SIGNS OF «SILENT PROTEST» IN THE GRAPHICS OF VALENTYN SERHEYEV

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyse Valentyn Serheyev’s graphics from the point of view of personal artistic practices, improving his own creative method beyond the requirements of the dominant method of socialist realism of the 1960s–1980s. Research methods. Methods of art history and comparative analysis were used. Research results. It has been established that the preservation of the traditions of the Ukrainian graphic school was made possible thanks to the personal artistic practices of individual artists in their studios or during artistic trips and business trips. Using the system of functioning of Soviet art: the right to a creative studio, provision of orders from the Art Fund, state orders, purchases from exhibitions, plein air bases, etc., Valentyn Serheyev used this material resource as a means of personal spiritual improvement, solving formal artistic tasks, inventing new techniques of form creation and updating his personal visual language. Conclusions. Without making Valentyn Serheyev a political dissident or non-conformist, this scientific research pays tribute to his desire to solve purely artistic, formal -visual tasks using classical techniques of composition and form modelling, which makes his creative approach similar to that of other artists of «internal emigration». By educating young artists, Valentyn Serheyev contributed to the preservation of the traditions of Ukrainian graphic art of previous decades, passing on fundamental knowledge about timeless means, principles and techniques of forming a graphic-visual la nguage.