FIGURATIVE PLASTICITY OF VASYL KORCHYNSKYI’S PAINTING WORKS IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTHOR'S VISIONS OF NATIONAL AESTHETICS

Abstract

This article aims to examine the features of the plastic language of Vasyl Korchynskyi’s painting of 2009–2024 in the context of the author’s visions of national aesthetics based on the analysis of a number of works within the specified period. Study methods. The study is based on the principles of compositional and structural, formal and plastic, as well as comparative analysis, which allowed identifying the specifics of the artist’s figurative plasticity. Results. The article considers and analyzes a number of large-format thematic paintings of the artist, in particular, «From Depths of Ages» (2009), «Grace» (2010), «Scythian Steppe» (2013), «Maidan. Revolution of Dignity» (2015), «Builders of Ukrainian Orthodoxy» (2019). As a result of the study, it was found that a large-format thematic painting occupied one of the leading places in the artistic heritage of V. Korchynskyi. It was determined that the master’s artistic visions in the context of national aesthetics testified to the continuity of Ukrainian folk traditions. The artist reflects and extrapolates the significant events of the cultural and historical process in Ukraine, his childhood memories, folk holidays, as well as dramatic and tragic realities of the present into contemporaneousness. It was found that the artist’s work was realized in the stream of aesthetic and spiritual integrity of a form and content. The performed analysis of a number of the artist’s paintings allowed revealing the specifics of his figurative plasticity, in particular the tendency towards complex compositional solutions with multiple semantic and symbolic aspects within the certain picture plane format. To maximally deepen the internal tension of the image, V. Korchynskyi uses an original author’s technique along with other means of expression. Conclusions. It was proven that in his work, V. Korchynskyi organically combined the principles of professional painting with plastic and expressive means of folk art with its mythological and poetic worldview, decorativeness and conventionality of the painting palette. It was determined that the paintings of V. Korchynskyi manifested the maximum harmony with the Ukrainian mentality; the artist’s reception of the folk language revealed in the paradigm of both formal and sign oriented symbolic field of the entire layer of decorative and applied art. The proposed topic is related to the current issues of domestic fine arts of the second half of the 20th – early 21st centuries. The study can also serve as a theoretical basis for fine art experts and students of creative majors.