Vasyl Bazhay
by Hryhoriy OstrovskyiFrom: Vasyl Bazhay: Catalogue. Lviv, 1993
The state of modern fine arts in Halychyna and particularly in Lviv is both complex and versatile. Numerous, seemingly stable stereotypes and criteria have collapsed, leaving behind bitter reminiscences. The new (or well-forgotten) trends have not yet been forgotten. The very concepts of artistic values are changing radically: the demarcation line between art and non-art, the freedom of artistic expression, the function and place of our fine arts in the realities of our life and society, and the place and "face" of our art in the artistic process of the modern world. The prevalence of engaged and politicized art, being the result of the broadened horizons of artistic freedom, does not remove the backlog of old problems. We should not disregard the increasing commercialization of art, which has both positive and negative aspects. One of the cardinal problems, in our opinion, is the professional level of Lviv artists, their outlook and erudition, their ability to assimilate the achievements of world art while preserving their ethnic identity. I believe that these aspects, rather than political and social issues, are becoming the crucial element in national fine arts. The artistic activity of Vasyl Bazhay is a prime example of this phenomenon.
The appearance of Vasyl Bazhay on the Lviv artistic scene was an unexpected event for many art lovers. Few of them knew that a talented and dedicated artist had been working among us for a score of years. His field is abstract painting in which he has achieved remarkable results. Throughout these years, he has avoided any self-promotion or commercial activity, refusing the halo of a martyr or the romantic cloak of an unrecognized genius. Earning his daily bread as a schoolteacher, he devotes every minute of his time to painting. His working place is an old, dark, overcrowded attic.
Bazhay's time came when in 1989 he managed to arrange an impressive exhibition of several scores of large canvases, painted with great ease and thoroughness. Some people were delighted to see them, some refused to admit them as artistic creations, and some began to reconsider their views. Those who accepted him were mostly young people, whose outlook is not burdened with old prejudices; and among those forced to refine their views were both critics and artists. From the western point of view, this situation is rather strange, as abstactionism has already seen its best days and has became one of the artistic trends of the past among others. Our country, itself being a birthplace of abstractionism, has discovered that abstract ideas in art actually never disappeared from our artistic life. They just went underground at critical moments, and later emerged in the West.
We may consider Bazhay's activity from several angles. As it turns out, abstract ideas on Lviv's soil are not a matter of the past. It is a living and dynamic art, full of great potential and very attractive to the Ukrainian public. Another element worth mentioning is that the young artist, who received his training at the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Art, was capable of developing an original approach to abstract art without imitating any of the existing schools. The third aspect is that up on close inspection, we notice the connection of Bazhay's art with the trends existing in Lviv avantgarde art of the 1920s and 1930s and in general with Lviv artistic trends. For an abstract artist, it is not easy to express this connection, but, for the connoisseurs, it is quite apparent.
Vasyl Bazhay is a "pure" abstractionist, submerged in the controlled riot of color and form. Perhaps, if one tries hard, one can see some real objects in his compositions; sometimes he writes some letters or figures in the canvas, but that is of no consequence. Since most of our spectators have been brought up on "real life" art, they tend to see "the sky", an "icon" or "still life" in his paintings. Bazhay avoids giving any names to his pictures. Usually the inscription includes only the date.
As Bazhay is only a painter, most of the impressions come from the richness and beauty of color and the variety and profoundness of the color harmony. Setting aside the concrete meaning of color, the artist acquires unrestricted possibilities for developing all the aesthetic impact of color. The methods and manners of Bazhay are free and inventive with color. He either builds unexpected contrasts or places infinitesimal shades, creates a perfect polyphonic harmony or destroys it with spontaneous disharmony. In spite of the variety of color and artistic methods, the color in his paintings dominates over the details and rhythmic organization; the improvisation becomes an organic part of the realized system. The combination of colors seems to be spontaneous, and it is not easy to say whether it is the product of a previously thought out plan or the result of spontaneous vision. Perhaps it is both. It certainly can be said that it is the result of the individual artistic talent of the painter. However, we can trace these features to the traditions of the ancient Galician school of icon painting, as well as outstanding modern painters of this century. We will remember that abstractionism was one of the main artistic trends in Lviv fine arts in the pre-War period.
But what is the background of Bazhay's canvases? We can state that his color, coloristic combinations and compositions are valuable in themselves to become the main subject and purpose of Bazhay's creative work, and there is no need to look for other "planes". Nevertheless we have a feeling of incompleteness, of inexpression, and we run a risk of stepping onto the unstable ground of losing the distinction between the image and a free play of the imagination. The artist himself avoids any commentaries, allowing the spectator to have his own interpretation, depending on personal perception. People may see various things in the painting, but the spectrum of interpretations is rather restricted. We may speak of such general things as life, death, eternity of the creative spirit, freedom and constraint, the microcosm of man and the macrocosm of the Universe. The study of these categories and their interpretation is the task of scientists, philosophers and theologians. Art begins where science ends. And ideas, rather than impressions of an object, dominate unbiased reasoning, synthesis over analysis. The painter perceives his spiritual object in an intellectually and emotionally condensed atmosphere, which contains endless possibilities of stating and solving numerous moral, aesthetic and other problems.
This world, seemingly closed and protected, devoid of physical realities, is invaded by the storms of our disasters. The harmony of color, form and rhythm appears defenseless against the dramatic collisions of our life. Our time compresses into a Gordian knot of discordant notes, contradictions, oppositions. The sacred plane of the canvas is broken by the cross-piece of the frame as a symbol of a counterthought. The artist goes further and paints on the criss-cross of the axes. The latest works demonstrate the artist's close response to real life. His new series demonstrates the subject "Man Nature": the Nature created by God, and the "secondary" nature, the man-made one. We hear in this juxtaposition the voice of tragic incompatibilities; this noble harmony of life, rich in shades of colors, is broken by strange, hostile and mechanical rhythms, planes covered with mechanical strokes, alien to nature. Bazhay steps out of abstract art and introduces some industrial objects, such as pipes, which emphasize the collision of nature with its antipode. The "hermit" of Lviv art is no less sensitive to life than his engaged colleagues, the only difference being that he realizes his ideas by artistic means.
His latest series may be called "ecological", but the word does not carry all the richness of the associations. We would better call it the ecology of the human spirit that resists modern pseudoculture; the ecology of morality and creative freedom, toward which he directs all his efforts and energy to protect them by art.
Among Lviv artists, Bazhay is considered a nonconformist. His views do not depend on the actual political situation, and his dignity and refusal to compromise are primary. At last the time has come when his artistic achievements bring spiritual riches to our society so poor in true spiritual values. By this he has won our heartfelt gratitude.