrainian Catholic University), Marianna Baran (director of the Iconart gallery), Bishop Borys (Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church), Lyba Yatskiv (iconographer), Konstyantyn Shumskyi (founder of the Iconart gallery)

Up until 2010, Lviv didn't have a space focused on the presentation, reflection and spreading knowledge about contemporary sacred art. The idea of creating such a place in Lviv belonged to the local entrepreneur Kostyantyn Shumskyy. It was born during his study project at the Lviv Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University. As Konstyantyn puts it, after a conversation with art curator Markiyan Filevich (Lviv), he started thinking of creating a gallery, which would become the spot of intersection for different environments united in the field of sacred art.

From its very beginning, the gallery thrived to become a meeting spot for various styles and artistic practices. In both permanent and temporary exhibitions, there are examples of experimental contemporary sacred art, folk icons and traditional art forms of Kyiv Christianity.

During its years the gallery displayed around 100 of personal and group exhibitions—Iconart partners with both acclaimed and young artists and iconographers from Lviv, Ukraine and from abroad. In particular, Iconart gave a place for the first solo shows of Lyba Yatskiv (Obraz/Image), Ulyana Tomkevych (Andante), Ivanka Demchyk (40 days on Earth), Roman Zilinko (So saint, so familiar), Oleksandr Bryndikov (Woodcut). Artists, who either had exhibitions in the gallery or partner with it in any other way belong to different cultural environments and represent various traditions, schools and artistic generations.

Projects of the gallery

In addition to collaborating with contemporary artists, the gallery conducts promotional and educational activity aimed at restoring and rethinking the memory of prominent Ukrainian artists of the interwar period. During the project “Great Masters” gallery platformed artworks of Eugene Lusyk, Oleksa Novakivskyi, and Roman Selskyi. The project was determined to acquaint guests of the gallery with various paintings which are rarely showed in Lviv and Ukraine, due to their belonging in private collections. The search for the new artefacts as well as work aimed at the actualization of memory of Ukrainian artists of interwar and postwar periods is conducted in partnership with the curatorial and artistic circles in Lviv.

Cooperation with international institutions

From left to right: Konstyantyn Shumskyi (founder of the Iconart gallery), Olena Sidlovych (executive director in Ukrainian Institute of America), Walter Goydish (curator of exhibition projects in Ukrainian Institute of America), Marianna Baran (director of the Iconart gallery)

The gallery conducts its activity regarding not only its own physical space but also aiming it at combining institutional partnership with guest exhibitions. Accordingly, in 2015 the gallery in collaboration with Ukrainian Institute of America in New-York hosted a show «Iconart: Visions of a World Unseen». For most of the Iconart resident artists, it was the first exhibition in the USA. As organizers put it: "In this exhibition project, the works focused on images that you can't see with your own eyes. Among them are men in search of God, heroes and seducers, saints and traitors."

Close partnership with the environment of the Ukrainian Catholic University and Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Vladimir the Great of Paris, as well as with bishop Borys Gudziak resulted in a couple of projects which took place in France. One of the shows occurred in September of 2017 in the Diocesan House in Vincennes. This exhibition featured works from artists and iconographers from Iconart. In 2018, in the French institution Institut Catholique de la Méditerranée in the Le Mistral centre the gallery presented around 50 artworks and icons. During the exhibition-sale, the exposition was located on the territory of the Institut Catholique de la Méditerranée and in the church of Saint-Jean du Désert, where the Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish resides.

The gallery's exhibition partners also include the US Embassy in Ukraine and the Bohema Gallery in Warsaw.

External links

• Official website

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