This retrospective celebrates arguably Ukraine's most important living artist, Ivan Marchuk. Born into a family of weavers in Moskalivka in Galicia (now Ukraine) in 1936, Marchuk began painting at an early age, despite a lack of proper art supplies. Pursuing his dreams, he studied art in Lviv and later moved to Kyiv where he ran afoul of the KGB for his defiant, rebellious and boundary-pushing personality, which he expressed in his politics and art. Emigrating to avoid persecution on several occasions, Marchuk's art has become internationally known and respected and he has also become a national symbol of Ukraine. The creator of several thousand works of art, he is known as the inventor of the unique art technique “plyontanism,” which is characterised by high levels of detailed strokes that appear to weave into one another. Some critics consider his style to fall under hyperrealism, but Marchuk himself disagrees with this label. In 2007, the British daily 'The Daily Telegraph included Marchuk as the only Ukrainian in their ranking of "100 Modern Geniuses of the World."

The paintings collected in this exhibit come from 15 diferent cycles, presenting various threads from Marchuk's rich oeuvre - from the philosophical figurative surrealism of "Voice of my soul" to the abstract surrealism of "Looks into Infinity." A significant part of the exhibition consists of works from the "Landscape" series, created by the Master with his famous plyontanism technique. The official opening will take place on February 23rd at 19:30 with a musical performance by the Ukrainian folk Zazula.